Springridge Commons

Springridge Commons is a productive food forest designed with permaculture principles and open to everyone. The site was formerly a gravel lot, and now, thanks to sheet mulching, is flourishing with mulberries, cherry, plum and fig trees, gumi and logan-berry bushes, sage, oregano, mugwort, milk thistle currants, rose bushes and other medicinal, edible, mostly native plants to nourish the community and the soil.

This past year a Steering Committee was formed to steward the site and guide the Commons forward. Bi-weekly work parties were led by Commitee members- these work parties attracted many new and diverse volunteers and began to tackle the grasses and other invasives (like Morning Glory) which we growing rampantly on site. Weeding and sheet mulching were regular activities! We also built trellises for the loganberries, a new three-bin composter, and extended and repaired the irrigation. Our future plans include a community cob-building workshop to build cob benches to encourage community gatherings; and a mapping and signage project to provide visitors to the commons with a map and information about the plants found there: when to harvest them, properties of the plants and how to enjoy them. We’re hoping to engage nearby Vic High students on this project by giving them a tour of the site and introduction to permaculture principles; then having them research a plant of their choice and help design the signage for that plant.

We are really excited about engaging the Fernwood community in the Commons, and the signage and bench projects will contribute to that. Please come visit the Commons at your leisure and harvest the plants there as you wish. If you’d like to work/party with us, come to the work parties every other Saturday between 3-6pm (Oct 3, 17th, 31st and so on).