The Beacon Food Forest - An urban oasis, Open Harvest Community space in the heart of Seattle.
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Volunteer opportunities: To receive notifications about weekly (socially distanced) work parties, please send an email to BFF-SpecialWorkParties+[email protected] and you’ll receive a sign-up link for our listserv. Our Story:
As one of the first large-scale public food forests, this garden has captured the imaginations of people all around the world with visions of how communities can come tog
ether in urban places to grow food and revitalize the landscape with community gardening. The Beacon Food Forest celebrates growing food for the benefit of all species, providing educational opportunities, fostering and serving a diverse community, improving public health by regenerating public land, reducing agricultural climate impact, and improving local food security.
*** History of the project
This project is a significant grassroots effort, initiated and driven by community members. A group of friends and neighbors initiated the idea of a food forest in this location. With funds from Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the group launched a community design process and invited neighbors and food forest enthusiasts from around the region to participate. Hundreds of people have participated in all aspects of its vision, design, and construction. Hundreds more participated in work parties to build the food forest with tasks ranging from spreading woodchips to installing a water system. Community volunteers are responsible for ongoing stewardship and maintenance of the garden.
*** What is a food forest? A Food Forest is a gardening technique or land management system that mimics a woodland ecosystem but substitutes in edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Fruit and nut trees are the upper level, while below are berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals. Companions or beneficial plants are included to attract insects for natural pest management while some plants are soil amenders providing nitrogen and mulch. Together they create relationships to form a forest garden ecosystem able to produce high yields of food with less maintenance.
12/02/2024
Something exciting happening at Beacon Food Forest! Support our core mission of caring for people and the planet by being a part of our online auction fundraiser! Now until 12/15 you can help raise funds for BFF by participating in our online auction happening on Auctria. Help us meet our goal to continue our programming in 2025!
From landscape design services, to yacht cruise tickets, local art, gifts and tutoring services, sweets, to sports & zoo tickets, there are so many wonderful items to bid on!
Support BFF and score some awesome items and experiences donated by our community. Check out the Live Auction link in our Bio linktree. Help us continue to provide free food, events, and resources to our community. https://event.auctria.com/fb9c5fe8-acbe-4cfb-a65e-ed9a76fb12ba/a780d600ec2e11e9ae081db830846aa5?2bd25550ec3411e98fdeb3a273cf08d8%2FselectedItem=c5cfd9c9-ec3f-4fe7-b9cd-cb20f6aebf9b
11/22/2024
Thank you to the many, many people that have shown up to support the food forest this week! Since Wednesday, we've raised about $3,500, been forwarded amazing grant opportunities, and more! Many hands have lifted us up in ways we didn't know were possible.
We are still adding items to our online auction, so please be sure to check it out! New items include UW Basketball tickets (men and women), new art pieces, landscape design consultations, and more!
If you have items you'd like to donate, please message us here on Facebook or Instagram and we'll get back to you as soon as possible! The auction will go on until 12:00am on December 15th!
If you're looking for a different way to support the food forest, please try to make it to our Site Dev meeting next Tuesday at 6:30pm at Beacon Food Forest!
11/19/2024
For the past 15 years, the Beacon Food Forest has been a living testament to what a community can achieve when it dreams together. Thousands of farmers, scientists, artists, chefs, families, global visitors, herbalists, architects, students, and more have joined hands to nurture this collective vision. Together, we’ve fought for food sovereignty and built community-oriented green spaces, and inspired countless others to take similar action in their own neighborhoods.
As a nonprofit, volunteer-organized collective (like many others), our journey has been filled with triumphs, but it’s also been challenging. Volunteers ebb and flow with the seasons, projects evolve, and funding is never guaranteed. Of the five major grant proposals we submitted from 2023 - 2024, all five were rejected. Now, we face an urgent challenge: we’re critically low on operational funding. Without immediate support, we won’t be able to sustain staffing into the new year—staff who are pivotal to keeping the forest thriving and accessible for all.
Many of you have worked with or been welcomed by Khalil, our Site & Programs Director, or Priya, our Community Relations Director. Their incredible dedication has made Beacon Food Forest a more inclusive, vibrant, and impactful space for learning and community activation. Losing these two would be a significant setback for the forest and the community it serves.
