The Cultivated with Care perennial food forest at 825 18th Street, Charleston, IL provides the community with an educational demonstration of how a food forest works. It utilizes space to grow food in different layers – large trees to produce fruits and nuts, smaller trees and bushes under the trees to produce berries and fruit, and groundcover plants to produce a variety of other foods.
Besides the obvious benefit of producing food, growing a variety of plants develops good habitat and will dramatically increase the numbers of birds, bees, butterflies and other beneficial insects. Adding annual and perennial flowers attracts pollinators and adds beauty to our yards.
Growing a variety of plants develops and improves the soil.
It takes some getting used to the idea of a food forest since the goal is different than a manicured lawn. Chopping and dropping weeds improves the soil instead of hauling them away to try to make it look "neat". Leaves are excellent mulch and compost in place, also improving the soil. A "messy" look is desired since it provides the best habitat while also maintaining and improving the soil. Contrast this with the "neat" look of a lawn which is a habitat desert that depletes the soil and also uses fossil fuel to mow over and over.
“The plants we’ve chosen will collect and cycle Earth’s minerals, water, and air; shade the soil and renew it with leafy mulch; and yield fruits and greens for people and wildlife.”
- TOBY HEMENWAY, GAIA’S GARDEN: A GUIDE TO HOME-SCALE PERMACULTURE
Climate change is going to affect the way we get food as weather conditions become unpredictable and fossil fuel use abates. A perennial food forest brings food production much closer to consumers thereby eliminating some of our dependence on fossil fuel. A surprising amount of food can be produced in a food forest since it utilizes space to grow food in different layers. Once established, the work that needs to be done consists mostly of managing invasive weeds, pruning, and harvesting. Enjoy exploring this site and check out the Charleston Food Forest in person!
“I’d love to see a new form of social security - everyone taught how to grow their own; fruit and nut trees planted along every street, parks planted out to edibles, every high rise with a roof garden, every school with at least one fruit tree for every kid enrolled.”
- JACKIE FRENCH, NEW PLANTS FROM OLD
