Foodscaping is like a silver bullet for today’s biggest problems: our own personal health, our community health, and our long term sustainability. Foodscaping is how we can weave healthy food into our surroundings and sustainable health into our daily lives.
John C. Trimble, TedXOgden 2020
The experience of giving a TEDx talk was like no other. I still can’t watch it without feeling nervous 😆 and I can’t believe it’s me up there on the stage. It’s surreal. I’m incredibly humbled that it has been well received and I am so grateful for the support and all the amazing people that helped make it a success and to help get this message out there. I believe foodscaping is an idea truly worth spreading and TED is a platform that spreads ideas like no other. My talk has 35K views on YouTube in its first 48 hours. GULP. 😳
What does foodscaping mean to you?
I think it can mean whatever anyone wants to make of it, from growing a single tomato plant to rediscover real flavor, to transforming your entire landscape into a food forest.
When we think about foodscape design our approach is radical. We put the food bearing plants front and center; they become features: think espalier fruit trees, climbing vegetables over trellis-arches, grape arbors, gorgeous peppers and tomatoes, etc and beautiful flowers mixed in. We also include hardscapes like flagstone patios, gravel and mulched walkways and lots of waterwise perennials for beneficial insects.
But foodscaping is also about so much more.
Foodscaping means frontdoor access to the best tasting, most nutritious food imaginable. Foodscaping means reconnecting with real food and where it comes from. Foodscaping means being closer to self sufficiency. Foodscaping means filling your surroundings with vibrant beauty and abundant life.
Foodscaping our community means health for all who live it and a source of nutritious food for our neighbors who might not otherwise have it. Foodscaping our world means a healthy, sustainable future.
For us, the word foodscaping is also about the actual physical act–the hard work of replacing traditional landscapes, and reimagining food and what our landscapes are to us —reimagining what food means in our daily lives. We think our health depends on us understanding what real food is and where it comes from. We think our landscapes are an extension of who we are, what our lives are, and we can make incredible strides in our health and our sustainability by starting right where we live. For us, foodscaping is also all about helping others get started foodscaping.
We are excited to announce that we will be offering a limited number of materials grants to households who would otherwise not be able to purchase foodscaping materials. If you know someone who might benefit from this grant program please share our ‘foodscape applicant‘ page. If you would like to make a donation to the fund that is making this possible, please see our ‘donate‘ page.
We are also excited to announce that we have put together a blueprint for how to start your own volunteer foodscaping group. We would love to see foodscapes popping up all over and we think volunteer foodscaping groups are a great way to get that movement going. We can’t be everywhere, helping everyone in person, but we would love to help other foodscaping groups get started!
This post is chock-FULL of news!
Yesterday Holly and I had the honor of appearing on RadioACTive, which is a show for grassroots activists on KRCL 90.9 in Salt Lake City. We had the pleasure of talking about Foodscaping Utah with RadioACTive host Lara Jones and KRCL’s Punk Rock Farmer Aldine Strychnine. We also got to meet Gwen Crist of Slow Food Utah and heard all about their amazing organization. Our segment on foodscaping starts around minute 36 and runs to the end. They played segments from the TED talk live on the radio! Check out the link below to hear the show:
Gardening has done so much for us during this pandemic. It helps bring sanity to an insane world. It brings calm to constant stress and uncertainty. It brings positivity when most other things are negative. It brings a sense that you are participating in something bigger. And foodscaping in your frontyard or other visible space makes connections and starts conversations with people who are interested in planting the seeds of change.
Share your experience and knowledge about growing food with others. There’s nothing more rewarding than paying it forward and helping someone else. Grow your own food, donate your extras, and start your own foodscaping volunteer group.
Foodscape your frontyard, your rooftop, your school. Foodscape your community so we can bring flavor back to tomatoes, health back to our communities, and sustainability back to our world.
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