Discover how even a small backyard can become a thriving #FoodForest. Join host Dalia Colón as she explores edible and #NativeLandscaping with Zach Zildjian, Edible & Native Landscape Designer. Learn about the benefits of connecting with your food and the environment through sustainable #Gardening.
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– I think it’s really cool to be able to eat, not only just diversity, but things that haven’t been cultivated. You know, there’s always just something about plants that are growing on their own naturally. – And it’s easier. Because they wanna grow here. – Exactly. – I need that. I need some easy wins. Hi, I’m Dalia, Emmy Award-winning journalist and cookbook author. Join me as I explore the intersection of food and sustainability, and how we can all make more eco-conscious choices when we eat. (upbeat music) This is amazing. How big is this property? – The backyard here is just under 1/10 of an acre. – 1/10 of an acre! And I feel like I’m in the rainforest or something. Okay, how did this come about? – I’ve just been interested in tropical fruit and food forests, and just growing food as much as possible for the last five or more years now. This property just happens to be the perfect blank slate. Just a complete lawn. – Can you show me around? – Right here is a sweet potato vine. It’s one of my favorite kind of just multipurpose plants to grow. – Papayas. – Papayas, yep. – [Dalia] Why do you think it’s important to connect with our food? – There’s so many different reasons. For our own health wise, or ecologically and the planet as well, how far our food travels and how much processing it goes through, and how many chemicals are sprayed on it, and how much habitat destruction goes into producing the foods that we eat on a daily basis. Being able to just take a portion of that away and feed yourself even herbs or little bits of greens and fruits or supporting local farmers. You’re also contributing to people that are doing good in your community and you are contributing to just less impact. We got all sorts of native plants for the pollinators as well mixed in. – This is a good sign when all the wildlife is coming here. So what would the world look like if everyone did their part? Everyone can’t be Zack, but everyone can do something. – Being able to connect with where your food comes from. Having some sense of what it takes to grow food. I always like coming out here, and even just taking a bite of any little thing that’s growing that’s edible just to connect with food in a different way and get more nutrients from just a wider variety of plants and foods than you can buy at the grocery store. – It’s very, it’s sticky, I like that. Yeah, it’s a little sticky. They’re constantly, that one might not be the sweetest, but they can get bigger. – Mmm, I like it. They are kind of sweet sometimes.