If you didn’t know where to look, you might miss it. Tucked away from a busy street in Boston’s Mattapan neighborhood, ringed by houses and apartments, is a secret garden of sorts. Here grow a fig tree, black walnut trees, a sour cherry tree, and even a pawpaw tree, an indigenous North American fruit tree. There are also blueberry and blackberry bushes and perennial flowers. Squirrels chatter from the wood fence, and the branches above are alive with birdsong. A gravel path curves around an outdoor stage, two chess tables, and benches. This is the Edgewater Food Forest, a tiny urban oasis that offers food for foraging and a community space to gather.

It’s one of 10 similar urban plots across Boston that have been transformed from vacant lots to spaces teeming with life. All of them have been built and are tended to by neighborhood stewards. 

Hope Kelley, the communications manager for the Boston Food Forest Coalition, describes them as public edible parks. “[They are] designed to mimic the layers and ecological relationships of a healthy young forest while producing food,” says Ms. Kelley. 

But they also support the interconnectedness of the people who live near them. “If we can start with neighbors having a sense of pride for what’s going on in their neighborhoods, that’s a really important first step in bringing neighbors together to create climate and community resilience,” she says.

Edgewater Food Forest had its grand opening in May, so it’s still a baby food forest. But it has already helped introduce neighbors who have lived side by side for decades without ever meeting. As the young plants and trees grow in the years ahead, they shelter a promise: Coming together to build something beautiful and peaceful can be a natural part of any neighborhood.

Editor's note: A quote has been updated to better reflect the mission of the Boston Food Forest Coalition.