No land? No problem. Lets (not) plant a forest.

Today we are going to spend an hour (not) planting about 1000 trees for nature. We will talk about how there are ways to make an impact even when you don't have land. You just need to know where to go find some.

This doesn't mean going and planting trees on someone else's land. This doesn't mean digging holes on the front lawn of the public library. But finding niche corners in abandoned industrial buildings, finding abandoned land just outside the school or gas station fences, little abandoned corners at the local ballpark, maybe an unmowed abandoned corner at the public park. There is land everywhere, and nature everywhere. By definition you are surrounded by land.

Now, someone out there will go "I'm downtown Times Square New York City, and...", okay stop typing furiously, you "win the argument". There's not land EVERYWHERE. We've completely taken over some places. Maybe do pots on your apartment rooftop. I get it. Now stop. And lets get back to it...

Maybe you hop on a bike and travel out to a walking path. Maybe at that place there are two wildlife corridors that have been separated because someone decided we need a gas station there. Maybe right at the edge of the gas station property, behind their fence, there's a strip of abandoned land that could be pushed back towards forest by (not planting) your own little food forest strip of apple trees, native wildflowers, and non spreading bocking 14 comfrey.

You don't need to be rich to drive change on this planet. That's a crutch, that's an excuse. Throw those shackles away that bind you from taking action, and if you TRULY want to ACT, and help SAVE OUR PLANET, then we can ALL make a difference. We can all get more trees growing. So save up those seeds from your 2 dollar bag of apples from the store, and in the fall, get them in the ground (provided the dislaimer below).

Disclaimer: Do not do any of the things I mention in the video. I certainly don't ever do these things. And I would never suggest anyone do these things. We certainly don't want to feed nature. We would rather nature get hit by our cars trying to find food in human settled land. Right? That's much better. It's much better for wolves to be prowling our streets looking for food because there is no food for them, because there is no food for their prey, because we've clearcut our forests. It's much better that we keep walking towards destruction, cutting down our CO2 sinks. So don't ever plant trees, it's a terrible terrible thing, and you should be arrested and jailed for doing such a heinous act.

Now that this terrifying disclaimer has persuaded you to never be such a terrible person to do these things, it is also critically important that you fully understand the VERY REAL devastation you can do to ecosystems by planting invasives (for real). So don't be all "I'm going to plant these blackberry bushes because they are food, and I'm going to put them everywhere, and I'm going to be Johnny Blackberry". Okay, if you don't know what you are doing, if you don't know whether something has the potential to displace nature, then don't take on the responsibility of spreading plant genetics. It's a true and real responsibility you must take on. So spend a few hours finding out what local native food is GOOD for your environment and climate.

Find out what fruit and nut trees existed before we clearcut them for lumber and agricultural land and replaced say Oaks and Chestnut with Pines-in-lines. Maybe become Johnny Oak, or Johnny Chestnut. Don't become Johnny Kudzu.

__________________

Doing shopping on Amazon? If you start your shopping by clicking on my Amazon affiliate link, it costs you nothing (not even a penny) but I receive a small commission of anything you buy. The link here takes you to my website blog on my favorite permaculture books. However, if you click on any link there as your starting point, then go buy ANYTHING, it helps support me.


Or help me plant trees directly through Patreon by becoming a Patron:

For great recipes, cooking, storing, canning, and growing tips, check out Gardening in the North:

____________
Music credits:
Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License

[CallMeBMac]

I live in a development with two large retention basins that currently have nothing but mud, grass, and a willow tree in each. Would these be appropriate for planting some food vegetation? Also, we have wild turkeys that come through the woods next to the development. What can I plant for them in the woods?

[PaleGhost]

"Be responsible when you're spreading genetics. You can do a lot of damage."
Best life lesson I've ever heard.

[hakdov]

I too am not a guerilla gardener. I certainly don't throw flower seeds all over the place, especially not by abandoned buildings.

[melissab]

This is a revolution I would love to see, creative instead of destructive

[banksarenotyourfriends]

Nice video mate :)

Something else you can consider NOT doing and that I definitely would never do, is to paint some tree stakes fluorescent yellow and plant indigenous trees in well-maintained spaces like parks alongside the stakes. I don't know about where you live, but around my way the guy who drives the lawnmower for the local council wouldn't dare mow down any trees that look like they were planted by another council employee.

[terri-youtube]

never hurts to give nature a little helping hand!~~~ Great video!~

[brycepj]

This video rules. I love the attitude.

[KellenChase]

Loved what you didn’t do in this video. Abd thanks for the talk on “true to seed” planted some mangos and started hearing the quotes about apple and avacados not being true to seed… thought “whatever, I’ll grow, taste and graft if that’s better”, but got me thinking about everything local I can grow here and all the places I won’t plant things

[FoodForestLiving]

Absolutely true! This is the response Ive had to a few friends, recommend they dont plant on any land because no one would notice anyways! When we had an apartment our strawberries grew down to the ground off the balcony and tomatoes started growing in the back swampy mulch 😆

[emmavik-fredriksson]

Great video! I picked loads of apples (as well as blueberries, rosehip, raspberries, currants etc ) in the city I live and yesterday made 5 kg of applesauce! I don't own land but I pick what I can find and I have an allotment to grow food in. I will definitely do some guerilla planting as well.

[myronplatte]

YAAS! Somebody defending seed planted apples! Finally!

[iboughtafixer-upper]

this inspired me to buy some field guides to edible native plants - gonna get my learning on!

[sweetbizil]

I would definitely NEVER do anything illegal... All laws make 100% sense to ensure a prospering ecosystem and culture.... heh

[brockberrick]

lmao, "I did NOT plant a seed there"

[nariseconnor]

This is so affirming! I definitely haven't been doing something similar. And I definitely haven't been taking buckets of nuts from my favorite trees and dumping them in a place where I think the squirrels would love to plant them out, oh no.

[susanwoodward]

Your suggestions are superbly suggestive and sarcastic!! Love the possibilities.

[formidableflora]

"It's not being used at all for any kind of agriculture....It's not being used for anything..." Offering another perspective--it's not being used by humans. That field by the rink is probably a hub of early succession activity; there are many disturbance-adapted wildlife species, many quite ephemeral along the successional trajectory towards a stable climax community. Many people reading these comments already understand this, so this is meant as an open question, not criticism: When we design to accelerate forest succession, how fast can we push all of our ecological marbles across the table simultaneously without losing any, perhaps even unintentionally? What does that look like to the rest of you? Let's plant trees? Let's plant trees plus comfrey? Trees plus something other than comfrey? Let's plant wild senna to feed those wild turkeys, pussytoes to host American lady butterflies, bearberry for elfin butterfly larvae, etc? Or something altogether different? (Aside: with good plant ID skills, free native wildflower seed is everywhere to collect and [not] spread appropriately.)

[jennifer]

LOL I'm finally getting your sense of humor. Only been watching you & FreakSenseTV to help get thru this. Thank You!

[wmluna]

I love this so much. This is right up my alley. Can't believe I've never thought of this. Thank you!

[jessicalandi]

Best video inspiration for not planting seeds all over the dang place! Classic!