Beacon Food Forest facts for kids

Volunteers helping to prepare the ground at Beacon Food Forest in 2012.

The Beacon Food Forest is a special 7-acre garden in Seattle, Washington. It's like a big park where people can grow and gather food. This amazing place is next to Jefferson Park on Beacon Hill. It's thought to be the biggest food forest on public land in the United States. This means it's on land owned by the city, specifically Seattle Public Utilities. Besides the forest, there are also traditional garden plots, similar to other local P-Patch gardens, where people can grow their own food.

How the Food Forest Started

The idea for the Beacon Food Forest began in 2009. It was first called the Jefferson Park Food Forest. A group of four students came up with the plan as part of their Permaculture Design Course. Permaculture is a way of designing gardens and farms that works with nature, like a forest.

The main people behind this idea were Jacqueline Cramer, a landscape designer, and Glenn Herlihy. Glenn was already working on community plans for Jefferson Park. Their teachers included Marisha Auerbach, Kelda Miller, and Jenny Pell. Soon, the Jefferson Park Alliance supported the project. This helped it move forward into planning.

In 2011, a new group called Friends of Beacon Food Forest was formed. They helped share the idea with the public.

Getting Support from the City

In 2010, the project received a grant of $20,000 from the City of Seattle. This money helped them hire a team to design the food forest. The design was based on ideas from three public workshops.

Then, in December 2011, the project got another $100,000 from the Department of Neighborhoods. This funding helped them start the first part of the food forest plan.

Growing and Expanding the Forest

In September 2012, the first trees were planted. These included fruit trees like apple, pear, plum, and quince. They also planted nut trees like hazelnut.

In 2014, the P-Patch section was created. It has 27 garden plots for people to use.

The group that runs the food forest, called the Food Forest Collective, became a nonprofit organization on August 22, 2017. This means they can get donations and grants more easily.

In 2019, the food forest grew even bigger, adding 1.5 acres of land.

During the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the food forest grew more vegetables. This helped support local food banks. Most of the food in the forest is open for anyone to pick. However, there are special plots for food banks and the City of Seattle P-Patches that are not for general picking.

The sust̓əlǰixʷali” Traditional Indian Medicine Garden

Inside the food forest, there is a special garden called “sust̓əlǰixʷali.” This garden grows plants that are important to Indigenous people for medicine and food. The name comes from the Lushootseed language. It means "a place where medicine is created." The Seattle Indian Health Board's Traditional Medicine Department helped create this garden.

Sharing the Idea with Others

The group worked hard to get support from the community and the City of Seattle. Many people who care about gardening and nature joined in. This helped the project become very successful.

How the Food Forest Became Famous

The Beacon Food Forest has been featured in the news. It was talked about by the Associated Press and National Public Radio. It even got a mention on The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson.

Images for kids

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  Glenn Herlihy (center left) talking at the first public workshop for Beacon Food Forest.

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  The first public workshop held by Friends of Beacon Food Forest on June 7, 2011.