The Food Forest Blueprint: Turning Urban Lawns into Edible Forest Gardens for the Future With Dianne Kadonaga
Innis House (Inniswoods Metro Park) , 940 S. Hempstead Road, Westerville, OH
Public Welcome Family-Friendly Free Event Program/Speaker Presentation Wheelchair Accessible Public Restroom Free Public Parking
Dianne will share her experience of transforming her urban lawn into a thriving, multi-layered edible native forest garden and biodiverse wildlife habitat. She will cover how yearly backyard spring flooding was mitigated through the use of swales and berms, and what edible native plants were introduced to create a dense forest edge that produces food yearly on its own, with the permaculture and regenerative practices used.
She can touch upon the incorporation of edible mushrooms, a permaculture herb spiral, tree guilds, hugelkultur beds, and the vegetable trial beds for "To Dig or Not to Dig" USDA Sustainable Agriculture Research and Education grant to share best practices with urban farmers.
This yard has its inspiration drawn from the timeless wisdom of Indigenous land stewardship and how we are striving to restore a deeper connection between people, food, and the natural world, while addressing soil and water health, food security, biodiverse land restoration, and climate resilience in our own community.
For those who would like to stay after the presentation, Dianne can share information about the Connecting Community Corridor for People, Pollinators, and the Planet, or CCC for PPP, and how we’ve been able to expand with 50+ donated mini-native plant gardens in the Linden neighborhood, including the community leaf corral, an art mural of the endangered rusty-patched bumblebee, bluebird boxes and bumblebee home 4H projects, Ohio Women's Reformatory involvement, and other partnerships to bring a 1/2 mile storybook trail to our community. She hopes to provide ideas for partnerships for others wanting to expand native plant gardens in their communities.