The Community Food Forest Handbook: How to Plan, Organize and Nurture Edible Gathering Places eds. by Catherine Bukowski and John Munsell (review)

We humans have committed, perhaps inherently, to two things throughout much of our mercurial, labyrinthine history— that we live together in communities, and that we nurture edible landscapes for our own needs. However, with the 19th century rise and displacement of rural agrarian societies by urban industrial ones, our natural relationships with food sources (and forests) have declined. Although, and perhaps not ironically, urban gardens proliferated in the 1890s by way of civic organizations and predominantly middle and upper-class women. Indeed, forests and gardens have become so intensely maintained and transformed from their natural state that we don't readily recognize or accept the complexities and interconnectedness of species living in a given environment. Fortunately, increased social awareness and activist approaches to understanding and encountering nature, especially at the community level, make Bukowski and Munsell's book a solid read for those interested in developing and growing perennial edible yields by way of community planning, engagement and stewardship of these food forests. As the subtitle states, the book provides a scholarly guide on how to organize and operate the social factors that affect the development, installation and maintenance of community food forest gardens. The observations, interviews and meetings from the twenty or so projects underscore what works in making these spaces sustainable, civic interests for a given community and its stakeholders.

Bukowski and Munsell offer various opportunities to define and cognize the multifaceted and sometimes complex territory of what does—and does not—constitute a community food forest. The fundamental framework of designing and managing food forests at the community scale, which integrates ecological and social systems, is explained as the three "ingredients," which include the function (or purpose), elements (of the system), and the connections between the elements. Underlying some of this discussion includes concepts from Donella Meadows' (2008) insightful Thinking in Systems: A Primer, which establish the innate relationships between action and behavior. Additionally, ecological and evolutionary terms more commonly used in explaining the changes of a forest (e.g. natural succession) are reflected appropriately with the people, organizations, and various cultural and social underpinnings that lend to the success(es) or failure(s) of a given community food forests.

Don't be fooled by the first few paragraphs; the introduction feels like a second person "choose your own adventure" read. However, this immersive language does well to establish a sensory understanding of what a community food forest can be, without necessarily having any empirical knowledge of it. But this style of writing morphs quickly into an expected academic tone suitable for both the content and perceived audience. Indeed, the structure and content lend this book to be a useful read for city planners, urban foresters, environmental activists, community advocates, university students, and any individual or group of individuals invested in the potential for social and environmental change.

The handbook is divided into four sections, each with chapters that contains an assortment of social-ecological concepts, hands-on tools for community engagement, and relevant "real world" examples. Interspersed within these four sections are expanded case studies of community food forests projects from the United States. While the links between the chapter concepts and case studies are not always as prevalent as they could (or should) be, they are great examples on how forest projects develop and evolve with community support. Throughout the chapters, little sidebars provide additional information that is interesting enough to feel like a comfortable diversion from the main text.

The first section, entitled Understanding Community Food Forests, covers the basics of the book, by first establishing the function (purpose) and historical context of these (predominately) urban forests gardens. Bukowski and Munsell attribute certain historic markers for their recent expansion and adoption of community food forests, including the collapse of the...