Central State University is teaming up with The Foodbank Inc. to plant food-bearing trees at the foodbank in Dayton and at Central State's main campus.
This Food Forest project is supported by a $97,000 dollar Urban Forestry Grant from the Ohio Department of Natural Resources.
The Urban Forestry grant will go toward planting trees in the Dayton area while paying for staffing and education around maintaining this type of orchard.
"The CSU Dayton campus and the Foodbank's campus are neighbors, located right next door to each other. So there's a natural neighborly partnership that's been there," said Denise Natoli Brooks, an agriculture and natural resources extension educator at Central State.
Planting for the food forest is expected to begin in the fall after the organizations complete listening sessions with the Dayton and Central State communities, finding out what types of trees they would like to see in their neighborhoods.
"From the listening sessions we've held so far we do know that folks are interested in things like peach trees, apple trees, pear trees, and nut producing trees," said Clara Parrish, garden manager at The Foodbank Inc.
The entire program's process will also be paired with educational courses that will correspond with the forest's planting and harvesting outline.
“So as people follow the journey and become part of the journey with us, they learn the skills, they get to participate and see these urban orchards get installed," Brooks said. "And at the end, we'll even have a bit of a job fair.”
'A very rare project submission'
The project will focus on areas that lack much of a tree canopy.
Parrish said that’s why the ODNR chose to fund Central State’s plans for a food-bearing urban forest.
"We had a very rare project submission and it's rare for ODNR truly to fund things like a food forest," she said. "More of their priority is, of course, the gigantic trees that can provide lots and lots of canopy. But we were very grateful to have received this specific grant opportunity. Because we get the benefit of the canopy but then also stack the benefits of being able to offer fresh produce to our community."
"Both of the sites are publicly accessible, they're not behind fences. So we do hope that with education and signage, that it will be a space the community could come and pick a fruit, a nut."
Brooks said adding urban canopies in sparse areas can improve air quality and reduce temperatures, mitigate flooding and many other benefits.
"The big tall trees provide a shade, so anybody who's sat under the shade of a tree on a hot day in summer appreciates that gift," Brooks said. "But they also help us keep our homes and buildings cooler because of the shade they cast on them. They also act as windbreaks."
Parrish said they can also provide a unique type of soil remediation, especially when they are fruit bearing trees.
“For example, let's take this land here, very highly industry related soil, urban soil," she said of the land at The Foodbank Inc. "You can plant them here and not worry about the contaminants that may be in the ground getting into the fruits. So trees are incredible in that way.”
Parrish said the food-bearing trees are expected to provide edible fruits and nuts three to seven years after planting, offering a free and accessible food source to local, unhoused individuals.
"Having that as an offering outside of the gate that folks can go to themselves is of course a benefit to that population and then also food could go directly into our distribution site," she said. "For example, at Wilberforce/Central State, we have a mobile market distribution that's right there. So all of the fruit that's harvested there will then be able to go to that mobile market."
Brooks said this will help them address food insecurity while promoting education about growing and caring for trees.
"Both of the sites are publicly accessible, they're not behind fences," she said. "So we do hope that with education and signage, that it will be a space the community could come and pick a fruit, a nut."
Parrish said they also hope to see this type of project replicated across other cities, fostering a sense of community through urban food forests.
"Our hope and desire for the project is that we can take cuttings and propagations from these trees and share them with neighbors and offer workshops so that way it has a ripple effect throughout our neighborhoods," she said.
