Potential site pinpointed for food forest at Lawcon Park
A second meeting of the Lawcon Park Food Forest was held Thursday evening, June 19, in the Mountain Lake City Council Chambers, led by Nathan Harder of Mountain Lake. The Mountain Lake Tree Commission is spearheading the project. An initial meeting was held in mid-March, followed by discussion on the potential project at the Mountain Lake Apartments, with Judy Harder of Mountain Lake as moderator, aided by an interpreter.
Food forest gardens are new to the United States. A food forest is based on an ecological model of an actual forest and features many plant layers as well.
* The upper layer is composed of canopy trees. Trees are planted that will grow large and provide fruit or nut produce, or something else for human use. These could apple or pear fruit trees or walnut trees. Perhaps even hybrid chestnut or hazelnut trees.
* The next layer is a variety of fruit trees; apple, plum, etc.
* Then there are the vines – like grapes – that would climb the trunks of the medium trees.
*Below the fruit trees would be edible shrubs, most notably berry shrubs, such as red and black currants, raspberries, gooseberries, chokecherries, seaberries, cranberries, strawberries. Selections would be made on the hardiness, the ruggedness of the variety, in order to weather Minnesota climate patterns.
* These are followed by grasses, or even flowering plants that could be herbal in nature or provide sources for pollinators, such as honey bees or maybe wild asparagus.
* The lowest level would be fungi. This is where you find edible mushrooms, such as shiitake mushrooms.
The forest garden will become self-sufficient over time. The leaves from the trees will fall and become mulch and fertilizer on a regular and ongoing basis.
In sharing information on what direction to take the local food forest, Nathan Harder highlighted the work of two Syracuse, New York — one a nursery, the other a free health care clinic — who together have turned a vacant lot into an edible forest garden to provide a healthy crop of fruit and vegetables to local residents. Members of the Alchemical Nursery and the Rahma Clinic – together with a small crowd of neighborhood volunteers – created the permaculture culture – “landscaping” from which citizens can eat.
In a different twist – one favored by those attending the meeting – the Rahma Edible Forest Snack Garden allows those utilizing the garden to use it as a “bank” for their own gardens; taking clippings and cuttings they can then transplant in their own plots.
Harder shared aerial photos of Mountain Lake, noting the Lawcon Park area at its southeast corner, as well as the possible forest garden site at the northwest corner of the park.
“The plan is,” relayed Harder, “is to start small and work up. The site being looked at has a lot of good things going for it, including that it is easily accessible.”
The next steps to be undertaken are to take soil samples from the area under consideration, as well as check on any buried utilities in the area and water run-off considerations into a drainage ditch to the west of the site.
The next meeting will be held on Thursday, July 17, beginning at 7 p.m., at the Lawcon Park Shelterhouse in order to scout the area in question. Any interested persons are invited to attend. In addition, invitations will be extended to members of the Mountain Lake City Council, Tree Commission and possible the Lake Commission. By the time of that meeting, Harder proposes to have results from soil tests.
Also on the docket for that meeting will be discussion on “place” and “space” and what to plant, as far as specific species of plants. Research will be done via the permacultue plant database and the Minnesota Department of Transportation’s plant identification information. What will be looked at are plant communities that work well together; that can cohabitate in the Minnesota climate.
