Urban Food Forest at Brown’s Mill, Atlanta

We led a community design process for the residents of the Brown’s Mill community in conjunction with the City of Atlanta, Office of Resilience. The result of this process was the Community Vision Plan for the Food Forest. Over the course of several months, we met, presented, discussed and tasted- foods and medicinal preparations- that gave an experience of a neighborhood food forest. The residents gave informed feedback towards the long-term vision for this unprecedented project.

The eight acre Food Forest Project will be the largest municipally-supported project of its kind in the nation, located in the Brown's Mill neighborhood of Atlanta.  The area is considered a food desert- no access to fresh food within half a mile.  The food forest will host organically-grown nuts, fruits, berries, vegetables and medicinal herbs for local residents to propagate and forage, improving ecological literacy and food/ medicine sovereignty.  The project sets a precedent for resilient, ecological design.  This type of perennial, complex agriculture is the farm of the future as a dynamic, long-lived and nutrient dense food system that withstands environmental instabilities and is intensely resource efficient.

Sustenance Design won the competitive bid for this urban food oasis, presented by the City of Atlanta, Mayor’s Office of Resilience. The project is funded through the National Resilient Communities Initiative, in partnership with The Conservation Fund, US Forest Service and National Parks Service, as well as local growers and groups such as Herbalista Health Network and Homestead Atlanta.  Sustenance Design led the design team including landscape architect Clara Kwon of STAND and Tradd Cotter, Mycologist of Mushroom Mountain, Inc.