This 1-acre public food forest is a collaboration between the City of Brantford and a local citizen’s group. A general layout for the full 1-acre site within Parsons Park was created, with a more detailed site plan for Phase I of the project. Breaking up the food forest into three phases ensures that each phase is well-established and relatively self-sufficient before the next phase is begun. For the success of public projects, it is absolutely crucial that there is sufficient community engagement and support for the long-term care and maintenance of the site. The Parsons Park Food Forest will provide perennial fruits, nuts, berries, vegetables and herbs for community members to enjoy. The goals of the project are to increase food security for the City of Brantford, increase tree canopy coverage, and provide barrier-free access.
The 1-acre project is divided into three phases that can be implemented over time. Each phase can stand alone so that the project will still seem complete if subsequent phases do not come to fruition. Phase I is focused on gleaning foods, while subsequent phases will include foods that are well suited to food preservation so that as the community skill level increases they are able
to utilize the harvest in multiple ways. Signage for the public to easily identify and harvest plants will be installed. Native plants are used heavily as supporting guild vegetation for fruit and nut trees and are all edible and or medicinal as well.
The food forest layout takes advantage of solar gain and passive water harvesting from the
slight topography of the land. Support for cultivar selection, plant acquisition, and community planting days has been provided for Phase I.