Would that be "hand tossed" trail mix?

Yeah, this isn't going to be trampled and covered in cigarette butts in a year. Noooo...

And some lunatic will plant something poisonous to kill people. Sure, it will LOOK edible, but noooooo.

So I'm guessing Seattle doesn't have a huge deer problem like other parts of the country? I can't even put out a bird feeder anymore.

.

Deer? Rats will be all over the fruit.

I hope they plant some spaghetti trees.

So who gets to decide what sort of pest control measures are employed, if any?  I am positive that there will be no disagreements over this point.  I am also confident that it will be entirely feasible to monitor all plants at all times to ensure that antisocial nut jobs will never tamper with the food.  It is also a sure deal that everyone will feel as though everyone else is limiting their harvest to their own "fair share".  This is gonna be great.

Louisiana_Sitar_Club: So who gets to decide what sort of pest control measures are employed, if any?  I am positive that there will be no disagreements over this point.  I am also confident that it will be entirely feasible to monitor all plants at all times to ensure that antisocial nut jobs will never tamper with the food.  It is also a sure deal that everyone will feel as though everyone else is limiting their harvest to their own "fair share".  This is gonna be great.

So.... who on the city council does Drew control? This is guaranteed to be Fark material for years to come.

In Chicago, forest preserves were created to limit the supply of land to support real estate prices.   They had a compact with the greengrocers not to plant anything of use.  What should be prairie is filled with paper trees and buckthorn.  The tollway has few exits inbound for a similar reason; they retailers wanted to force people to still drive by their stores.

UNC_Samurai: I think this is a really cool idea.  I'm willing to forgo the usual FarkSnark and hope this works.

Yeah, it's a "cool idea" but profoundly naive. For that reason it is an enormous waste of money and other resources that could be better spent elsewhere if they really wanted to do something to better the community.  This is just a group of people wasting resources to increase their fuzzy feelings.

Approves

Nation's first? Hardly.

Queen Amy: Deer? Rats will be all over the fruit.

I can tell a lot of people in this thread haven't been to Seattle.  You can already go berry picking at your local empty lot.  Seems like the only difference here will be the assortment of edibles.

pineapple

You've never harvested pineapple before have you.

Skirl Hutsenreiter: Queen Amy: Deer? Rats will be all over the fruit.

I can tell a lot of people in this thread haven't been to Seattle.  You can already go berry picking at your local empty lot.  Seems like the only difference here will be the assortment of edibles.

Good point. I am thinking like a Floridian.

Pests shouldn't be too big a problem. They are food too.

/If I get any more broke I'm looking up recipes for rat burgers

It will be FAR from the first one attempted, but if it's the first *successful* one, then I'll be impressed.

FTA: So just who gets to harvest all that low-hanging fruit when the time comes? "Anyone and everyone," says Harrison. "There was major discussion about it. People worried, 'What if someone comes and takes all the blueberries?' That could very well happen, but maybe someone needed those blueberries. We look at it this way-if we have none at the end of blueberry season, then it means we're successful."

... and we're done here, folks. Back to the drawing board.

/they'll have no blueberries, no surviving blueberry plants, and they'll be lucky if there aren't dead bodies piling up as the hungry homeless people who didn't get there in time to loot any blueberries express their butthurt in the most riotous possible way
//and the guys who tried to build the park will probably be jailed, as everyone will be looking for someone to point fingers at that doesn't include themselves or any of the official "ever-victim" demographics

FloydA: FARK rebel soldier: pineapple

You've never harvested pineapple before have you.

That was the first thing that jumped out at me too.  I've just checked; pineapple and guava will not be grown in the food forest.


Queen Amy: Deer? Rats will be all over the fruit.

Only if they can fight off the squirrels, raccoons, and possums.  (Deer will not be a problem.)

I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Without these, I couldn't have a garden because of the deer. They actually work, but it does limit the size and location (near a water source) of your garden. For the medium to small critters I use a .22 rifle. Looks like I'm going to have a vole/mole problem this year - have no idea what to do about them.

onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

take large rocks (like grapefruit to pineapple sized) and pile them all around the exterior wall of the raised bed. then enclose the beds in chicken wire. deer can't stand on the uneven rocks, and with the fencing they can't just step over them. they could leap it, but they're too stupid to make that connection. you just have to tweak the depth of the rock field

onyxruby: Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Kill them, dance your victory dance, eat your enemy, feed and add their power to your own.

sounds like my backyard from my youth.  we had apple trees of different varieties, an apricot tree, black and red raspberry bushes, a mulberry tree, two cherry trees, wineberry bushes, wild garlic.  we also had 2 acres that were regularly farmed so we had strawberries, blueberries, corn, potatoes, tomatoes, onions, beans, peas, lettuce, cabbage, peanuts, endive, and probably a whole slew of other foods I can't remember.  I could just go outside and eat my fill.

WhoopAssWayne: onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Without these, I couldn't have a garden because of the deer. They actually work, but it does limit the size and location (near a water source) of your garden. For the medium to small critters I use a .22 rifle. Looks like I'm going to have a vole/mole problem this year - have no idea what to do about them.

I think I want to try that, good idea. Can't use a .22 as I'm in a city (but next to a park reserve).

It will be stripped bare within a matter of weeks.

People + free giveaway = ugly behavior.

tlchwi02: take large rocks (like grapefruit to pineapple sized) and pile them all around the exterior wall of the raised bed. then enclose the beds in chicken wire. deer can't stand on the uneven rocks, and with the fencing they can't just step over them. they could leap it, but they're too stupid to make that connection. you just have to tweak the depth of the rock field

I have a cage like wire (not chicken wire but similar) that I've been using. I never thought about the rock idea though, it would make sense and is something to consider.

