Nonprofit leaders are working to transform a plot of land in the Southeast neighborhood into a “food forest” where neighbors can roam through greenery and pluck produce for free.
The Newport News Green Foundation recently broke ground on the $1 million Sarfan Food Forest, which has been in the works for years.
“The idea is that eventually the landscape will become and create its own little ecosystem,” said executive director Tami Farinholt, “and will be able to manage and sustain itself pretty much on its own.”
The 5-acre site across from Discovery STEM Academy is mostly an empty expanse of grass, except for a handful of trees planted by the nonprofit a few years ago.
Once home to a synagogue, the land was donated to the Green Foundation by the Sarfan Family.
Farinholt said the nonprofit considered different uses for the property and settled on the food forest after consulting with the neighborhood.
Residents reported challenges with accessing fresh, affordable food, she said. The Southeast community is considered a food desert.
A food forest is similar to a community garden — communal spaces where produce is grown.
But the latter is more labor-intensive and requires more management, Farinholt said, with community members often charged with tending specific plots.
“Say you're waiting for your perfect tomato to ripen, and it's been on the vine for a while, and you come back, and it's gone because somebody else saw your tomato and wanted it,” she said. “So you’re having to deal with those conflicts.”
The food forest will require only initial planting of shrubs and trees.
When they bloom, "what's growing onto that property is open to whoever gets there first.”
The project also aligns with the group’s environmental mission, she said, by helping support wildlife and reduce pollution.
The nonprofit plans to complete it in phases over the next few years, as funding rolls in.
Current construction is focused on a section at the back of the property devoted to stormwater management, as required by the city.
Craig Larson, project manager for the contractor, GC Commercial, said that includes a fence barrier to prevent sediment from eroding into adjacent Salters Creek.
The crew will soon excavate 4 inches of soil so that officials can bring in and till amended soil for the plant bed.
“Then we'll start bringing in the trees, bushes and plants,” Larson said. “The step after that is, watch it grow.”
The full site plan includes infrastructure, such as a pavilion, farm stand and picnic tables, as well as a berry patch, orchard, pollinator meadow and Tsenacommacah Indigenous Garden guided by the Nansemond Indian Nation.
Trees and shrubs will include a mix of fruit-bearing and native species, such as blueberries, hazelnuts, magnolias, loblolly pines and crabapples.
The smattering of trees planted a few years ago has already been open to the community, including pears, plums, figs and persimmons.
“We had one woman that said she made nine jars of fig jam from what she foraged from here,” Farinholt said. “So when there's stuff growing, it's definitely a place to be.”
