There are ways to create public food without the maintenance costs. One way of doing this is to plant edibles (non invasive - invasives will be sprayed with poisons) in your local park or other public spaces. This has been an increasingly popular activity.
This is what many indigenous people did as a regular activity and this is why they experienced abundance. They regularly created more food to eat by planting edible trees and plants in the jungle or forest that naturally grow there anyway. Thus, we find jungles in the Mayan regions with much higher rates of bananas, breadfruit and other fruits than in less populated jungles, as one example, which we described in the Agroforestry section of this course.
Some people have continued this tradition in modern cities by planting fruit trees in parks, or simply dropping seeds (sometimes with no thought of planting a tree).
One of my favorite examples is a large wild tangerine grove growing under oaks in a local park. One can find sour oranges and wild tangerines, which often end up very sweet and delicious, scattered throughout the park but one section is particularly thick with tangerines.
It’s clear that hikers know about it and harvest the fruit as the lower levels are quickly cleared. I take my fruit picker with me and harvest the higher fruit, filling my backpack with delicious, free fruit.
In Florida, oak hammocks are a supportive system for citrus. The citrus isn’t invasive and doesn’t dominate, so it ends up being a symbiotic situation since the fruit can support wildlife that provide services to the oaks. Wild tangerines are just one additional way for humans to enjoy the park too - contributing to their desire to protect it.
Wild oranges in Hammock Park, Dunedin, FL.
A wild food forest has sprung up in Philippe Park in Safety Harbor which includes loquat, jackfruit, citrus, mango and more.
Tanya Vidovic, a local food forest enthusiast, has planted fruit trees in more than one park in the Tampa Bay area. It’s possible to get permission to do this, but it also may not be necessary. The tangerine grove appeared as a result of people eating tangerines and dropping the seeds into the forest. Why not drop seeds (or seedlings) of other fruit into a local forest where they are likely to survive?
One caveat, be aware of the invasive potential of some fruit. For instance, strawberry guava, which is a delicious and hardy fruit, will take over swampy areas completely so that nothing else can grow. This reduces ecosystem health and diversity over the long term. But most fruit trees easily stay under control in a diverse forest setting and can provide a delightful snack - or a meal for those who may need it.
Urban parks are an ideal place to plant fruit and nut trees, along with perennial greens, medicinal herbs and root crops. Some parks spray poisons to control weeds and that is a barrier to overcome, but many do not. Any common area is a potential spot for a food forest - there really are no limitations beyond your imagination.
There is a very old graveyard near our home. Many say it's haunted. A few people still visit it, judging by the occasional fresh flower bouquet left near a grave. But in any case, it is on property owned by a local company, which must leave it there by order of the authorities. Surrounding it is a small wooded area that is full of wild citrus and chicksaw plum.
We harvest from it most years; we're not the only ones. We have yet to plant more fruit trees there, but it is a perfect spot for it, as no one appears to manage the forest area, and the graveyard is barely maintained. It is unlikely to be disturbed in the foreseeable future. We could plant mulberries, moringa and similar plants that will survive without further care.
When doing this type of gardening, it's important to plant during the season that will support such plants - for us, that means the rainy season, starting in June. This gives the plant several months of guaranteed watering to become established.
Austin, TX has 400 miles of bike and walking paths, many of which are located in semi-wild areas, along streams. While walking on one of these paths, I noted a number of wild edibles including grapes, mesquite, blackberry, pecan, hackberry, and wild herbs of several types.
There was much opportunity along this route to plant more wild edibles. The trails in this city could be loaded with food with a bit of imagination and timing (planting in the rainy season). What if people adopted a section of the path near their home and planted a few edible plants? This could include native wildflowers and other wildlife support plants as well.
Though this isn't exactly guerilla gardening or a permaculture food forest, it may be possible to find an inroad to get cities to plant edible trees. In a recent visit to Denver, I was impressed by a relatively new planting of shade trees and bushes, many of them edible like serviceberry and linden, along streets in a walkable neighborhood near downtown.
I doubt the intention was to produce food - all the trees were good survivors for the climate and attractive. But maybe someone in the selection process had a fondness for edibles. Are you connected to your neighborhood organizations?
Why not propose getting some edible trees planted by the city where they will be planting and maintaining anyway? Or offer to donate some, or raise funds from local businesses to do so. Sometimes, it's good to approach these projects from a place other than planting public food - people have many concerns about this though they are rarely realized (judging by every guerilla food situation I've ever seen).
An example is a concern about messy fruit on sidewalks. I remember a huge mulberry tree in my neighborhood that dropped tons of messy (and staining) fruit that kids tracked into homes. OK, don't put a staining fruit directly on a sidewalk or busy walking area. But in other cases, edibles ended up not being a problem at all. These are points to think about as a designer.
Several midwestern towns had a derecho destroy a good portion of their trees in the last couple of years. Some of them vowed to replant even more trees. Why not ensure some of them are edibles?
There are myriad opportunities to get food sources planted in common areas of cities, towns, or rural areas. These are only a fraction of the many examples of people creatively taking back the commons to produce food. In guerilla gardening, look for opportunities where plants are unlikely to be disturbed or sprayed, where they can survive on their own or where you can (and will) access them to help them establish, where they will get some support from the ecosystem around them, and where people will likely find them.
Where are some places in your region suitable for guerilla gardening?