In this episode, I sit down with Glen, one of the founding members of Seattle’s Beacon Food Forest - a community-run, open forage garden built on public land with a mission rooted in food access, food sovereignty, and shared stewardship. Glen walks through how the project started, how they leveraged Seattle’s P-Patch program to get it off the ground, and how the Food Forest grew into a multi-layered landscape shaped by the community itself.

They discuss how planting decisions are made, how harvest practices guide the evolution of the land, and how similar projects across the region support one another. Glen shares how the Food Forest is funded, the impact it’s had on the neighborhood, and the policy conversations that have emerged around public foraging and food security.

The episode expands to bigger themes; the state of farming in Western Washington, the challenges local growers face, and what our food system and topsoil say about where things are headed. Glen closes with advice for anyone interested in starting a community driven project of their own.

A grounded look at what can happen when public land, community energy, and shared values all grow in the same direction.

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