As we prepare for a less than subtle transition, we’re asking for your help to sustain this shared dream. With your support, we will be able to extend the time we have sustain Priya and Khalil’s roles while we shift our focus to internal development and creating a more sustainable system of management for the food forest. Here’s how you can support:
We’re asking for your help to sustain this shared dream. Our goal is to raise $25,000 by January 1st to keep Beacon Food Forest fully operational and to ensure staffing and essential programs continue into the new year. Financial support options include:
If financial support isn't an option for you, you can always volunteer your time to help us as well it’s assisting with administrative tasks, maintaining the site, or helping us organize events, your time and skills are invaluable. To figure out how best to show up and get involved, please join us for our next Site Development meeting, on Tuesday, 11/26 at Beacon Food Forest at 6:30pm. We’ll gather by the fire to discuss our current site projects, specific tasks/projects volunteers can jump on, and more.
In the meantime of this transition, we will continue to do what we can to cultivate this beloved community space. Together, we’ve created something truly special, and together, we can ensure its legacy continues for generations to come. Thank you for your ongoing support and belief in the power of community.
With gratitude,
Your Beacon Food Forest
11/04/2024
Hae, Liza, and Khalil are back again with the second installment of the “Cultivating Connection” series.
“Resting Our Roots” is all about identifying the parallels between our lives and the land through the lenses of care, rest, and slowing down. We’ll be sharing stories, a warm seasonally relevant meal, and remedies over the warmth of the fire.
This event will be hosted from 6:00pm to 8:00pm in the gathering plaza of Beacon Food Forest.
With us entering the colder season, please be sure to dress appropriately. We will have a covered canopy and a fire roaring to keep us cozy, but please bring additional blankets to share!
Potluck style is encouraged, but we will have food provided! Please be sure to review the menu carefully prepared by Chef Liza!
Will we see you there?
10/10/2024
Hawk (red-tail) at BFF is quite busy
09/30/2024
Wapato Harvest! Here are photos of tubers right from the mud followed by frying wapato pancakes. Truly a creative and interactive local food experience!
We carried out our annual harvest of the incredible aquatic tuber, wapato (Sagittaria latifolia). These delicous tubers are similar to potatoes, although they require standing water to grow and thrive.
First, we weeded out much of the overgrowth in the naturally occurring wetland at the food forest. Then we got very muddy as promised by digging up the wapato from this section of the Native Guild. Some of use chose to use digging forks to loosen any roots and then put our hands completely into the mud to dig out wapato! If a section had a lot of water, the loosened tubers might float to the surface.
We had enough people and time to also prune branches, cut more of the prairie to mimic a controlled burn, and harvest Ozette potatoes. 🥔
So many different people came to help with this big effort, both longtime and new volunteers! Thank you to everyone who contributed. 😊🧡🌱
Have you tried wapato before? How did you cook it?
09/19/2024
Make your calendars for our Beacon Food Forest Annual Harvest Fest on Saturday, September 21st, 2024! 11am-3pm.
Let’s enjoy the harvest together with free food, live music, art projects, community partners and more! Join us in painting a butterfly mural on the lower shed, accessible art activities table for all ages, free food from neighborhood family owned restaurant Quilombo Cafetal, drink from our friends at live music on the community stage with and friends, BFF lavender sachets and BFF water bottles for sale by donation and more! Plus you can help with harvesting apples for our Cider Press, press the apples and make cider!!
09/10/2024
Special Work Parties at Beacon Food Forest!
🌅 Thursday, 9/12: Sunset Lab
Sunset Lab is a a weekly gathering during the warm months, and great and chill way to get plugged into BFF happenings, make friends, and have a fun time taking care of the forest.
We only have a few Sunset Labs left as we’re transitioning into fall, so be sure to join us soon! Feel free to bring snacks, drinks, and friends! 6:30pm - Sunset, drop-in!
🦺 Friday, 9/13: Gensler Structure Foundation Work (12:00pm - 4:00pm)
We’re looking for hands for some continued work on the foundation of the Gensler structure, a covered seating area that was donated to us. Come out and help us get the site prepped, this Friday, the 13th all afternoon.
Last week, we dug holes and laid out the measurements for the structures placement. Big thanks to everyone that showed up!
This time around, we’ll be digging out the last 2.5 holes, mixing concrete to pour into the holes, dropping the footings into the concrete, and leveling everything out! The Gensler crew will come to assist with the final installation at the beginning of October.
This project is gonna involve quite a bit of lifting, lots of digging, and a bit of logical/mathematical thought for measurements and structure things. So if this is your vibe, please come through!
