Tree planting event kicks off series of sessions on plants providing food on public land

by Geoff Fox

Members of Wild Potomac and volunteers from the community gathered in Widmeyer Park last Saturday, April 18, to plant a variety of trees and shrubs near Little Tonoloway Creek, road, and the town pickleball courts.

Twelve volunteers helped plant nine bark shrubs, black aronia, yellow bud hickory, wild black cherry, burr oak, and red bud.

Those plants are native to this area of Maryland and have evolved here, and are trees that are suited for the conditions in Widmeyer Park.

Wild Potomac Executive Director Neil Gormley said his group also looked at what plants could provide food for both humans and wildlife in the area when planning the planting effort.

Wild Potomac is working with the Town of Hancock to get people connected to the local trees. The organization will be holding a series of events in town over the next few months.

Gormley said it would culminate at the end of this year and into next in working with people to help design a food forest in Hancock.

Em Chiappinelli (left) and Neil Gormley (right) of Wild Potomac demonstrate to volunteers how to plant the trees in Widmeyer Park on Saturday morning, April 18.

The event last Saturday was the first of four that have been planned for Hancock.

The second will be a session on caring for trees and how to maintain them. Session three will be identifying trees with a walk where edible and medicinal plants will be pointed out. The fourth event will cover cooking with tree foods, with demonstrations of processing tree foods into food for people.

The areas selected for the different trees and shrubs were identified as areas where more shade could be enjoyed on playground equipment and the floodplain area along Little Tonoloway Creek.

Trees were planted by the pickleball courts as it gets real hot in that area with no shade, Gormley said.

Gormley said the maturation of the trees to the point that they will be able to supply the berries or shade depends on the species.

For a canopy tree, it will be 10 to 12 years before it’s producing a significant amount of food for people.

“We’re trying to mix in some shrubs that can produce a lot more quickly like aronia, or black chokeberry, which despite the name, has some really tasty berries and really nutritious,” Gormley said.

Neil Gormley (left) and Chelsea Stolte (right) place a tree sapling in a hole along Hancock Veterans Parkway in Widmeyer Park last Saturday.

The shrub can produce fruit in three years.

The goal of having a food forest in Hancock is within reach.

A food forest is similar to an orchard, but it usually has a wider diversity of plants and is structured more like a regular forest with different canopy layers.

Gormley said Wild Potomac has talked to the town about the forest but they haven’t decided where to put it.

Instead, they want to get input from people at their events and make it a community-led process to decide where the food forest could go.

“There are some parks I think it would work really well, but that all remains to be decided,” he said.

Gormley said there will be one or two community meetings this winter to have people decide where to plant the forest.

With 12 people at the planting, Gormley said it was a great turnout.

“We’re thrilled to have a dozen people here today,” he said. “It’s our first event, we didn’t know how many people would be able to make it. It’s great to see the community come out.”

Gormley said he hopes anyone who hears about the event last Saturday would come to the future events and get involved and make their voices heard in the community decision on how to make a food forest for Hancock.