A Tour of a Flourishing Food Forest at Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute
In the summer of 2018, I was on a field trip studying Indigenous farming practices and had the pleasure of visiting Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute. Located in northern New Mexico in the Santa Clara Pueblo, Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute is a 30-year-old food forest that is on an ⅛ of an acre. While I waited for the tour to begin, I admired the vast differences of the cultivated landscape of the permaculture institute to the scenic high desert that surrounded it. On the outside of the miniature food forest, the harsh summer sun heated the earth. Vegetation was sparse, which exposed the compacted soil and ants crawled about.
As soon as I stepped into the food forest, I felt immediate relief under the cool shade. Vegetation exploded in every direction as I navigated along trees of varying sizes, mossy boulders, shrubs, flowers, and vines. At the center of the food forest is a hand built sustainable adobe house, with grape vines crawling up the walls. Shamelessly, our tour group stretched our necks out like giraffes and nibbled the sweet grapes off the wall of the home. We felt immersed in the environment and giggled with child-like joy at what the mini food forest had to offer.
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- Written by Kat Alicia Thompson, Navajo
- Parent Category: Volume 28
- Category: Volume 28 No. 1 February 2022