This spring YBB partnered with Old West Church and Cityscapes Inc. to transform the front yard of Old West Church into a Community Food Forest! This project is a great example of how small urban spaces can be transformed into productive urban gardens that have a huge impact. Read more about this exciting project below!

Rethinking The Urban Environment

Under the theme of 'Resilient, Restorative, Regenerative', the church's urban garden (designed by Cityscapes Inc.) will be the epicenter for education, equality, and enjoyment for church members, Boston residents, and visitors alike. Because the site is so visible, it will help educate the public about environmental impact and food justice, and serves as an example for how to transform how we live in urban environments for the greater good. Eventually, the food grown at Old West Church will help supplement a project that provides meals for Boston's homeless population.

YBB Students Gain Experience While Giving Back

Given this holistic sustainable vision, it only makes sense that Cityscapes reached out to YouthBuild Boston to help build the garden. Over the past month, the project site has served as a training ground for the young people in our programs to get hands-on experience in landscaping and construction on a meaningful project that benefits their community. YouthBuild Boston students have worked hard to construct a number of raised beds and trellises, installed a masonry landscaping feature, mulch, and various plantings. See the gallery below for photos of the various projects completed by our students!

What is a Food Forest?

When Old West Church made the decision to transform their historic church yard into a space for food production, they connected with a local organization that specializes in growing food in urban centers. The Boston Food Forest Coalition (BFFC) is a non-profit community land trust that oversees a number of edible public parks, or "forest gardens" that grow relationships among neighbors, land and food. Using permaculture (a sustainable, whole-systems-thinking landscape design philosophy that adopts patterns found in flourishing natural ecosystems), the urban garden uses all 3 dimensions of the small urban space to create a 'food forest' that is biodiverse and abundant. The strategy combines edible plants intermixed with beneficial plants that attract helpful pest-controlling insects and build healthy soil. The diverse collection of plants are arranged in a succession of layers to form functional relationships and work together to create an interconnected and productive whole that maximizes food yields while reducing the need for maintenance.

Thank you Old West Church and Cityscapes Inc. for this great learning opportunity for our students, and congratulations on the completion of this amazing project!