This Beautiful Floating Food Forest is Coming to New York Soon

_{Photo Credit: Swaleny.org}Is it a public art project or a tourist destination? This beautiful looking floating forest has got everyone wondering in New York. It’s definitely a work of art worth seeing, but the idea behind its creation is more to do with establishing an edible ecosystem. All set to sail this summer, Swale is a collaborative floating food project that will offer free healthy food at the intersection of public art and service. There have been such initiatives in the past, like the Beacon Food Forest in Seattle or the Clifton Park Food Forest in Baltimore, what’s unique about Swale is that it is built on a barge. Covered over one-tenth of an acre (100 by 30 foot), it will be planted with a variety of plants and trees like persimmon, paw-paw trees, gooseberries, autumn olives, chives, artichokes, Swiss chard, tomatoes, along with other fruits and vegetables, herbs and nuts. The good thing? Visitors are allowed to stroll, harvest and eat – all of this free of charge. Swale will dock at six major ports along the Hudson River for at least one month each including Governors Island, Yankee Pier, Pier 36, Concrete Plant Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park.
The free-floating forest, created by artist Mary Mattingly, has been assembled out of repurposed shipping containers. This is not her first project; she has designed a number of ecosystems and mobile environments, including floating art Waterpod and WetLand.Supported by non-profit A Blade of Grass, the aim of the project is “to reimagine food as a public service, reinforce water as a human right, and work together to co-create common spaces.”  They decided to float the forest on water as this allows them to travel and engage more people. If everything goes as planned, Swale could produce up to 6,000 pounds of food in a year which can be compared to traditional food forests on land and serve around 300 people in a day.Community groups, nautical engineers and a team of landscape architects have all come together to meet challenges like purifying the salt water before it can be used for irrigation and adopting specific methodologies for food production. Food forests are one of the oldest forms of gardening that helps diversify plant life through companion planting and supportive planting methods. Swale is expected to hit the shores sometime in July and seems like a great way for people to get fresh, healthy produce in the heart of the city. Here’s hoping that this floating forest will spread some urban happiness.