As soon as you walk through the wooden gate of Melvina Brown’s Wilmington backyard, the sounds of the road are replaced with the chirping of birds, the rustling of trees and the faint clucking of hens.
This secret food forest — a cultivated edible forest ecosystem — is filled with towering oaks, maples and spruces, vegetable gardens, a medicinal garden, fruit and nut trees, honey beehives, ponds with koi and goldfish and, of course, a chicken coop — all flourishing in the midsummer warmth.
Since she bought her house 22 years ago, Brown has transformed her property from just a lawn with a few trees into what she calls an “urban homestead.” She has shaped her business, InnerSource Wellness Center (IWC), around this concept of growing food in an urban area to supply urban farmers markets and community fridges with fresh produce. She emphasizes outreach to locals, offering environmental education opportunities and providing a space to reconnect with nature and become grounded among the stressors of life…