I am relaxing after a bike ride to the top of City Creek Canyon this morning. The sun streams through the window and the smell of burnt artichoke permeates the air around me. I forgot about the artichokes because I was on the phone with Ray Wheeler, a city planner interested in greening the Jordan River Parkway corridor. Almost 200 acres of golf courses in the Glendale area are slated to transform into something else this year. It is up to us, up to now, to determine what happens to them. Ray got in touch with me through Ashley Patterson of Wasatch Community Gardens and my landlord, Hans Ehrbar. Ray is interested in food forestry and rewilding river systems. I do not blame him. Getting involved in a project this large (25 acres of restored wetland, community gardens, and food forests all accessible along the Jordan River Parkway) is an incredible opportunity. There is little that excites me more than the prospect of Salt Lake City developing its own public food forest, much like Seattle's Beacon Food Forest. There are small precedents throughout the city, such as the Day-Riverside Library eco-garden and the Green Urban Lunchbox, but nothing on the scale of what Ray is proposing.
When I think about this project, it makes me feel excited. I want to get the message out and get plants in the ground. I think that starting out by filling the garden planters with edibles at the Sustainability Resource Center will allow a degree of familiarity that will be followed by the installation of a planter box. For the time being, I think that I will apply for just enough funding to buy a few bags of compost and the appropriate species for the space.
In other news, Cumin the mama rabbit had her first litter of baby bunnies! Born this afternoon while we were on the mountain. For now, they are pink nubs buried in Cumin's plucked fur. But in the weeks to come, they will develop into furry cuddlers!
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