by Phoebe Billups '19

Jessica Robinson '16 designed and installed a forest garden at Knox College's Green Oaks Biological Field Station. The garden will serve as a resource to teach, research, and learn about sustainable agriculture and diverse farming methods.

“The goal of the forest garden is to create a space at Green Oaks for students, staff, and faculty to interact intimately with the forest and to experiment with alternative food production using native and regionally adapted plants,” says Robinson.

Forest gardens mimic the natural structure of forest ecosystems by using several layers of space, extending from the ground level to the topmost canopy, encompassing shrubs, herbs, vines, middle canopy, and upper canopy.

The forest garden at Green Oaks is unique in that it was created within an existing ecosystem. The majority of plants are native to the area and the few transplants (goldenseal, persimmon, elderberry, and pawpaw) are indigenous to Illinois. Material resources like wood, brick, and mulch were locally sourced, reclaimed, or donated.

The project began as an extension of Robinson’s senior research on agroforestry.

“Agroforestry describes an agricultural system in which perennial plants are intercropped with herbaceous plants for food, fiber, and medicinal products,” she explains.

Robinson believes agroforestry has the potential to revolutionize food production and hopes that “this small garden can help facilitate the application of these big ideas.”

Robinson wants Knox College to “take this resource and continue to expand it, improve it, and explore its potential.” She would like to see mushroom cultivation, beekeeping, timber harvesting, and medicinal plant processing incorporated into the garden.

Professor Stuart Allison, director of Green Oaks, nominated Robinson for the Reiners Fellowship, which gave her the resources to build the forest garden. Bill Reiners '59 developed the fund to encourage Knox students to pursue ecology and use Green Oaks as a resource. Reiners received his master's degree and Ph.D. from Rutgers University and has since chaired the Department of Biological Sciences at Dartmouth College and Department of Botany at the University of Wyoming. His extensive work at Green Oaks as an undergraduate inspired him to pursue a career in ecology.

Robinson graduated from Knox with a degree in biology and environmental studies. She has completed internships at Shawnee National Forest, near her hometown of Carbondale, Illinois, and Yosemite National Park in California. During her time at Knox she participated in Green Oaks Term and was an outspoken advocate for sustainable farming. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in conservation ecology at the University of Michigan.