Plant Power Under High Voltage Cables

If you walk through the right-of-way under the power lines in Harwich, just north of Bay Road, you can leave the snacks at home and get your dose of antioxidants from a 600-feet food forest.

What is a food forest?

19 April 2024 - HARWICH, MA - The Food Forest Initiative of Cape Cod is bringing back a half century-old movement to Cape Cod's marginal lands. If you walk through the right-of-way under the power lines in Harwich, just north of Bay Road, you can leave the snacks at home and get your dose of antioxidants from a 600-feet food forest.

     The town water department owns the land, but power company Eversource has the right to keep the land directly under the power lines clear of any high growing vegetation to mitigate the risk of power outages. In the past, the company would have used pesticides and herbicides to streamline the work, but not here, not now. In response to Cape Cod's sandy soil, which would allow the chemical to pass right through to the drinking water source, a group of creative thinking argued for a different way.

      Patrick Otton, member of the Food Forest Initiative Cape Cod,  would take daily walks through Eversource's right-of-way. He began to wonder: What if there a group of farmers, landscapers and gardeners tended to the land, managing it for Eversource while providing food for animals and humans? Two birds, one... idea. Said and done, with a resulting a symbiotic relationship between three organizations, Harwich Water Department, Eversource and The Food Forest Initiative of Cape Cod. The project now cultivates hazelnuts, pawpaws, chokeberries, beach plums and blueberries, free for all.

What is permaculture?

The Food Forest Initiative is a volunteer group with several agricultural projects on Cape Cod, with food forest in Harwich being the largest. The groups started as a potluck in 2016 and grew into 25 members applying the ideas of permaculture to Cape Cod lands. Permaculture is sustainable land management in accordance with the natural ecosystems in place, including restoration agriculture. The goal is perennial, self-sufficient agriculture imitating nature and cultivating biodiversity. Rand Burkert, another group member, believes that when hopelessness over the vanishing forests of Cape Cod seeps in, these principles can restore faith.

     In addition, food forests have the potential to play into the local economy and possibly fill food pantries. Burkert says he finds hope in the future of Cape Cod by looking to these marginal lands. The power lines offer an optimum choice, with a lot of space and multiple benefit, says Burkert.

What is role did Eversource play?

Eversource paid for 300 plants for the 600 feet food forest, and provided 15 staff members to help plant them. Patrick Otton says Eversource would like for more people to tend to the land under the power lines where pesticides cannot be used - land that abuts drinking water sources and schools, for example.  All it takes is willpower, adds Burkert, and the future of Cape Cod is bright and green.