Change is going to come.
Just over five years ago today, myself and friend Michelle Czolba began work to create the first food forest is Pittsburgh. We even had the memorable event recorded in a Post Gazette Article by Doug Oster. When we sat down to develop our ideas and meet with the URA about leasing four adjacent vacant lots to house the Hazelwood Food Forest, we knew that it was possible that the project not last there forever. We understood that one day it could all change. That day has come.
After five years, the food forest has grown to exemplify what author and teacher Dan Halsey calls the “new beauty”. From the outside the food forest is sometimes mistaken for a weedy lot. But step inside and one will find so much natural beauty; purple flowers of Ironweed, pink puffs of Joe Pye Weed, feathery Milkweed seeds and so much green. This year harvest from the food forest included cherries, mulberries, strawberries, elderberries, peaches, Asian pears, golden raspberries, shiitake mushrooms, tomatoes, and various herbs; sage, thyme, oregano. It also supports local wildlife; birds, butterflies, and beneficial insects. The feeling that you get from walking into the food forest is magical. It feels like you are indeed walking into a forest.
Recently, Hazelwood has become an attractive area for development with groups like the Heinz Foundation supporting efforts to revitalize the community. As such, the four vacant lots that we have leased from the URA are to be passed on to a local nursery business. We are not completely certain what that means for the Hazelwood Food Forest. We have been hesitant to speak out about the changes as we do not fully understand all of the implications and quite frankly it is less saddening to accept the inevitability that we will have to move than it is to dig in and fight.
One possibility is that we will move to another location within the community of Hazelwood. We will most likely need lots of support in this endeavor as we want to save many of the plants in the food forest; the slow growing persimmon, the gorgeous elderberry, the figs that were donated by Sam Strati (Hazelwood resident and fabulous fig grower!) and so much more.
We will keep everyone posted on our progress. Thanks for your support these past five years!