Beautiful gathering marks birth of Montgomery College Food Forest
We’re all buzzing from the dedication ceremony we hosted on Sunday (10/27). We had an amazing turnout and it was incredible to see the place come alive with music, food & drink, speeches, a plant giveaway, and a food forest workshop and tour.
It was so lovely to see kids running through the site and making beautiful art in the shade of the catalpa tree. This is what we hope the Montgomery College Food Forest becomes - a space for art, play, education, community gatherings, and events.
We had some amazing speakers, too. Tierney Acosta from the college’s Permaculture Club spoke beautifully about the college’s late horticulture professor, Stanton Gill, and announced that the food forest will be named in his honor.
CFFC board member and long time environmental champion Philip Bogdonoff read an Indigenous land acknowledgement to remind us that the land we stand on is unceded territory belonging to the Piscataway Conoy Tribal Nation.
Former rabbinic pastor and environmental activist De Fischler Herman read a beautiful poem she wrote during lockdown about food forests (see the end of this post). She then led a ritual that involved gathering natural materials from the food forest and placing them around the river birch to make a mandala.
Lorig Charkoudian, a Member of Maryland’s House of Delegates, gave a rousing speech about the power of food forests and the spirit of relentlessness that we need to cultivate as a response to the growing societal problems we see today. She also presented CFFC, the college and Tierney with citations from the Maryland General Assembly District 20 delegation in recognition of our work to “partner with communities and develop food forests that enrich and educate while providing food stability”.
Dwayne Henry, a biology professor who manages the college’s Leggett Math and Science building, spoke eloquently about the health benefits of gardening. His son is also a member of the permaculture club!
Musician, therapist and organizer Ellen McSweeney ended the formal part of the ceremony with two deeply moving songs, one of which she wrote herself about the times we live in. The other was written by the Buddhist monk and teacher Thich Nhat Hanh, and reminds us that we are all interconnected.
Oluwatoyin Tella, a permaculture designer and artist who oversaw the design of the food forest with Arman Milanian, then led a fascinating tour of the site and a Food Forest 101 workshop.
Mei Lin Khor, a Waldorf early education teacher, organized an amazing crafting session for all the children. They collected leaves and used them to make leaf prints on a large canvas banner that we’ll hang from one of the catalpa branches. They also made rock art and pinecone people and then decorated the food forest with them.
A huge thank you to all of them for making the event such a massive success and to everyone who worked behind the scenes to make this happen! We also want to thank Kim McGettigan from the vice provost’s office for being such an incredible champion of the food forest right from the very start. Without her support and guidance, none of this would have happened.
And a big thank you to Yolanda Canales for the scrumptious tamales (let us know if you’d like to get in touch with her) and to Mike Tabor for his kind donation of organic apples and apple cider from his incredible organic farm.
A big thank you to everyone who came out and to all our amazing volunteers and supporters who have put so much work into bringing this space to life. We really couldn’t do any of this without you. And if you have ideas for the space or would like to use it to host an event or workshop, then please get in touch via the contact us page.
Edible Forest
Like magnets to steel
Fish to water
Or bees to nectar
We feel Earth’s pull
To pitchfork and spade
Wheelbarrow and mulch
Soil and stone
A motley crew
Of friends, neighbors, and newbies
Children, elders, and ‘tweens
Latin, Asian, African
Atheist, Christian, Muslim, Jew
A rainbow of purposeful humans
Seasoned gardeners and novices
Digs trenches, hauls and tamps stones
Puzzling together heavy rocks
Or scoops, loads, pushes,
Dumps, spreads, and rakes
Wood chips, leaf mulch, compost
Building beds, planting trees, watering roots
And smiling at each other
Sensing that someday
The fruits of this forest
Energized by sunlight, water,
Tender loving care
Will delight their palates,
Tickle their tummies,
And nourish their hungry souls.
—De Fischler Herman
May, 2024
