Atlanta Creates the Biggest Free Food Forest in the Nation

You'll never go hungry in Atlanta, Georgia. Thanks to a new seven-acre farm free to residents, anyone is able to wander into the woods, breathe in that fresh air, and pull their dinner right out of the ground! Though once upon a time it was a pecan farm, the Food Forest at Browns Mill now contains 2,500 edible and medicinal plants. If you need a crop, they're likely to have it somewhere on the premises. This is just the largest of many free food sites popping up around the nation.

"It's really a park for everyone," says Carla Smith, Atlanta city councilwoman, in an interview with CNN. "Every time I go there's a community there who respects and appreciates the fresh healthy foods. There's a mentality there that people know to only take what they need."

One in every four Atlanta residents lives in what is known as a "food desert" due to inaccessibility to grocery stores.

Though already outfitted with blackberry bushes and pecan trees, the local community of both corporations, as well as non-profit partners, have committed over 1,000 volunteers to help bring more crops to the land. The food will be harvested full time by volunteers and then distributed among the locals. With 70 other forests like these across the USA, this is a trend mother nature can't help but support!

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Post originally appeared on Endeared.