Impact
INCREASED GREEN SPACE EQUITY
According to Stephen Grey, Associate Professor of Urban Design at Harvard University, “Not every public space is created equally. They show up in different sizes and qualities of space. And the neighborhoods that are overlooked and passed over again are East Boston, the South End, Roxbury, Dorchester, Mattapan.”
Our food forests are intentionally positioned in these historically excluded and overlooked neighborhoods. These sites directly contribute to the effort to increase equitable distribution of public green space in Boston.
Once established, our food forest parks are available to everyone — no prerequisites, no wait lists, no fees. We believe that land equity goes beyond neighborhood placement to include actual, tangible accessibility.
INCREASED RESILIENCY AGAINST RISING TEMPERATURES
The City of Boston’s Preparing for Heat Report warns that “Boston is experiencing increased temperatures and extreme heat events due to climate change... [and] our most vulnerable residents suffer an unfair heat burden.”
Boston’s history of racist mortgage lending practices has led to significant disparities between white Bostonians and Bostonians of color, including:
20% disparity in parkland,
7.5 degree disparity in daytime temperature,
39% disparity in trees.
Because Boston neighborhoods of color like Dorchester and Mattapan lack equitable green space and tree canopy, the residents of these neighborhoods face an inequitable heat burden. This is why climate justice is a racial justice issue in Boston.
We pair this knowledge with humility and curiosity as we work across diverse communities in pursuit of greater racial equity and justice.
STRONGER, MORE ENGAGED COMMUNITIES
As of 2023, the Boston Food Forest Coalition includes 10 unique stewardship teams spanning across five Boston neighborhoods, including Mattapan, Dorchester, and Roxbury.
Each team in our coalition includes anywhere from 5-15 dedicated stewards and volunteers from the surrounding communities, all of whom are the core team of caretakers for their space.
The experience of working collaboratively as a team and alongside the hundreds of annual BFFC volunteers creates more community cohesion within and across Boston neighborhoods, and provides opportunity for people to joyfully care for and engage with nature.
Together, we are weaving a network of mutual aid to support and strengthen our communities, neighborhoods, and each other.
INCREASED DIVERSITY AMONG CLIMATE LEADERS
As of 2023, 73% of our stewardship team leaders are women, and 47% are leaders of color.
Diverse leadership within individual teams invites more diversity into the urban climate movement as a whole. BFFC knows that a diversity of opinions, life experience, and types of wisdom strengthens the movement and our work tremendously.
Beyond stewardship teams, BFFC collaborate with hundreds of neighborhood leaders and volunteers each year, and welcomes thousands of visitors to our events and our food forest parks.
INCREASED FOOD ACCESS
As the trees in our food forests grow, our neighbors have access to more fresh fruit, berries, nuts, and other food sources right in their neighborhoods.
Sites across the coalition have incorporated fruit and nut trees, perennial plants, annual crops, herbs and other edibles into their landscapes. Food forests are designed to address food access by providing habitat for low-maintenance, edible food-producing plants to which all stewards, volunteers and neighbors can eat.
Some sites in the Coalition, like the Old West Church Food Forest and the Ellington Community Garden, donate produce and other food to shelters, elder care facilities, churches, and neighbors in need. We will begin to measure these donation amounts in future years.
Food access is a huge part of community resilience, and we work alongside many others in the food justice movement to increase accessibility and equity within Boston’s food systems.
54,709 SQUARE FEET OF URBAN LAND CONSERVED
To date, the sites protected in the BFFC land trust collectively add up 54, 709 total square feet of Boston land conserved. These parcels of land would otherwise be developed and built upon, or neglected and forgotten.
Under the care of BFFC stewards, volunteers, neighbors, and partner organizations, these 60,661 square feet of land (and growing!) have been and continue to be transformed into thriving forest gardens, enriching Boston neighborhoods and communities.
This land will perpetually remain natural, food-producing oases for future generations to enjoy and sustain.
400+ INDIVIDUAL FRUIT AND NUT TREES PLANTED
To date, we have planted over 400 fruit and nut trees throughout the eight Boston neighborhoods in which our sites reside. Moving forward, that number will only continue to grow.
Trees create cooling canopy for urban neighborhoods and purify the air we breathe. They help mitigate soil erosion, and reduce water runoff that could otherwise lead to flooding. They provide habitat for many species of wildlife, some of which are endangered. They provide a place for children to play and connect with nature.
And, the City of Boston’s Open Space & Recreation Report makes it clear that bolstering the city’s green infrastructure systems can help us withstand and temper the impacts of climate change, and thus strengthen “the future health, resilience and livability of our city.”
With every fruit or nut tree planted and every food forest established, we are working to add cooling canopy to otherwise exposed spaces, thus increasing Boston’s resiliency in the face of climate change-induced temperature spikes.
BFFC plans to plant over 1,000 new fruit and nut trees and bushes across Boston by 2025.
25+ EDUCATIONAL WORKSHOPS PER YEAR
BFFC supports stewardship teams by teaching specific skills and general permaculture and ecological knowledge through on-site workshop classes.
Workshop topics include fruit tree care, soil remediation, plant identification, herbalism, perennial edible cooking, nut processing, and more. Classes are led by community educators and experts in the fields of ecological land management.
Our educational offerings are responsive to site needs, with the overall goal of supporting stewardship teams to effectively care for, preserve and protect their food forests.
REDUCING CARBON IN THE ATMOSPHERE
Research shows that just one tenth of an acre of land, when managed with regenerative permaculture techniques, can sequester up to 1 ton of carbon in the soil over the course of a year.
Our sites utilize regenerative permaculture practices, such as planting nitrogen-fixing plant species, covering bare soil with wood chips or mulch, and incorporating trees into each food forest to stabilize the soil.
In the face of a warming climate, removing as much carbon from the atmosphere as possible is a small step in caring for the planet.
30 Food Forests by ‘30
We have big ambitions for the next four years and beyond.
By 2030, we plan to reach 30 total food forests in our coalition.
Within those sites and communities, BFFC will continue to engage with and activate neighborhood leadership, who will continue the work of sustaining perennial food gardens that teach climate resilience and build cross-cultural, intergenerational community connections.
We hope you’ll become a part of our mission to increase climate resilience, community cohesion, and equity across Boston.
“These food forests are a real treasure in the neighborhood, for the neighborhood. And they should give us hope.”
— June Joseph, Steward of the Edgewater Food Forest at River Street