skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, February 18, 2025

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Top Social Security official exits after clash with Musk's DOGE over data NYers brace for effects of higher bank fees, dismantling CFPB; Top Russian and US officials discuss improving ties and ending the Ukraine war without Kyiv; Closure of EPA branch predicted to affect MS environment; CT paraeducators organize to get a living wage.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

On a Middle East visit, Sen. Richard Blumenthal rejects a Gaza takeover. President's Day protests erupt around the country against White House moves, and another aviation accident draws attention to recent FAA cuts.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Rural America struggles with opioids and homelessness in unexpected ways, Colorado's Lariat Ditch could help spur local recreation, and book deliveries revive rural communities hit by Hurricane Helene.

Edible Forests: A Healthy Alternative to MN Food Deserts

play audio
Play

Friday, August 28, 2020   

LUVERNE, Minn. - A nonprofit group is working to create "edible forests" to provide lower-income communities, including in southwestern Minnesota, greater access to healthy foods.

Project Food Forest, based in Sioux Falls, wants to help eliminate "food deserts," areas where there's no grocery store nearby that sells affordable, nutritious products.

While community gardens help fight hunger, Kim Rockman - executive director of Project Food Forest - said they can be hard to maintain in a neighborhood with limited resources. She said food forests require some volunteer work after they've been established, but don't need as much attention because they're made up mostly of self-sustaining perennials.

"There's no one-size-fits-all model for a food forest," she said. "We have done vegetables, we have a few vegetables in the ground now, but definitely, the focus is the perennial plants."

The perennials include fruit trees, berries, herbs, mushrooms - all types of edibles, grown in conditions that mimic nature and offer variety for those who might otherwise lack access.

For now, Rockman said the group's primary work is in Luverne, Minnesota, classified as a food desert by the U.S. Department of Agriculture. The community food forest there saw its first plantings in 2018.

Rockman said there's a lot of need on the South Dakota side as well, and her group's reach includes northwestern Iowa, too. She said she also gets requests from other parts of the country, where communities need guidance.

"A big chunk of what we're doing, in addition to the hands-on, hyper-local work," she said, "is how can we bridge gaps?"

Supporters of this movement say they're not trying to replace the work of community gardens or food pantries - and that all these resources complement each other. They also point out that food forests have environmental benefits, by creating tree canopies in urban areas lacking in nature.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
AARP Community Challenge grants have helped launch community gardens, which help improve livability for residents in a number of ways. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

AARP Colorado is accepting applications from nonprofits and local governments across the state for this year's Community Challenge grant program…


Health and Wellness

play sound

Town hall meetings start tonight across California, pushing back against congressional Republicans' proposal to cut hundreds of billions of dollars …

Social Issues

play sound

Worker's rights advocates and nursing home providers say Washington has a long-term care workforce crisis, and that inadequate benefits in the …


ALICE data from the United Way found between 2019-2022, the median hourly wage for teaching assistants in Connecticut was $23.38. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

Connecticut union organizers are working to get pension plans for paraeducators. In recent years, they have won a flurry of benefits from organizing …

Social Issues

play sound

Some New York members of Congress are trying to repeal bank overdraft fee regulations. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau created a rule …

Women, young adults and those with a family history of depression tend to experience seasonal affective disorder at higher rates. (Adobe Stock)

Health and Wellness

play sound

If the cold weather and snow have got you down and feeling like there's no end in sight, you are not alone. Nationwide, up to 6% of the population …

Health and Wellness

play sound

New legislation backed by the American Heart Association would require all Oregon schools to have cardiac emergency response plans in place. …

Health and Wellness

play sound

By Tim Spears for WISH-TV.Broadcast version by Joe Ulery for Indiana News Service reporting for the WISH-TV-Free Press Indiana-Public News Service Col…

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021