Transcript:
In Denver’s Barnum neighborhood, one city lot has been transformed into what’s known as a food forest.
During warm months, trees and bushes teem with fruits like pears and berries, bees buzz by a hive, and people are encouraged to relax there in the shade – and eat anything they like.
Lipsius: “This is true community access. So once these trees are producing, anybody can come and harvest and enjoy the bounty.”
Linda Appel Lipsius leads the nonprofit Denver Urban Gardens, which oversees 24 of these food forests.
The food forests improve communities’ access to healthy food and help neighborhoods adapt to climate change.
The forests’ shade and greenery do not get as hot as the surrounding concrete and asphalt, which helps keep the neighborhood cool, even as summers get hotter.
Lipsius: “You step into a garden and it is so much cooler. … The birds are singing, versus the concrete on the outside of it.”
Denver Urban Gardens recently got funding to plant nine more food forests in West Denver, much of which has suffered from a lack of grocery stores and green space.
So the food forests will offer residents both much-needed shade and a source of fresh, local food.
Reporting credit: Ethan Freedman / ChavoBart Digital Media
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