Declan Devine winds his way through the bushes of the Boston Nature Center’s food forest, searching for food. He grabs a handful of currants – bright pink, tart and crunchy – and moves on to the blackberry bush.
This urban oasis not only provides shade, but is also full of life. Here in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, pear trees share space with monarda, goldenrod, and colorful lupines.
Why we wrote this
A story about
In Boston, a network of small forests is working together to build climate resilience, create space for neighbors to connect – and provide food that everyone can pick.
Urban food forests serve a unique function. They are small—about the size of a residential lot—but they can support over 100 species of plants and trees. There are 10 such sites in Boston so far, with two more under construction. Many have been built in poorer neighborhoods that lack green space. Food forests differ from community gardens because the space is open to anyone who wants to come, spend time, harvest or plant.
“What we plant in our gardens is really a reflection of our family background… and who we are as people,” says Dr. Cara Rockwell, associate professor of environmental studies at Florida International University.
Ann Noble has lived in Boston’s Dorchester neighborhood for 11 years. There’s no room for a garden in her third-floor condo. And until recently, she didn’t know any of her neighbors.
Looking for a way to get her hands dirty, she signed up for a Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC) cleanup day near her home. Not only did she find a place to garden, she says, but she also met her neighbors for the first time at the Savin Hill Wildlife Garden.
“For me, it served two purposes: On the one hand, I gave something back to my community,” says Ms. Noble, “but on the other hand, I met new people who live in my community and share my values about … a green footprint.”
Why we wrote this
A story about
In Boston, a network of small forests is working together to build climate resilience, create space for neighbors to connect – and provide food that everyone can pick.
Where the Savin Hill Food Forest now stands was once an empty lot. The site took five years to build and officially opened to the public in 2022. “The difference is incredible,” Ms Noble says. “As someone who didn’t want to get mugged or step on a needle, you would never have set foot on this property,” she says. Now it’s full of life and as it matures, she adds, it will become even more beautiful.
Urban food forests serve a unique function. They are not large—their footprint is about the size of a residential lot—but they can support over 100 species of plants and trees in one acre. Many BFFC sites have been built in poorer neighborhoods that lack green space. The sites require maintenance—though the goal is for them to become self-sustaining over time. Food forestry differs from community gardening because the space is open to anyone who wants to come in, spend time, harvest, or plant. Most BFFC sites contain plants that produce herbs, berries, fruits, and food for pollinators. In Boston, the network of these tiny forests collectively provides climate resilience and provides space to forge connections between neighbors.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
“What we plant in our gardens is actually a reflection of our family background … and who we are as people,” says Dr. Cara Rockwell, assistant professor of environmental studies at Florida International University. She adds that food forestry, or urban agroforestry, has been around for a very long time.
BFFC was born out of community initiative. In 2010, a group of neighbors came together to transform their first brownfield site in Jamaica Plain. Today, BFFC has completed 10 sites in partnership with local residents, with two more under construction. The organization has set a goal of planting 30 food forests across Boston by 2030. This summer, crops being planted include sandberries, honeyberries, currants, wild strawberries, and annuals like lettuce, parsley, and collard greens. Given the strong community demand for more public green space and the City of Boston’s efforts to transform brownfield sites deemed unsuitable for development, BFFC is confident it can achieve this goal.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Each site is unique – from neatly paved paths to brambles of native wildflowers and shrubs. “I think what makes a food forest is really the community owning the space and growing and changing with those spaces,” says Liz Luc Clowes, BFFC’s director of community engagement and food forestry.
The goal of the spaces is to support the healing of the land, follow permaculture principles and be “inviting and truly a third place where people can gather,” she adds.
On a July afternoon, Declan Devine winds his way through the bushes of the Boston Nature Center Food Forest, foraging for food. He grabs a handful of currants—bright pink, tart, and crunchy—and moves on to the bramble bush. With towering growth that mimics forest ecosystems, this urban oasis not only provides shade and shelter from the summer heat, but is also teeming with life. A few steps down the path, tucked into a small tree, rests a bird’s nest. In the late 1800s, the site was home to a psychiatric hospital. Eventually, it was torn down and converted into a wildlife sanctuary. The roughly two-acre site is now home to the Boston Nature Center Food Forest, established in 2013.
Mr. Devine is a steward of the forest. Here at Mattapan, there are more than 100 species of plants such as monarda, goldenrod, Siberian pea bush, pear trees and colorful lupines that support pollinators and birds.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
“It’s so teeming with life that it seems as if every square inch is bursting with it,” says Mr. Devine.
Climate resilience, trust and community are central to building a food forest, says Hope Kelley, communications manager at BFFC.
“We say every project moves at the speed of trust,” Ms. Kelley says. “Building a food forest involves planting trees, landscaping and rehabilitating the soil. … But none of that can happen until trust is built between BFFC staff and the city officials and neighbors who are leading these projects.”
On a recent Wednesday, 15 volunteers, most of them new to BFFC’s volunteer days, set to work removing mugwort, a pesky medicinal and aromatic weed, from around a pear tree. This also made room for volunteers to plant native bee balm. After the weeds were pulled, the volunteers used a natural weed control method designed to suppress the plant’s return by re-laying the harvested mugwort in thick mats and placing large sheets of cardboard on top. The cardboard sheets serve as a new layer of soil. This is called repurposing, and it is how many abandoned BFFC sites are transformed into new, old ones.
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Melanie Stetson Freeman/Staff
Ms. Noble, now a trustee, has made a hobby of visiting Boston’s various food forests and says she never feels unsafe when she visits the BFFC sites.
“Our gardens are little gems in the neighborhood and places where people like to just walk by,” she says. “All the gardens I’ve been to have nice little seating areas where you can just sit and rest your feet for 10 minutes. And the bigger ecological picture… we need more green space.”
