Berry Creek Educational Garden Project

Project Type

Project Summary

Food forest demonstration site and education center.

Project Description

The Berry Creek Educational Garden Project will create an educational "Forest Garden" and outdoor classroom at the new Berry Creek Park and Community Center located right next to the Pioneer Elementary School (K-8) and The Bald Rock Children’s Center (preschool). This project has been allowed a quarter acre of land on the new Berry Creek Community Park (300 Rockerfeller Rd. Berry Creek, Ca 95916) at a great location nearest the school and school greenhouse. The garden will teach the access challenged community food security and food nutrition by providing weekly workshops, monthly “Learning Community” trainings, and as much hands on experience as they would like to give. We will also be involving the students from the Pioneer Elementary School and Bald Rock Children’s Center through the entire project. This will teach the next generation how to grow healthy food in a sustainable way. The project will take the nutritional education to the next level because the Pioneer Elementary School has agreed to purchase some of the food grown in the garden for the cafeteria so the children can actually taste healthy food they helped grow. This project will give the target access challenged community of Berry Creek access to the skills to grow their own food in an abundant sustainable system that is low maintenance, and enhances the natural environment of native plants and trees. This knowledge will create food security by creating more local food production for meeting their personal needs and also for the possibility of creating an income from selling food. This in turn will also save our community money and hardship by not having to travel as often to acquire healthy food. In addition, this garden will create a local stock of specialty crops that are site specific to Berry Creek and can be used to propagate throughout the community helping to further increase long term food security and access. The Berry Creek Educational Garden Project will design, plant, and grow a Permaculture Style Food Forest on a quarter acre of land (roughly 12,000 square feet). The garden will consist of a diversity of specialty crops including fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes, edible vines, herbs, annual and perennial vegetables, and even eatable mushrooms. The garden will demonstrate inter-planting of a diversity of productive specialty crops amongst native plants and trees. We will use passive organic methods that are productive, low maintenance, and also improve the land, animals, and quality of life for those involved. This style of gardening requires no tilling of the soil after the initial planting and there will be no pesticides or herbicides used on the site. "As the garden grows so shall the community!" -Matthew Trumm

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