🗑️Saturday, 9/14: Compost Giveaway w/ Seattle Public Utilities (10:00am - 1:30pm)
BFF is partnering with SPU to provide free, organic compost to the Beacon Hill Neighborhood again on Saturday, September 14th!
This was a pretty popular giveaway in the spring, so I’d expect the same energy from the community this time around as well.
For volunteer roles, we’re in need of some wheelbarrow lifters, dirt shovelers, traffic directors, and some sign-in assistance, so if you would like to help out this Saturday DM us!
08/15/2024
We hope you’ll join us for summer fun at our monthly community caretaking of BFF this Saturday, August 17th from 10am-2pm!
In that spirit, here are some photos from the archives of August moments at BFF in years past! 🥰🌱
When you arrive, head to the southeast corner of BFF to sign in at the Outreach Table, make a nametag, and then join us in the Gathering Plaza.
Group leads will be wearing orange bandanas and will make announcements about the activities.
Weeding, compost processing, collecting seeds, and more! A lot to do out there!
There will be an art activity in the Gathering Plaza, and we’ll have food available for lunch around 1pm! 🥗
We’ll host a New Volunteer Orientation for folks interested in a deeper dive about getting involved at BFF - that’ll gather after we’ve gotten our lunch.
See you there!
- your BFF 🧡🌱🌈
08/08/2024
BFF was mentioned in this sweet article just published by South Seattle Emerald - enjoy your summer foraging, friends!
We’re past the moments that typically signal the start of Seattle summer — the summer solstice, the Fourth of July — and have settled into the season’s (mostly) hot, sunny days, when an array of forageable fruits and flowers burst forth.
08/04/2024
06/13/2024
Join us for Pride Night during our weekly Sunset Lab at Beacon Food Forest! 🎉All-ages, All are Welcome, come to learn, make new friends, make art and share knowledge. Bring snacks! Event is fully outdoors, Thursday June 20th, 6:30pm - Sunset.
06/03/2024
06/01/2024
Despite all the rain and grey we've been getting recently, Summer and the dry season are well on their way! To prepare for the hot and dry days we're gonna need all hands on deck for the watering season.
Watering responsibilities can vary depending on the area you're caring for and the amount of fellow stewards you've got working with you – watering can take 20 minutes to an hour depending on the guild you're caring for, but you can pick the days that you show up! We only ask that you are consistent and intentional in your care for our plant friends. Consistency can look like coming every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday - once a week – or everyday if that floats your boat! We just need to fill in as much of the schedule as we can!
Volunteers interested in helping out should reach out to us via email at [email protected] to figure out how to get plugged in.
05/26/2024
May, 18th- Third Saturday Work Party! 🌱🌈
Thank you to our amazing community and staff for another successful day mulching, weeding, watering, and bettering our accessibility! It is always so much fun being able to come together and care for our Earth and People:)🌎
Pictured: Volunteers at BFF
📸 Courtesy of friends at BFF
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As one of the first large-scale public food forests, this garden has captured the imaginations of people all around the world with visions of how communities can come together in urban places to grow food and revitalize the landscape with community gardening and permaculture practices.
The Beacon Food Forest celebrates growing food for the benefit of all species, providing educational opportunities, fostering and serving a diverse community, improving public health by regenerating public land, reducing agricultural climate impact, and improving local food security.
History of the project
This project is a significant grassroots effort, initiated and driven by community members. A group of friends and neighbors initiated the idea of a food forest in this location. With funds from Seattle Department of Neighborhoods, the group launched a community design process and invited neighbors and permaculture enthusiasts from around the region to participate. Hundreds of people have participated in all aspects of its vision, design, and construction. Hundreds more participated in work parties to build the food forest with tasks ranging from spreading woodchips to installing a water system. Community volunteers are responsible for ongoing stewardship and maintenance of the garden.
What is permaculture? What is food forestry?
Permaculture is a philosophy and set of design principles centered around whole systems thinking and sustainability. Permaculture practices seek to create resilient agricultural, community, and economic systems that are holistic and self-sustaining, following the example of sustainable systems in nature.
A Food Forest is a gardening technique or land management system that mimics a woodland ecosystem but substitutes in edible trees, shrubs, perennials and annuals. Fruit and nut trees are the upper level, while below are berry shrubs, edible perennials and annuals. Companions or beneficial plants are included to attract insects for natural pest management while some plants are soil amenders providing nitrogen and mulch. Together they create relationships to form a forest garden ecosystem able to produce high yields of food with less maintenance.
