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Wednesday December 1st, 2021 by Jackie Ibarra
Across Interstate 35, away from the busy streets and towering skyscrapers of downtown Austin, is a little green oasis called The Festival beach food forest. Visitors can hike the trails right by Lady Bird Lake, picking and eating fresh fruit and vegetables along the way.
Under a new concept plan approved by the city council, Austinites may soon have the opportunity to relax and play in an outdoor gazebo or hone their cooking skills in an outdoor teaching kitchen.
The numerous new food forest facilities developed by the nonprofit Fruitful Commons with the help of the community will anchor an expansion of the park that was approved by the council in July.
Fruitful Commons previously received a grant and other support from the Urban Forestry Division of the Parks and Recreation Department to liaise with the community and develop designs for the expansion.
The plan is to expand the food forest on the west side of the Rebekah Baines Johnson Center from two-thirds of acres to 3.5 acres of land.
In addition to more acreage, Fruitful Commons is planning to incorporate other “innovative elements” such as an outdoor pavilion, a natural play area and a teaching kitchen in a food truck.
“An outdoor kitchen, communal deck and educational pavilion will serve as key anchors in transforming our campus into a center for community resilience,” says the Beach Food Forest festival website.
The Food Forest website and an October memo from the Parks and Recreation Department indicate that the landscaping was developed with the help of “significant contributions” from local residents.
“The design will be functional and inviting at the same time and offer many community and ecosystem services,” says the website.
The extension will add beams and hollows to collect rainwater and more plantings of fruit trees like lemons, plums, cherries, pears and figs, as well as medicinal trees like that Mexican elderberry, traditionally used to help with upset stomach, fever, sore joints and itching.
“We are proposing an accessible space that will give the public more food and medicine,” the website explains.
Fruitful Commons and city officials have requested an extension through December 2022 to keep the city informed of the next phase of the plan.
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This story was written by a journalism student at the University of Texas at Austin. The Austin Monitor works with the UT School of Journalism to publish stories produced by students on the City and County Government Reporting course.
Photo made available under a Creative Commons license.
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Published in: Environment
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