Ten years ago, Festival Beach Food Forest was a small field of Bermuda grass just east of Interstate 35 and north of the Colorado River off Waller Street.
But over the years, volunteers have turned the public, city-owned land into something of an oasis.
Inside, there’s enough dense tree coverage and chirping songbirds to drown out most of the noise of the highway. There are dozens of edible and medicinal plants. Some of them are familiar varieties like pomegranates, asparagus, peaches and pears; and some you may have never heard of like yarrow, loquats and agarita.
The forest is open to everyone. People can stop by, hang out, and take whatever they need — anytime. Organizers just ask that people don’t dig up whole plants.
For those wanting a full tour of what crops are planted and available for picking, there is a guided walk every first Saturday of the month to give people the lay of the land.
“It’s been transformed into this place where you can come hang out. But also there’s things we can eat. There’s medicine we can make. There’s learning that can happen … It’s just a lot of fun,” Karen Luzius, Festival Beach Food Forest’s land steward, said.
Most of the food growing in the forest goes to folks at the nearby Rebekah Baines Johnson Senior Center and other neighbors within walking distance. But the team behind Festival Beach wants to serve a bigger circle.
Work is now underway to more than triple the size of the food forest from two-thirds of an acre to 3.5 acres.
Luzius wants to plant hundreds more fruit trees, vegetables, herbs and medicinal plants. The expansion also includes plans for an outdoor kitchen, a community deck for yoga and relaxing, and an education pavilion where folks can learn about lesser-known plants.
So far, they’ve raised $40,000 between a few donations and a city grant. But Aly Tharp, a group leader at Festival Beach Food Forest, says they need hundreds of volunteers and hundreds of thousands more dollars to make the expansion a reality.
“There’s ways for folks of all stripes to support us, whether it’s with their time or their financial resources,” Tharp said.
Luzius is one of just three full-time employees at the food forest. The majority of the digging, weeding, planting and harvesting and educational programming is done by volunteers. And the grants that support those full time positions are drying up.
“Now we’re at a phase where we need new sources to have a baseline of $100,000, $200,000 so that we can continue to expand our team as we expand our footprint,” Tharp said. “So we are looking for angel donors who can give us thousands or even individuals who can give five bucks a month.”
Volunteers come to the food forest every Tuesday and Thursday morning and every second Saturday of the month. Right now, it’s a small group who love to leave the blue glow of screens behind and put their hands in the dirt, Luzius said. Volunteers should wear sturdy shoes and comfortable clothes and bring a full water bottle. Festival Beach will provide gloves and other gardening tools.
Angelina Alanis, a people circle volunteer, said if you don’t want to get your hands dirty, there are plenty of other ways to help.
“We love having volunteers in the garden, but aside from that there’s about 30 meetings happening throughout the month that are all the other aspects of the forest being done by volunteers, whether that’s fundraising, writing a grant, planning an event or cooking a meal together,” Alanis said.
Volunteers don’t need to attend every meeting, though. Those interested in helping out can register here or just show up.
