FGCU: Food Forest

My experience at the FGCU food forest was not what I expected. Typically, I do not find a sparked interest in plants but I was impressed with the Food Forest. This field trip taught me permaculture and sustainable food systems. Everything that was offered in the food forest that was apart of the student botanical garden, was edible. I think the Food forest fits with FGCUs mission in sustainability because it educates students about the different types of plants and foods from all over that can be grown here in Southwest Florida. There were many things that interested me about the FGCU food forest. As an FGCU student I find it very honorable to say that we have the second largest food forest in the nation. I also find it interesting that it was made from the FGCU students specifically. When taking the tour, our tour guide pointed out that every plant was placed in a certain location for a specific reason. Whether it was the banana tree located in the back of the forest because they are the most sensitive to light and heat, or if a plant was placed so that it could pollinate and help another plant grow. With that being said, it made me realize how much thought the students put into the forest to make sure it had a long lasting life span. Individually, we could incorporate some of the practices we learned and use it for our own benefits. Instead of going out and buying Benadryl for an example, we can take what we learned about one of the plants and crush it up on our own, add saliva to it and it works as a medication. There a many other plants that could be planted on our own and used for various things that an individual could use instead of going out and buying.