Food Forests in Public Spaces: Mount Joy Community Orchard with Aaron Parker

The Forest Garden

Today we have an extra special episode! We're lucky to be hosting Aaron Parker of Edgewood Nursery, Propaganda by the Seed, and most importantly - the Mount Joy Community Orchard Project. Mt. Joy is a food forest/community orchard located on Munjoy Hill in Portland, Maine. I first discovered it completely by accident. I stumbled into this magical landscape covered in herbaceous pollinator plants mixed in with fruit trees, and asked an elderly gentleman who was there picking raspberries "for his sweetie" - what's the deal with this place? He told me that is was a free to pick public orchard where anyone could come by and harvest whatever they wanted, so long as they were respectful of the landscape. From that moment I was hooked. If you've ever wanted your local park to look more like a forest garden, and less like a mowed lawn, today's episode is one you can't miss. Listen in as we learn about how Mt. Joy got started, what its evolution has looked like over time, and the steps that you can take to start a similar project in your community. Don't touch that dial! And remember that you can always find us at @forestgardenpodcast on instagram.
Aaron's Links:
https://www.instagram.com/mount.joy.orchard/
https://mountjoyorchard.wixsite.com/mtjoy
https://edgewood-nursery.com/
https://propagandabytheseed.libsyn.com/
Other Links for organizations or events mentioned in the episode:
https://resiliencehub.org/
https://www.mofga.org/the-fair/