A city to emulate
We grew up hearing money doesn’t grow on trees – however, some of the healthiest foods do. My youngest brother lives in Seattle, which the AARP Bulletin listed as #3 on the best city for staying healthy, #9 on most livable neighborhood, # 3 as the most livable city and the 10th easiest city to get around. Rodale Organics’ list of green cities leading the way for sustainable futures called Seattle, the Emerald City, and city of firsts, first to adopt a green building law with the lowest environmental impact core.
My brother recently posted a request for volunteers to help at the Seattle Beacon Food Forest, with an article explaining the food forest. I realized I had already written an article about it when they were first starting up, thinking, what a wonderful idea it was. Small world. They have been successfully growing and sharing their food for a few years now.
This largest food forest on public land is owned by the Seattle Public Utilities. They made 1.75 acres available for the initial phase of this project. A food forest is a gardening technique or land management system which imitates woodland ecosystem. The upper level of the canopy is made up of nuts and fruit trees; then berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals fill the lower level. Companion or beneficial plants are included to attract pollinators and manage pests, plus soil amenders. They try to mix native habitats with edible forest gardening. The goal was to make it free to anyone and everyone.
Started in 2009 as a final design project for a permaculture course, construction began in 2013, with 29 annual vegetable plots ready for gardeners to plant in early spring of 2014. This project is under the Seattle Department of Neighborhoods P-Patch (P stands for Picardo, the original owners of land now used for garden plots) Community Program, using $100,000 from the 2008 Parks and Green Spaces Levy. The 35 trees planted so far will take several years to mature and bear fruit, but berries, herbs, pollinator plants and annual vegetables grew and produced.
Their three main priorities were to create a community around food, educate the community about growing food, then harvesting the food. They offer free “ethical” foraging, grazing and gleaning, with some areas not available for open gleaning. Signs provide directions for harvesting and volunteers work to harvest and share produce with the community. There are harvesting celebrations and potlucks offered.
Volunteers met every month except December on the third Saturday; 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with lunch provided for the workers. Special elements now include an edible arboretum with fruits gathered from around the world, a berry patch for canning after picking and gleaning, a nut grove for shade and food, garden plots for vegetable growing, a gathering plaza for celebrations and education, bee hives for pollinating and honey, a children’s area for education and play and a network of walking trails of fruit trees planted, tended and harvested by the public.
Worldwide, innovators are studying their success.
January now has them planning the expansion into Phase 2, which was recently approved. There are 5 1/2 more acres available.
The other aspect of life in Seattle that fascinates me is their use of goat herds for rent. With a multitude of goat businesses, such as Getyergoat, Amazin’ Grazers, Rent-a-Ruminant, you will see them grazing on hilly landsides along interstates and highways, rocky areas, places where people and machinery cannot safely clear land, yards, easements. They are a cheap, noise free, chemical free way to clear vegetation. No need to have waste trucks to carry away brush. Clearing overgrown areas quickly, these eating machines safely devour thorny plants, poison ivy, invasives and entanglements that befuddle a human, (and, at the same time, fertilizing the area).
With their four-chambered stomachs and insatiable ability to eat anything, they’ve become incredible land clearers, working in wetlands and along stream banks with minimal threat to water quality or fish and inhabitants of the ponds.
Demand for the goats is being fueled by the growth of the “green” building industry. Most areas need to be electrically fenced in first and then the goat herders come with their border collies or guard dogs and sleep in their trucks. It is not without peril. The dogs protect the goats from coyotes in the country, but there are people with guns in the city that shoot the goats. The sight of goats normally attracts admiring people, old and young.
Ohio State University, American Boer Goat Association provides these goat facts. Goats’ pupils are rectangular; their average lifespan is 8 to 10 years; worldwide, meat and milk from the goats are consumed more than the meat and milk of cows; and goats can eat up to 8 pounds of green foliage a day.
Now, another National Company Headquarters in Seattle is Amazon.com. They know a good deal when they see it and their Amazon Home Services offer these goat herder services online. I checked and there are none available in our area, but think of the possibilities. The complexity of finding someone to do things inside and outside the home gives Amazon an edge, because consumers already trust them. They believe their vetting process can provide a level of confidence not found in other offers. Amazon is seeking to distinguish themselves by offering a money-back guarantee promise they call a “happiness guarantee.” They charge providers a fee ranging from 5 percent to 19 percent.
Another national chain headquartered in Seattle is Starbucks. I don’t drink coffee, but its decaf hot tea and Hibiscus Coolers hit the spot when I go there.
Back home, here in Florida, we can plan to plant a tree Jan. 15, Florida’s Arbor Day. Thank it, as it blesses you with fresh air.
Joyce Comingore is a Master Gardener, hibiscus enthusiast and member of the Garden Club of Cape Coral.