Établissement scolaire public Kent

The Kent Public School Food Forest was designed and built on a south facing hill in an unused area of the school that was formerly just grass. It suffered terrible dry spells and heavy spring run-off that caused erosion. We transitioned it to a series of bumps that were designed to catch spring water flow and direct it back into the soil. Much of the area is now quite wild and going in the direction of natural habitat. My goal when I started was to provide an opportunity for students to see where food – particularly fruit and nuts, come from.

It has suffered some hard times as it is south facing and has no irrigation. But, slowly pioneering plants are taking hold and each Fall Mr Carlen’s class plants a few more nut and fruit trees. Some of them are germinated with sees in the class. Students get to see Monarch butterflies hatch, birds, squirrels, bumblebees, honey bees, many other pollinators, even foxes took up residence early in the hill’s development.