{"id":2494,"date":"2026-06-05T12:34:50","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:34:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2494"},"modified":"2026-06-05T12:34:50","modified_gmt":"2026-06-05T12:34:50","slug":"nc-food-forest-captures-attention-of-the-united-nations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2494","title":{"rendered":"NC food forest captures attention of the United Nations"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) \u2014 It started with one small piece of land in the Piedmont Triad. Now it\u2019s grown to become a model so big that it\u2019s caught the attention of the\u00a0United Nations. <\/p>\n

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The Winston-Salem Permaculture Collective was invited to the U.N. \u201cSummit of the Future\u201d to showcase how the nonprofit is turning food\u00a0deserts into food forests.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this program, we\u2019re bringing native fruit trees to neighbors and helping them to start getting acquainted with the food forest model,\u201d said Laura Carisa Gardea, founder of the Southside Food Forest.<\/p>\n

And that model is simple \u2013 take a\u00a0piece of vacant, neglected land in a food desert and fill it with fruit trees, berry bushes, herbs and edible flowers. The land then\u00a0grows to become a food forest capable of nourishing people physically, mentally and spiritually.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, a lot of people think gardening, they think raised beds, they think, you know, these kinds of structures, and working with the habitat of North Carolina, we\u2019re so blessed,\u201d said Gardea. \u201cI mean, we have such a beautiful canopy of trees here, and a beautiful array of native plants.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Southside Food Forest sits just outside downtown Winston-Salem on West Acadia Avenue. Gardea says it is a model community garden first inspired by her grandfather\u2019s love of gardening, but as a student at the UNC School of the Arts and Wake Forest University, she was inspired to garden with a little more creativity \u2013 a garden you plant once, and it produces food year after year. She calls it a \u201cmicro-orchard\u201d filled with nature.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, the food forest bio appreciates, and it also impacts the entire ecosystem, so it\u2019s building resilience,\u201d Gardea said. \u201cHere we\u2019re putting wood chips and mulch on the ground, and so this is helping to retain water. It\u2019s helping to, you know, if we have a lot of rain, it\u2019s holding that water. And then when we go for periods without rain, that\u2019s important too. So the forest has a topsoil, it has a texture, and it has layers, so you have the soil, you have ground cover, you have vines, herbs, trees, shrubs, medicinals, and they all work together to create habitat and provide soil, air and water filtration, and you can do this without fertilizers in an organic way, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

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In the last five years, the Southside Food Forest has become home to more than 80 varieties of trees and plants growing figs, persimmons, apples and plums. You\u2019ll also find blackberries,\u00a0blueberries and muscadine grapes. <\/p>\n

Community volunteers help maintain the space with planting, weeding and pruning, and it\u2019s open for foraging, so people are welcome to come in and pick the fruits, nuts, berries and herbs. <\/p>\n

A $2,000 grant from The Winston-Salem Foundation helped purchase more fruit trees to give to people who want to start their own food forest. Gardeahopes the idea will grow here at home and around the world with help from the U.N.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou know, a garden can really make you smile,\u201d said Gardea, \u201cand seeing that impact, especially in the youth, and how much they gravitate to these spaces, you\u2019d be surprised and shocked how many children come to the food forest, and \u2026 they\u2019re so connected, and it just really, for me, restores my faith in where we\u2019re heading as a community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Southside Food Forest is also open to anyone who\u00a0just wants to connect with nature, and it\u2019s available\u00a0to rent for private events. If you\u2019re interested in learning more, visit their website<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (WGHP) \u2014 It started with one small piece of land in the Piedmont Triad. Now it’s grown to become a model so big that it’s caught the attention of the\u00a0United Nations. The Winston-Salem Permaculture Collective was invited to the U.N. “Summit of the Future” to showcase how the nonprofit is turning food\u00a0deserts into […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2493,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nNC food forest captures attention of the United Nations - Raleigh Moving News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/raleighmovingnews.com\/?p=2494\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"NC food forest captures attention of the United Nations - Raleigh Moving News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. 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