On April 25, 2024, the Aquidneck Community Table (ACT) is hosting a spring garden cleanup event as a part of Aquidneck Island Earth Week. The event will occur on Aquidneck Land Trust property off of Elizabeth Lane in Middletown. The ACT leases a part of the property (as does Garman Farm) and uses it to run the Island Community Farm, a construct that has 45 community garden plots, a micro-farm parcel, a pollinator farm, and a food forest, all shaped in a “L” plot of land. There is also a yard waste/compost operation in the back, past the garden beds.
Interested parties can participate in farm tasks such as weeding and mulching public paths through the pollinator garden. Alternatively, in the food forest, people can take self-guided educational tours, and there will be a scavenger hunt for kids. Grace Riccio, a youth education coordinator for the ACT through TerraCorps, hopes the event will serve as an “introduction” to the space. “I think a lot of people don’t really know this is here. I had had no idea, and I’m from Little Compton, went to school in Portsmouth.” The Island Community Farm is a public oriented space: the garden beds are rented out to the community, while volunteers work to maintain the pollinator garden and food forest as needed, and all residents are welcome to experience the site.
The gem of the ACT’s Island Community Farm is the food forest. “It’s an example of permaculture,” Riccio says. Permaculture is a concept of utilizing land and resources for production – like agriculture – without producing waste, an example of a closed-loop system. “A forest, planted not by people but that was there however many years ago, is extremely self-sustainable,” Riccio explains. “They have different layers that keep everything alive, as well as animals, insects, and different plants that are growing. A food forest is a forest planted by people trying to mimic that system.” The section where of land where the food forest resides was once clear. Now, it’s designed as a site of sustainable agriculture.
There are seven total layers to a food forest. The first is the tall tree canopy, which provides shade for plants that do not thrive in full sun. Korean pines and chestnut trees are optimal producers for this tall layer. The sub-canopy layer is usually made up of smaller trees that bear fruits or nuts; in this food forest, the ACT is growing apples, pears, and pawpaws to act as the sub-canopy. Next comes the shrub layer, which is used not only for agricultural production, but also can emphasize biodiversity and attract pollinators. Examples found in the food forest include blueberry bushes and hazelnuts for fruits, and tansy, a plant good for pollinators and which can be used for medicinal purposes. Next comes the herb layer, which can include plants like lemon balm or mint, then soil cover plants for weed protection, like the strawberries growing at the farm. The last two layers are the root layer – good for vegetables like potatoes, or asparagus – which gives nutrients to other plants via the interconnected root system, and the vine layer – hardy kiwi is grown for this layer at the site.
Riccio references the Native American agricultural approach of the “Three Sisters,” saying that the food forest is like an expanded version of that concept. The Three Sisters approach is an intercropping method of planting maize, beans, and squash together as a way for the plants to help and nourish each other’s growth, as well as to provide a well-rounded diet for the cultivators. “Everything just works together and is very self-sufficient,” she expresses, especially compared to traditional gardening and agricultural practices that require heavy watering, harvesting, optimal sunlight, and fertilizers. Food forests are not a new concept, but an imperative one to remember and embrace as the agricultural industry shifts towards becoming more varied and sustainable.
“The largest food forest is in Georgia and it’s only seven acres long, so you don’t need it to be huge to produce food,” Riccio says, which is great news for Rhode Island, where land is some of the expensive in the United States. But even this small plot of land for the Island Community Farm food forest can be used to feed the local community.
In fact, this food forest is feeding the Rhode Islanders. Community members are encouraged to visit the forest and public (not rented) ACT community gardens around Newport for education, awareness, and to harvest the produce as free access to healthy foods. “But if people aren’t harvesting things, an ACT staff member, volunteers, or a youth program will come, and they will harvest it and donate it, usually to the Florence Gray Center and to Pell Elementary School in Newport for students or parents to take,” Riccio reports.
“ACT is a food justice organization,” Riccio asserts, as the organization’s main mission is “to grow a healthy local food system, accessible to all on our island.” That mission is vital to the health and wellbeing of a significant number of people. “In the country, 11.8% – which is roughly 40 million people – are food insecure, meaning that they can’t afford to have well-balanced groceries, or they can’t pay for transportation to have access to those foods,” explains Riccio.
According to the RI Food Policy Council, in 2022, 8.6% of Rhode Islanders faced food insecurity, and food insecurity in Rhode Island is higher for households with children. A good indication of food insecurity is through the amount of people receiving SNAP benefits; RI Kids Count estimated the number of children on Aquidneck Island receiving SNAP benefits in October of 2022 totaled 1,540. That same year, 1,946 children were receiving benefits in Newport County as a whole, which, using numbers from the U.S. Census Bureau, is nearly 14% of children in the county.
Through the seasons and through the years, as the food forest matures and increases in production and variety, more and more residents will be able to benefit from the free produce. And if there is excess to be harvested after community members who walk through the forest have had their share, “we never sell it,” avows Riccio. “It’s always for the people, donated.”
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