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“At its heart, Swale is a call to action. It asks us to reconsider our food systems, to confirm our belief in food as a human right and to pave pathways to create public food in public space.” 

– Mary Mattingly, Swale’s founding artist

A public floating food forest

Swale is a floating food forest built atop a barge that travels to piers in New York City, offering educational programming and welcoming visitors to harvest herbs, fruits and vegetables for free. Swale strives to strengthen stewardship of public waterways and land, while working to shift policies that will increase the presence of edible perennial landscapes.

History of Swale

Swale was founded in 2016 by artist Mary Mattingly, through a grant from A Blade of Grass.

In the summer of 2016, Swale launched at Concrete Plant Park in the South Bronx, one of the largest food deserts in the United States. Food deserts are a reality in many communities in New York City; as many as three million New Yorkers live in communities with limited access to places where they can get fresh produce. Swale began as an idea to advocate for food to be grown on some of the 30,000 acres of public land in New York City, through urban stewardship initiatives led by community partners in the South Bronx.

Swale currently works with Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice to run free public programming, while also providing professional development opportunities for young folks in the South Bronx. In the summer of 2017, Swale will continue to collaborate with Bronx River Alliance, The Point and the New York City Parks Department to expand access to public food in the South Bronx.

Public foraging and policy

According to the New York City Parks Department;

1. 1. No person shall deface, write upon, injure, sever, mutilate, kill or remove from the ground any trees under the jurisdiction of the Department without permission of the Commissioner.
   2. No person shall deface, write upon, sever, mutilate, kill or remove from the ground any plants, flowers, shrubs or other vegetation under the jurisdiction of the Department without permission of the Commissioner.

Because of the common laws of New York City’s waterways, Swale is able to act as a test case as an edible public food forest. Swale is built atop a barge that was once used for hauling sand to construction sites before it was re-purposed for growing food.

Public Food: Tragedy of the commons?

We hope to encourage New Yorkers to care for our common home and to address food as a commons in public space. Following the insights of Elinor Ostrom, Swale relies on the principle that commons can be sustainably managed where people know each other, trust each other, and work together in caring for a place. There is no limit in foraging on Swale. In fact when Swale launched, and there was not much ripe to pick, on some days we found more people bringing plants than taking them.  Swale is organized with the help of individuals, community groups, as well as city organizations in order to reinforce food and water as essential elements of a cooperatively stewarded commons. Swale calls attention to the collective use of New York City’s land and waterways through public tours, workshops and events.

In 2016, Swale hosted over 60,000 visitors and 100 public programs at Concrete Plant Park, on Governors Island and in Brooklyn Bridge Park.

Plants

Swale’s plant community is made up of perennial native fruit trees and shrubs, leafy self-seeding annuals and salt loving grasses. Our model for landscape design is inspired by edible forestry,  permaculture, and salt-tolerant estuary ecosystems. Our plants have come from many generous donations from Greenbelt Native Plant Center, the New York City Parks Department and Visitors onboard! Our plant list is always expanding. Want to bring a plant onboard Swale? Let us know!

Here’s what’s currently onboard:

Canopy
Beach Plum, Black Chokeberry, Black Tupelo, Black willow, ‘Enterprise’ Apple, ‘Goldrush’ Apple, Fuyu Persimmon, Goji Berry, Hawthorn, Italian Alder, Newtown Pippin Apple (native to Queens NY!), Liberty Apple, ‘Northern Spy’ Apple, Northline Serviceberry, Pitch pine, Red Chokeberry, Sweetbay Magnolia

Shrub
American Red Raspberry, Arkansas Blackberry, Blue Ridge Blueberry, Dogbane, Eastern Juniper, False Indigo, Flame Willow, Golden Curls Willow, Gooseberry, Missouri River Willow, Northern Highbush Blueberry, Pennsylvania Blackberry, Red Stem Dogwood, Rosemary, Sassafras, Triple Crown Blackberry, Winterberry

Herbaceous
Asparagus, American, Blackgrass, Black eyed Susan, Buck’s Horn Plantain, Bugleweed, Anise Hyssop, Aster (New England), Bee Balm, Black Eyed Susan, Borage, Comfrey, Dandelion, Daylily, Echinacea, Evening primrose, French Sorrel, Garlic Chives, Goldenrod, Ground Cherry, Hopi Red Dye Amaranth, Lavender, Lemon Balm, Lettuce, Lovage, Meadowsweet, Milkweed, Miners Lettuce, Oregano, Peppermint, Perpetual Swiss Chard, Red Mustard, Red Russian Kale, Roman Chamomile, Rosemallow, Scallion, Saltgrass, Saltmeadow rush, Sea pea, Shore little bluestem, Spotted Joe Pye Weed, Stinging Nettle, Swamp Goldenrod, Sylvetta Arugula, Tansy, Virginia mountain mint, White Avens, Wild leek, Whorled mountain mint, Yarrow

Ground Cover
Creeping Thyme, Creeping raspberry, Golden oregano, Purslane, Strawberries, White Clover, Wild Low bush blueberry

Rhizosphere
Adam’s yucca, Groundnut, Jerusalem Artichoke, Walking Onion, Wild Yam

Vertical Layer
Clematis, Grapes, Hardy Kiwi, Hops, Scarlet runner beans

Swale is free and open to the public

Current Location:
Concrete Plant Park, Bronx, NY 10472
Open Hours:  1 – 7pm, Friday – Sunday
(July – August 2017)

Swale will also be open for tours with Youth Ministries for Peace and Justice Monday – Wednesday.  To arrange a tour, please contact drodriguez@ympj.org.

Is it raining?
If there is a 50% or more chance of rain, Swale will be closed.
Find us on Twitter for more information.

We envision Swale as a platform for innovation. It is not ours, it is yours.

We are looking for unconventional partnerships to explore bold ideas around public space, community art, food sovereignty, climate action and water restoration.

Are you an organization working on food, water and climate issues? Maybe you want to incubate or test an idea onboard? Does your business have products that bring gardening to small New York apartments?

Have an idea? Tell us more!

 

Have a question? Want to collaborate? Let us know!