Edible Ecosystem Living Lab Project

In fall 2019, students from the Environmental Technician Diploma Program at Algonquin College worked with Zach Loeks Design and the Office of Applied Research to install one large edible eco-education site at the main entrance of the Pembroke Campus, known as the “Edible Ecosystem Living Laboratory Project”.

An edible ecosystem living lab site mimics the form, function, and potential of a woodland ecosystem. Temperate woodlands have a diversity of plants whose form: layering of trees, shrubs, bushes and ground covers, and function: creation of unique ecological niches, cycling of nutrients, stabilizing and building of soil, help the landscape system to build potential into the future. Edible ecosystem sites mimic this form of terrestrial diversity by using food plants that add edible diversity to human habitat. Fruits, berries, and herbs were planted together through intentional and intelligent design.

These micro-landscapes become data points and function as living laboratories, demonstrating site-suitability, companionship opportunities, and productivity potential of the food plants as a design unit. Each is a living, evolving store of edible genetics, helping secure food plant heritage and building a resilient future landscape with high value.