{"id":43261,"date":"2024-11-04T12:53:06","date_gmt":"2024-11-04T17:53:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=43261"},"modified":"2024-11-06T11:54:08","modified_gmt":"2024-11-06T16:54:08","slug":"food-forests-bring-fruit-harvests-and-deeper-connections-to-land","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2024\/11\/04\/food-forests-bring-fruit-harvests-and-deeper-connections-to-land\/","title":{"rendered":"Food Forests Bring Fruit Harvests and Deeper Connections to Land"},"content":{"rendered":"

Maryland Forest Service promotes the many benefits of making space for edible plants<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

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Francis Smith, Maryland’s lead agroforestry planner, points out a persimmon at the White Marsh Park Edible Trail. Photo by Joe Zimmermann, Maryland Department of Natural Resources.<\/p><\/div>\n

Enter the neat rows of the White Marsh Park Edible Trail and pick some persimmons, blueberries, or hazelnuts. If you follow their harvest schedule, you can pick them off the branch and take them home with you, at no charge.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Edible Trail is what might be called a food forest, or a forest garden. It\u2019s an example of agroforestry<\/span>\u2014<\/span>a range of practices that incorporate primarily native fruit and nut-bearing trees and shrubs as well as herbaceous species and fungi into the landscape. Taking ideas from both forestry and sustainable agriculture, agroforestry aims to create multi-purpose areas that benefit people and the environment.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a different way of looking at the land and how to manage and farm it,\u201d said Francis Smith, the lead agroforestry planner for the state and a natural resources planner with the Maryland Forest Service, who acted as a project designer for the Edible Trail.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a new concept for public land in Maryland, but it\u2019s also a return to older ideas of human relationships with the environment. Smith said he was inspired by indigenous practices when he designed and put in place much of the Edible Trail, which covers 1.5 acres in a corner of White Marsh Park in Centreville.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAll of this is based on indigenous, Native American knowledge,\u201d he said. \u201cThese are things that indigenous people did, and we\u2019ve lost that. We\u2019re trying to bring back those species and those practices.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Planting and construction began at the Edible Trail in 2020, supported by a $10,000 Outreach and Restoration grant from the Chesapeake Bay Trust. Queen Anne\u2019s County Parks and Recreation and Corsica River Conservancy partnered with the Maryland Department of Natural Resources on the project.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although the COVID-19 pandemic interrupted some of the maintenance on the site, Smith said one of the benefits of food forests is that they require little upkeep once established. As woody perennial crops, they don\u2019t require annual replanting. And native plants were selected that can prosper without fertilizer or an irrigation system, although Maryland Forest Service staff have watered the plants during drought periods. An 8-foot fence installed by forestry staff keeps out deer but stays unlocked for visitors.<\/span><\/p>\n

This year, nearly every species is producing, except for the paw paw trees, which will take a few more years to mature. Park visitors can stroll through the six plots, picking blueberry, American plum, hazelnut, black chokeberry, and persimmon. In the future, staff and volunteers may add beach plum, serviceberry, or elderberry to the site.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Edible Trail is now open for tours of what Smith described as a \u201cplayground and living lab\u201d that showcases what\u2019s possible for food forests in the area and in someone\u2019s own backyard. Volunteers help weed and water plants, and an Eagle Scout built compost bins for the site.<\/span><\/p>\n

Food forests and related agroforestry practices are starting to catch on in Maryland thanks to efforts from the Maryland Forest Service as well as the work of nonprofits and residents.<\/span><\/p>\n

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American plums grow off a tree at the Edible Trail. Smith said many people don’t realize there’s a native variety of plum, but they can be used for jams, juice, wine, or can be dehydrated into prunes. Photo by Joe Zimmermann\/DNR<\/p><\/div>\n

Michael Judd, who runs a food forest called Long Creek Nursery at his home in Frederick County, said Maryland is particularly well suited for food forests. A longtime advocate for permaculture, Judd spent two decades building food forests in Nicaragua, and he said Maryland\u2019s precipitation and growing season reminds him of Central America.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you observe the latent energy in the land here, the energy in this area supports trees and tree crops,\u201d Judd said. \u201cA lawn you stop mowing will regenerate naturally as a forest. That energy is what this ecosystem is designed for\u2014we\u2019re in a forested ecosystem, the ecosystem supports [those trees] and they thrive.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Judd and his family chose to settle in Maryland in part because of its potential for food forests, he said, calling it one of \u201cthe sweetest spots on the planet for growing.\u201d He runs the ecological landscape design firm Ecologia and co-founded the nonprofit SilvoCulture, which plants nut trees in the mid-Atlantic.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lincoln Smith, the co-founder of Forested, LLC, a landscape design and education firm based in Bowie, said he has a list of 60 to 70 species that do well in Maryland food forests. These include many native plants, such as sochan (a type of black-eyed Susan that makes a nice green for eating or cooking) and ostrich ferns (that produce fiddleheads) as well as some cultivated species that are a good balance for the local habitat, like Chinese chestnuts.<\/span><\/p>\n

While some of these plants may be unfamiliar to many Marylanders, Smith said it\u2019s also an opportunity for people to eat more diverse foods that are grown locally.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of the foods we\u2019re accustomed to are not native,\u201d he said. \u201cAt least half of the effort with forest gardening is trying to introduce people to these foods and make them an enjoyable experience.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why Forested hosts a \u201cforest feast\u201d every year, where a chef prepares items from the food forests and introduces ways to cook chestnuts and persimmons.<\/span><\/p>\n

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