By Carrie Muehling
NORMAL – Volunteers of all ages are invited to help plant the Normal Refuge Food Forest on May 9.
The food forest will be the first of its kind in Illinois to be located in a city park at 1 Normal Plaza, just off Beech Street on the north side of town.
Many hands will make for light work on Saturday, May 9 as the project really gets underway.
“We’re planting all of the fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes, herbs, prairie plants, all together in this elaborate pattern that we’ve created out there,” said Bill Davison, local food systems educator with the University of Illinois Extension in McLean County. “We’re really hoping to get a lot of people to turn out to make it a fun, relatively quick planting day.”
Davison said this is a long-term project in partnership with the Town of Normal.
“We’re hoping to get kids to come out. This project is targeted towards kids, in particular. We’re hoping that it could be a really remarkable experience for kids to put all of these plants in the ground now and be able to see them 20 or 30 years from now and how it changes and evolves over time,” said Davison. “And, they can eat them for the next 20 years because all of the products of this planting are free and available for anyone to pick.”
Volunteers will plant apple trees of many varieties, pear trees, chestnut trees, and hazelnut shrubs. Other additions to the food forest will include currant and gooseberry bushes, strawberries, raspberries, blackberries and herbs. Hybrid poplars in a circle will create a shelter for the food forest. Volunteers have already planted several colors of willow shrubs at the site. Davison said even more diverse plants will be added later.
While there might be limited production this fall and possibly next year, it will likely be a few years before strawberry, raspberry and blackberry plants will bear fruit. It will be at least three to four years before fruit trees will produce. Harvest from the Normal Refuge Food Forest will be free to the public.
To volunteer on May 9, please register on the University of Illinois Extension website. The rain date for planting is Saturday, May 16.
Carrie Muehling can be reached at carrie@wjbc.com.
