Beacon Food Forest
Project Information

Address: Adjacent to the west side of Jefferson Park (see map below)

Project Status

The Food Forest received a Small and Simple Neighborhood Matching Fund (NMF) award from the Department of Neighborhoods to hire a design professional to engage the community in a design process, to create a community maintenance to create a “Food Forest”  adjacent to the west side of Jefferson Park along 15th Avenue S (see map).  The Food Forest steering committee has hired Margarett Harrison (Harrison Design) along with permaculture specialists Jenny Pell (Permaculture Now! ) and David Boehnlein (Terra Phoenix Design). The project will be designed within the yellow rectangle on the map below.

All of Jefferson Park belongs to Seattle Public Utilities.  There is a Memorandum of Agreement with Seattle Parks for management of the newly developed Jefferson Park Expansion project. However, the Food Forest site is not part of the land that is managed and maintained by Parks.  The Friends of the Food Forest will be working directly with the Department of Neighborhoods and Seattle Public Utilities.

Project Description

The goal of the Friends of JPFF Steering Committee is to develop a schematic design for a Food Forest and community garden. The ethics, principles and concepts of permaculture design and community involvement will guide both the process and design product. A Food Forest is a design method and land management system based on a woodland ecosystem type of permaculture.

The plan will address slope, the movement and capture of water on site, and regeneration of the soil.  Potential elements include: a community P-Patch, plant guilds, community gathering places, interpretive educational signage, compost areas, connection to existing park facilities and circulation, and other topics that may emerge as a result of the community workshops.  It will develop a phasing sequence, construction budget estimates and a plan for community implementation and management

The project will increase the skills and knowledge base of the Beacon Hill community related to growing food and managing the integrated systems of the Food Forest. This will add to the growing body of knowledge to support innovative urban food projects in Seattle.

Community Participation

Available Food Forest Location

Important Links

• Neighborhood Matching Fund Projects
• Seattle Department of Neighborhoods
• Pro Parks Project - Jefferson Park
• A food forest garden time-lapse video
• Climate Lab - Permaculture

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