The JMU Edible Forest Garden (EFG) project broke ground in Fall 2021 with the planting of over 100 trees and shrubs on JMU’s east campus. The JMU EFG works to advance the mission of the university by offering unique and innovative educational and service-learning opportunities for students, alumni, staff, faculty, and community members. A central focus of the EFG is to enhance awareness of perennial food production and urban forestry. Furthermore, the Forest Garden seeks to elevate the environmental sustainability of the institution by expanding pollinator habitat, restoring marginal soils, improving localized nutrient cycling, enhancing biodiversity, and providing local produce to the campus and community.
The JMU EFG is led by Dr. Mikaela Schmitt-Harsh but is a collaborative initiative involving faculty, staff, and students across different disciplines and colleges. Students have taken active and lead roles to support this project, including growing plants from seed in the greenhouse, collating information and resources on plant guilds, documenting and photographing changes in plant phenology, and developing a social media presence for the project.
The project was made possible by a generous donation from Danone N.A. through JMU Foundations. Additional support for the project came from a Virginia Trees for Clean Water (VTCW) grant, which is funded by the Virginia Department of Forestry (VDOF).
Picture captions. Project start date and volunteer tree planting day (2021-10-15) (row 1, pic 1, 2, 3). Caging trees to slow deer damage (2021-11-19) (row 1, pic 4). Digging an underground drip irrigation system (2022-04-28) (row 2, pic 1). Mulching and tree growth (2022-09-09) (row 2, pic 2). Tree pruning workshop (2023-02-24) (row 2, pic 3). Trees VA Board visiting the forest garden (2023-03-08) (row 2, pic 4). Early plum bloom (2023-03-02) (row 3, pic 1). Pollination of locust (2023-05-17) (row 4, pic 2). Jostaberries (2023-06-12) (row 4, pic 3). Plum fruit with yellow jacket (2023-06-23) (row 4, pic 4).