An unassuming lot on Rogers Street in north Springfield has been slowly growing into a food forest.
Just off an Ozark Greenway trail and embedded in a residential neighborhood, the canopy of the Rogers Community Food Forest is just tall enough to stand out among the houses next-door.
The plot of over two dozen trees, shrubs and bushes has been a low-key work-in-progress for Springfield Community Gardens since the city donated the .22-acre vacant lot in 2017.
The community gardens were helped along by grants from Luckys and the USDA’s Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education program. They're now producing a diverse array of gooseberries, hazelnuts, persimmons, jujubes, apples and more, each selected for the location and the environment.
Ben Tegeler is an Ecological Designer with Ozark Mountain Permaculture. He helped start and helps maintain the plot and said that long term low-maintenance cultivation like this starts with good planning. Tegeler explained, “choosing the right selection of cultivars that are good for the Ozarks, for humidity, for cold, for the temperature variations we have and choosing the right root stock underground, that deals with the clay soil and the compaction, because there was a house here at one time. Doing that thorough site analysis and understanding the context of what was here and then providing the right plants for the right place and providing that yield, I mean, that’s kind of what food forests and permaculture is all about.”
At this point, maintenance means simply checking in on the food forest, doing some light pruning and having the grass mowed, which they tell me has taken down a small plant or two. There is no irrigation, pesticide or feeding, though the plants were jump started with organic compost tea during planting. Now that the canopy is starting to develop, they also plan to add a few shade-loving plants.
Maile Auterson, executive director of Springfield Community Gardens, said the food forest is primarily meant to serve the neighborhood, but it also shows the potential for similar cultivation on almost any size of property. She hopes it can serve as an inspiration. She said, “that’s really what we’re trying to do, think in new ways about urban space and community space and that intersection.”
Auterson said SCG does not have any plans for additional food forests at this point, but she would love to see more of them in additional neighborhoods. They tell me the Rogers Food Forest does get used. Tegeler said the gooseberries seem most popular, and last year he was pleasantly surprised when most of the ripe persimmons were taken. The apple trees are just starting to ripen.
Anyone interested in volunteering, with questions about the Rogers Community Food Forest or wondering what plants might be right for their home can connect with Springfield Community Gardens at springfieldcommunitygardens.org.