I grew up on a piece of land that, while in a city, was basically an acre of invasive Himalayan blackberry.  This meant being perennially covered in scratches, thorn-poked and itchy and so I dreamed of their removal. But of course for two weeks out the year the rampant growth paid off in pies, cobblers, jam and the best breakfast of all, blackberries in a bowl eaten in the sun with bare feet and no school to go to. 

Last summer, making the case for such prolific wild urban edibles was one way the Permacouture Institute contributed to Flowers in the Woods, a program of London events organized by Avant-Gardening. Avant-Gardening is an arts collective run by Paul Green and Polly Brannan.  Over the last year they have been working in social housing estates finding ways to support the communities by mobilizing creativity and bringing in teaching tools like artist Lisa Cheung’s mobile allotment. 

The council estates we visited were universally landscaped with dry grass, mainly used by dogs, which only added to the feeling of harshness.  Many of the residents said they would love an orchard or community garden in the space but it is incredibly difficult to get local government to approve such plans.

The Permacouture Institute workshops worked to reinforce gardening, foraging and a connection with the land, supporting creativity and greater livability.

Avant-Gardening organized another non-profit, Wild Zones from Berkeley, California to spend a weekend helping the kids transform back woods into a safer place to play and build forts. Kew Gardens donated palm fronds and other exotic cuttings for forest building.

Similarly Permacouture Institute’s blackberry workshop showed ways of using the berries to dye clothing and napkins which were used for the picnic of mini blackberry pies.  To conquer the mistrust of eating blackberries, we made sure to only pick the soft ripe berries without any red bits on them and hanging above dog level. The berries were washed, spooned onto butter piecrusts and sprinkled with powdered sugar. 

-Katelyn