FARK rebel soldier: Kill them, dance your victory dance, eat your enemy, feed and add their power to your own.

I live in a suburb (right next to a park reserve). If I shot the deer or the bunny's I would have some very excited neighbors. Which is too bad as I could eat quite nicely if only allowed.

FloydA: Not in Beacon Hill though; there's not a large enough undeveloped area to support them. There may be a population in the Cheasty Blvd greenbelt, but they'd have to cross Beacon Ave to get to the food forest. It's possible, but I've never seen deer anywhere near there.

Hmm, so it is quite urban, that could explain the absence of deer. I live at the edge of the suburbs and a large park reserve that has open country on the other side. I'm used to seeing deer walking the streets (especially at night) to get to food in the suburb next to the reserve. I would be curious to see if the deer discover the park like other wild animals (e.g. coyotes are not uncommon even in very urban neighborhoods).

Why do I picture that concept as a portlandia episode?

onyxruby: WhoopAssWayne: onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Without these, I couldn't have a garden because of the deer. They actually work, but it does limit the size and location (near a water source) of your garden. For the medium to small critters I use a .22 rifle. Looks like I'm going to have a vole/mole problem this year - have no idea what to do about them.

I think I want to try that, good idea. Can't use a .22 as I'm in a city (but next to a park reserve).

Subsonic .22 rounds sound like firecrackers.   "You know what officer? I heard it too.   I think it was some kids messing around with fireworks."

Holy crap, I'm sick of faddish permaculture crap.  Good on this group for getting it done, I suppose, but don't dress it up in "feeding the community" and nonsense.  Community gardens - and subsidized raised beds with community help available - feed a lot more f--king people.  And it's easier for those people to harvest from the plants themselves, too.  It can't be a sterile forest - unedible plants *will* grow there however vigilant you are - and harvesting is much more complicated.

If they had Park Interpreters to help ease people in who are curious but still hesitant, that would be awesome.  And avoid unfortunate mix-ups ("it's all edible?  So these mushrooms that are growing here are cool, right?...).  Volunteer crew to sweep through and harvest what can't be reached by the random park visitor to donate to the community.  Those would help, and maybe the article sucks and someone's thought of it and it just wasn't mentioned in TFA.

(I've seen how hard it is to get self-professed hippie college kids to just learn how to pick some damn green onions from the garden.  There needs to be some community education about wild harvesting going, otherwise you're preaching to the choir).

The idea of anti-monoculture is a damn good one, but so much time and effort is spent on intellectual thought exercises - especially by recent college graduates waxing poetic and speaking with authority who have NEVER grown food even on a small scale just to sustain themselves - that could really be better f--king directed toward just getting more people to just grow something, anywhere.  But that's not as easy a solution as saying "permaculture will save the world".  That is what we need to move toward in the long run.  But while you're dicking about planning the non-existent Perfect Symbiotic Permaculture Design... well, speak about anything with authority even if you don't know jack and people will listen to you.  So I guess just try to keep your stories straight while you're debating the nuances of food forests.  You'll lose your illusion of credibility otherwise.

/not at all bitter about being lectured at about this crap from people who spent infinitely more time having Very Serious Discussions about growing *planning* instead of just goddamn growing stuff already
//I am bitter.
///For the third time, cool that the people from TFA are putting their theory into practice.  That needs to happen more often.  That is all.

Generation_D: Seattle's vision of an urban food oasis is going forward. A seven-acre plot of land in the city's Beacon Hill neighborhood will be planted with hundreds of different kinds of edibles: walnut and chestnut trees

Neat, right next to the homeless encampments set up in the Beacon Hill greenbelt. Creating wild growing food will be great to attract more feral human populations.

It will be a race to see what shuts it down first - your description, or the inevitable lawsuit(s) over the food making someone sick.

MemeSlave: onyxruby: WhoopAssWayne: onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Without these, I couldn't have a garden because of the deer. They actually work, but it does limit the size and location (near a water source) of your garden. For the medium to small critters I use a .22 rifle. Looks like I'm going to have a vole/mole problem this year - have no idea what to do about them.

I think I want to try that, good idea. Can't use a .22 as I'm in a city (but next to a park reserve).

Subsonic .22 rounds sound like firecrackers.   "You know what officer? I heard it too.   I think it was some kids messing around with fireworks."


Bums will be the biggest problem. Need at least a 9mm to get rid of those.

WhoopAssWayne: onyxruby: I have several raised garden beds in my yard. I also have squirrels, raccoons, rabbits, and possums. I promise you this does nothing to fend off the deer that also eat from my gardens. Deer are very much a problem and I'm limited in what I can do about them.

Without these, I couldn't have a garden because of the deer. They actually work, but it does limit the size and location (near a water source) of your garden. For the medium to small critters I use a .22 rifle. Looks like I'm going to have a vole/mole problem this year - have no idea what to do about them.

http://www.rodenator.com/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tjdky7hBp-E

Problem solved! I used to do this with a can of starter fluid and a BBQ lighter. Less effective though. Fun times :)

I have a bit of a Hippy Soul, and I think this is a wonderful idea, although I don't think it will work out like they plan. Not sure what will ruin it but something/someone will, just because they can. This make me sad, personally It'd be killer if people would just do this everywhere and anywhere with zone appropriate plants and trees. Just have "Johnny Appleseeds" {We'd have to come up with an 'alternate' name thought} planting and sowing at the correct time and the country turns into a nationwide fresh fruit and veggie paradise!

Shut up! I know it won't happen, probably, but I'd really like it if we were all nice enough for it to work...