Succotash Gardens began planting a community food forest in 2024 to create a biodiverse and sustainable food source in response to a need for community health and wellness. We are planting within a predominantly Black and Latino working-class community of Roosevelt, NY, to mitigate significant environmental health risks like urban heat island effect, food apartheid, and exposure to environmental toxins. Succotash Gardens’ forest garden serves as a long-term effort to sustain and improve the nutritional value and freshness of a food bank in partnership with PowerHouse COGIC Church, who has stewarded this local food bank for the past 6 years.
What is a community food forest? Community members steward diverse edible plants that pattern after the structure and functions of a forest to create a sustainable food source. Food forests grow abundantly in several directions and layers, including the canopy, understory, shrubs, herbaceous plants, root plants, ground cover, vines, and fungal activity. Our 14,000 sq. ft food forest and food resilience hub is collectively stewarded by and for our community.
We collaborated with ReWild to expand a beautiful border of native fruit trees, berry bushes, and pollinators around perennial and annual vegetables and herbs. The native plant garden promotes healthy soils and provides food and shelter to pollinators and wildlife, who help our garden to flourish. We plant native fruit and nut trees as a canopy of shelter and shade for the interior garden and a sense of permanence, attraction, and food access for the local community and wildlife who pass by the gardens. We will integrate a composting system and a rain catchment water system to reduce our inputs and create a regenerative and sustainable circular economy of food production. Residents and community partners will volunteer to maintain and enjoy the beauty of the garden for years to come.
Reach out to Nailah Garard, Director and Founder of Succotash Gardens, at nailahgarard@gmail.com to get involved! Connect with us and learn more on Instagram @succotash_gardens and linktr.ee/succotashgardens.
Designed by Samantha Jo and Maggie Muzante. Icons designed by Wren Halpern, https://www.wrenhalpern.com
