Events Calendar

Gabe LePage from the Food Forest Coalition of Chattanooga will discuss edible native plants and how to use them to make a more abundant landscape. 

Here is what Gabe says about his program:

We can cultivate the land towards mercy and delight. In this presentation, we will meet some of the plant characters native to this area that have long sustained human life, and consider how they can help us create a more abundant landscape in our neighborhoods and in Chattanooga. We will discuss the idea of food forests and how food forests can heal the land, feed us, and build up the social fabric of our communities. By growing edible native plants, we can take care of the land as it cares for us, and encourage a social economy with enough to go around. 

Gabe is a graduate of Yale Divinity School and Yale School of the Environment, holding a Masters of Divinity and a Masters of Environmental Management. His undergraduate degrees were in International Development Studies and Geography at Calvin College. He has experience in urban forestry programs, urban agriculture and community gardening, and Asset Based Community Development. Trained in systems thinking and participatory organizing techniques, he believes strongly in the ways that community-led greenspaces and gardens build the social fabric of our neighborhoods, reduce isolation, and build trust for addressing larger systemic issues.