Orion Kriegman and his friends started clearing a trashed vacant lot in Boston to create green space and grow food. City hall was not on their side at first, but with persistence and community effort they were able to secure that lot as permanent green space—and so The Boston Food Forest Coalition was born. A dozen more urban lots were acquired and put into Community Land Trust by the coalition, but the stewardship and management of each food forest belongs to the neighborhoods. These are spaces for food, community, shade, gardening, education, wildlife, kids, and more. With more food forests created every year, the Coalition is part of a web of urban ecosystems throughout the city that are little oases of greenery—and hope.
3’07 what the Boston Food Forest Coalition does
4’09 started as a grassroots coalition and one vacant lot
5’34 dealing with Boston city bureaucracy
6’21 they put land into a Community Land Trust, which means they own it in perpetuity
8’13 the ecosystem and what to plant there
9’00 book: Nature’s Best Hope by Douglas W. Tallamy
10’29 expanding what people want to eat
11’54 the coalition does the bureaucratic and maintenance stuff, the neighbors do the fun stuff.
14’03 exercising our democracy muscle
15’40 acknowledging and supporting leadership
17’09 what grows and who gets to eat it
18’32 the challenges of stewardship, especially in the face of climate change
19’39 dealing with contamination on the sites
20’18 fruit trees and woody perennials don’t uptake heavy metals
21’37 cooling heat islands with trees and green spaces
22’02 racism in development resulting in fewer trees
22’43 what urban trees need
23’38 cultural spaces in food forests
24’50 who eats the food
26’14 picking your food for dinner, sharing food and recipes and relationships
27’01 people getting to know each other through the food forests
27’32 wildlife in the food forests, including those who eat the food
28’19 pollinators, including native bees that don’t live in hives
30’05 fostering hope in dark times
30’39 remembering abundance
31’30 where they do the developments and working with developers
32’39 working on an affordable housing complex for seniors and they want to make it sustainable
32’58 working with Regenesis Group
33’55 developers motivated when they understand climate change
34’25 it’s not about whether we have the technological progress, it’s if we have the will
35’28 working with young people
36’58 kids very inspired being outdoors
38’01 nature deficit disorder
38’54 play based education
40’00 regenerating and rewilding ourselves
40’17 changing by doing things in community
41’37 their model of collective land ownership is inspiring other people
43’27 immigrants from all over the world bringing their land traditions
44’46 connection between people’s backyard gardens and the food forests, ripple effects
45’32 bostonfoodforest.org
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