Feature image for Budding With Possibilities

Budding With Possibilities

The Newtown Fruit Trail blends recreation, ecological restoration, edible landscaping, and community participation into a productive public space.

6 min read

Photo Credit: George Duncan

In June 2016, the town of Newtown, Conn., welcomed a groundbreaking project, the Newtown Fruit Trail—a one-mile, paved walking loop lined with 100-percent edible fruit trees, nut trees, berry bushes, and healing native plants.

The trail is a demonstration of best-practice land-use techniques, drawing on a huge variety of native plants, fruit plants, and wildflowers to create a self-sufficient ecosystem that provides for the health and well-being of the land, the wildlife, and the community.

The trail was created by Greentek, a local organization that performs edible, ecological restoration. From start to finish, this was a revolutionary process, using uniquely conceived design and installation techniques that included the community, while drawing on ingenious food-forest models to create a living legacy that will benefit the town and the planet for generations to come.