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U.S. NEWS Thursday 24 augusT 2017

American Living:

Food is free for the taking at floating ‘forest’ in NYC

By KAREN MATTHEWS carrots. The arrangement
Associated Press of trees, shrubs and ground
NEW YORK (AP) — An old cover plants can look
construction barge plant- random but is intended
ed with vegetables, apple to make good use of the
trees and fragrant herbs is barge’s 5,000 square feet
giving apartment-dwelling (465 square meter).
New Yorkers a chance to “You’re planting things
pick something and eat it. next to one another that
Part floating garden, part complement each other
artwork and part commu- in how they use the soil,”
nity organizing project, the Crowley said. For example,
barge called Swale is cur- she said, there’s a lot of
rently docked on a river clover, which isn’t gener-
in the South Bronx and will ally a food for humans but
move to Hudson River Park is “a really good nitrogen
in lower Manhattan from fixer,” meaning it takes ni-
Sept. 15 to Nov. 15. trogen from the air and de-
Founder Mary Mattingly posits it into the ground.
created Swale in part to Swale is open to the pub-
give New Yorkers an oppor- lic Friday through Sunday
tunity to forage for food, from 1 to 7 p.m. and hosts
which is illegal throughout tours Monday through
the city’s 30,000 acres of Wednesday.
public parks. The no-forag- A group of Kickstarter sum-
ing rule doesn’t apply to mer interns visited Tues-
Swale, since it’s a barge. day and heard about the
“Because not everyone In this Aug. 1, 2017, photo, volunteers and crew arrive on the Swale in New York. The Swale garden plants and also about the
has access to healthy food is an old construction barge planted with vegetables, apple trees and fragrant herbs that gives need for nutritious produce
New Yorkers a chance to pick their own dinners.
in New York, I saw Swale (AP Photo/Michael Noble Jr.) in a “food desert” like the
as a tool to advocate for South Bronx, where super-
policy change,” said Mat- 2016 with funding from past. tichokes waited to be un- markets are scarce.
tingly, an artist who is di- Kickstarter and A Blade of The apples weren’t ripe yet earthed. What looked like Intern Angela Huang said
viding her time between Grass, a nonprofit that sup- during a visit this week but daisies turned out to be the tour was “fantastic.”
Swale and her summer resi- ports socially engaged art. there were plenty of herbs, coneflowers, also known A trailing plant with suc-
dency at Monet’s Garden The hard cider company both culinary and me- as echinacea, the popular culent leaves caught
in Giverny, France. Strongbow is providing ad- dicinal. Kitchen basics like cold remedy. Huang’s eye. Known as
Swale’s harvest is free for ditional support this year mint, thyme and oregano “It grows wild all over the purslane, it’s a common
the taking. Dariella Rodri- including a donated “or- mingled with sassafras, bee place,” said Amanda Mc- weed that can be eaten
guez, director of outreach chard” of eight apple trees. balm, hyssop and chicory. Donald Crowley, a curator raw or cooked and is sold
for Youth Ministries for “It aligns with our messag- There was jewelweed, of Swale’s plants. “When at farmer’s markets.
Peace and Justice, a com- ing because we’re about known for its skin-healing you take a walk around “When I was younger, my
munity group that leads bringing nature into the properties, and wild car- Swale and identify an echi- family and I used to take
tours of Swale, said many city,” said Reggie Gustave, rot, used for centuries as a nacea flower, you will then walks. My mom would walk
visitors are surprised they Strongbow’s brand man- contraceptive. There were see them all over the city. I around the neighborhood
don’t have to pay. ager. chokeberry shrubs, a na- see weeds in the city now and look for that specific
“Immediately they’re like, The 130-foot (40-meter) tive plant whose tart berries and recognize them as ed- type of plant,” Huang said.
‘how much?’ And when barge is now docked in can be made into jam, as ibles. Or medicinals.” She texted a picture of the
we tell them that it’s free, the Bronx River at Concrete well as the familiar black- Swale’s creators call it a purslane to her mother and
they’re really shocked,” Plant Park, whose decom- berries and blueberries. floating food forest, not her mother texted back, “I
Rodriguez said. missioned concrete silos Root vegetables like po- a garden or a farm, and made dumplings with that
Swale was launched in recall the area’s industrial tatoes and Jerusalem ar- there are no neat rows of last week.”q