05/16/2024
By Brooke Coupal

“We’re transforming it into something useful and beautiful for our community,” says Smith of the site, located at 46 Wilder St.

The idea for a food forest, which is composed of edible plants designed to mimic a natural forest system, came to Smith as she witnessed supply chain issues during the COVID-19 pandemic. Then an undergraduate student at UMass Lowell, Smith looked into sustainable food systems and discovered food forests, which provide high food yields on less land.

“It will be exciting to come back and see the fruit on the trees that we planted,” she says. “I’m happy we’re improving the use of the site and creating a lasting place for people.”

Living Laboratory

“We’re growing species across campus, which is what you want – a diverse tree inventory,” says Grounds Operations Manager Kevin Block, who helped with the plant selection for the food forest. “Between shrubs and trees, we have about 150 species across campus.”

An arboretum is a place where trees and other plants are cultivated for scientific and educational purposes, which is exactly how Smith intends the food forest to be used. 

“It’s a living laboratory,” the Sandown, New Hampshire, native says. “We have this great space for research.”

Smith is developing a life cycle assessment framework that compares the food forest to a traditional lawn. A life cycle assessment is a holistic approach to evaluating the environmental, economic and social impacts of a system throughout its entire existence; however, it lacks the inclusion of most ecosystem functions, such as carbon reuse and urban heat island mitigation. Smith plans to change that with her research.

“(The food forest) is a terrific opportunity for new research avenues,” Sabato says. “It shows that collaborations between faculty with different expertise can create innovative ways to tackle societal challenges.”

Beyond the Classroom

Professors are bringing their classes to the food forest for hands-on experience. 

“The preliminary data will allow us to examine how the evolution of the site from a vacant lot to a food forest affects the biodiversity of species living there,” she says.

Burek intends to work with engineering students as part of a capstone project focused on irrigation system design for the space. 

Before the food forest was established, Winbourne brought her Soil Science class to the site to evaluate the soils. Future classes will monitor changes in the soils as the food forest develops. She also plans for students in her biogeochemistry class to use data collected from the space to generate full carbon budgets, which show the movement of carbon in and out of the food forest over time.

“As an instructor, I am excited to bring students to the food forest,” Winbourne says.

Community Space

Beyond research and academics, the food forest serves as a place where people can unwind and be in touch with nature.

Students also helped prepare the space before the first plantings. They collected cardboard from UMass Lowell Dining to be placed at the site to help improve the soil quality. Yandi's Tree Service in Lowell donated the mulch, and Casella Waste Systems provided the loam and compost, some of which came from UMass Lowell Dining scraps.

Smith spoke to neighboring Lowell residents about the project and looks forward to them checking out the site.

“Well-being is actually the relationship between the health of the environment around us and our own personal health,” Monbleau says. “By taking care of our own health by practicing mindfulness in the labyrinth garden, we are contributing to our own personal well-being while the food forest simultaneously contributes to the well-being of the Earth around us.” 

As the food forest continues to evolve, Smith would like to add more features to the site, including accessible pathways, benches and birdhouses. She is also looking into the best ways to use the produce that grows in the space.

“It’s a really cool feeling knowing that this is something we created that’s here to stay,” she says.