Planting a Desert Food Forest

Co-Author | Searra F.
When our family decided to start a farm it was one of our founding principles that we want to  do work that would benefit our lives, the  earth, and the community around us. So when Dad challenged us to come up with a way to better our community through charitable works. It was obvious to me and my siblings that we should grow food for the homeless.

    Building off our idea, dad suggested we do a permaculture food forest which would also benefit the environment by reducing water use, building topsoil, and sequestering  carbon from the near by highway.  Following permaculture practices trees are spaced closer allowing up to 500 trees per acre.  Intermingled with the trees would be; berry and other bushes,  vines like grape and passion fruit, herbaceous vegetation like perennial veggies and herbs, and ground cover plants like sweet potato and strawberry .

    Dad agreed that if we raised the money to plant 10,000 trees he would dedicate 50 acres of our land to the project and sponsor another 20,000 trees and other food bearing plants to round out the layers of our food forest.

     We would like to break ground on the project and be planting our first trees in mid October when the weather breaks here in Phoenix. We are asking the community to help us out by donating what ever they can. Each 25$ we raise allows us to plant one tree and maintain it for 2 years, which is about how long it takes a young tree to get established.

    We would be both honored and tremendously grateful to have your support. Even if you can not contribute financially it would be helpful if you would share our cause on social media. 

    If your interested you can follow our progress here @ loaf.life , as I will be writing a regular blog  about how things are coming along. If you would like  to make a donation in support of our cause please visit gf.me/u/yfks63 .Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I hope you have a great day !