Nestled behind the Sugden Welcome Center at FGCU sits about half an acre of plants with a purpose. The focus of the Food Forest is to provide a hands-on learning experience to teach sustainable agriculture, through a student-led edible garden.
The Roots of Compassion and Kindness (ROCK) Center oversees the Food Forest. ROCK Center director, Maria Roca, meets with the Food Forest manager and advisory board to ensure everything runs smoothly.
The Food Forest is for everyone. It was started by student-initiative and its legacy is continued by students. It thrives because of its student volunteers, who receive service-learning hours for their time caring for the garden.
“The Food Forest is a true student initiative,” Roca said. “It was founded by students and is primarily cared for by students. It is a real jewel in FGCU’s crown.”
After a proposal from the founding students to Student Government (SG), the project received over $100,000 during the 2010-2011 academic year, which is the largest amount of funding in SG history.
What once was a gravel parking lot, transformed into an environment capable of supporting plant life. There is one foot of sand for drainage that was covered with three feet of organic compost for nutrient-rich soil.
Erica Klopf, who graduated from FGCU in 2012, was one of the founding students. She designed the Food Forest as her senior thesis project. Klopf’s interest in food forests started in 2009, which is when she started the project with a fruit tree initiative. It has grown over the years before it blossomed into the Food Forest in 2010.
The Food Forest is an example of permaculture, which is short for permanent agriculture. It is a type of biomimicry, where the environment mimics the layers and biodiversity that you would find in a naturally occurring forest.
The biodiversity aspect eliminates the need for fertilizer as the diversity of crops not only takes nutrients from the soil but returns them. Pruning is a technique used to maintain plant health and growth. Usually, the plant material stays in the garden to decompose and add further nutrients.
This form of permanent agriculture differs from monoculture, which is where one crop is grown in neat rows. Permaculture is more productive as it uses canopy layers to grow more food as the plants grow at varying heights.
“I feel like the Food Forest will stay with me for life. I met and have stayed connected with such an incredible community from the Food Forest. I learned and got interested in the permaculture and permaculture design certification, which led to one of my jobs that I’ve had,” said Cecelia Morales, a former student coordinator at the Food Forest.
“In a variety of ways it’s allowed me to gain confidence in my own knowledge for gardening at my home and my parents’ home. It has also had an impact on me at a personal level, I met my husband when we were both coordinators at the Food Forest and now we are married so that is crazy so I guess it’s really impacted me both professionally and personally, it will always have a special place in my heart.”
The plants and fruits are tropical and subtropical species that thrive in the Southwest Florida environment, but most are not native to the area. While the majority of the plants are edible, some serve a different purpose.
Instead of using wooden or metal fence posts as structures to support other plants, woody plants, such as Gumbo limbo, are used. One plant, called Chaya, acts as a living fence because it contains cyanide-like compounds that deter small animals from eating the herbs and plants; however, Chaya is safe for human consumption once it is boiled for 15 minutes.
Southwest Florida is a hotspot for hurricanes and tropical storms as it has been affected by both Hurricane Helene and Milton this year. With the tropical climate in mind, Klopf factored in a windbreak to protect the vegetation.
“The Food Forest is designed in order to be hurricane resistant with a windbreak that goes around the whole property. The bamboo, of course, is the windbreak that goes along the northeast side of it and then the outer layer of fruit trees inside the Food Forest are all wind tolerant, species that slow down the wind that hits it,” said Klopf.
The canopy design also helps protect the lower levels of the Food Forest. After storms, the clean up of fallen branches and any damages that may have occurred during the storm are essential to the future of the Food Forest.
“I know that the reason we have bounced back from previous storms is because of the amazing work of the Food Forest coordinators and volunteers,” said Roca.
The windbreak also helps protect cold-sensitive plants when the area receives the occasional cold front that the tropical and subtropical species don’t typically experience.
FGCU student, Maggie Grey, worked in the Food Forest for her farm-to-table sustainability class. Her flowerbed survived the two hurricanes this semester.
“Other flower beds around the area were severely damaged, but I think we did pretty good. There was one plant that did lean over from the wind, so we did try to bring it back and fix it up,” said Grey.
The community garden is free to visit and trying new foods is encouraged. It is intended that visitors learn how to properly eat the fruits and plants because some have to be cooked before eating. Students are taught how to harvest plants themselves as it helps continue to produce food for future generations of students. Harvesting outside the Food Forest allows for the implementation of more sustainable gardens.
“My biggest takeaway from cultivating the Food Forest is the importance of community gardens come and go over time, but the impact that they have on communities and the ripple effect within those communities is really what’s astounding about food forests, and community gardens,” said Klopf.
