All are welcome to participate in spring plant care for perennial edible plants in a public edible forest garden. This a chance to learn and have fun while doing the essential work of caring for a community food project on shared public land adjacent a community pedestrian and bike trail. Food and habitat producing trees ideal to our ecosystem will be available for FREE to take away and plant in the place you care for.
Our purpose is for people to build relationships with one another and with some special plants. Connect with smells of soil and the forest floor as you get your hands dirty digging up grass roots and moving fresh wood chip mulch. This work will help to protect and encourage our edible perennial plants to thrive this season so that they can bear fruit in abundance that we may enjoy throughout the summer.
We invite all participants and TART trail travelers on foot and wheel(s) to visit resource tables related to perennial gardening, forest care, and climate resilience for our ecosystems. Representatives from Edible Trails Project, Salix Forestry , and Crosshatch will be present.
If you plan to assist with plant upkeep and transplanting, please wear sturdy shoes, pants, and gloves. Tasks will include: applying mulch to plants and paths, weeding, and transplanting new sapling trees and shrubs.
All are welcome and encouraged to bring for a picnic lunch for noontime enjoyment (only water will be available, bring your own picnic or food to share).
This work is being done on a site for public enjoyment and education about edible plants adjacent to the Leelanau trail (TART trails) at the DeYoung Natural Area (Leelanau Conservancy).
The Edible Trails Project is a network of organizations and volunteers cooperating to transform our underutilized public spaces into edible forests. Edible trails is a legacy project of creator Jonathan Aylward (1990 - 2022). Jonathan was inspired and inspired others with a vision of public food forests as meeting places, community hubs where people could kindle relationships both with one another, and with the plants whose histories and futures are interwoven with ours.