Festival Beach Food Forest

Home
United States
Austin, TX
Festival Beach Food Forest

Our forest garden has been growing for 9 years and is now a thriving ¾ acre of outdoor community learning and gathering space. Want to learn more?

In summer 2024, we are excited to celebrate the beginning of our forest expansion onto the remaining 2+ acres of parkland! Join us as we transform public parkland into an edible forest garden, open to all in the heart of the city. Moving beyond red tape and fences, we are establishing Texas’ first official food forest in a public park. Our City Council-approved, the shovel-ready project grew from

ideas that emerged through two years of community conversations about the future of a 90-acre park along the northern shores of Lady Bird Lake in East Austin. Festival Beach Food Forest is a grassroots pilot project neighboring the Festival Beach Community Garden and RBJ Residential Center in East Austin. We intend to transform three acres of a 90-acre park into an edible forest garden where visitors can openly forage and enjoy fresh food on the shores of Lady Bird Lake. Fruits, nuts, vegetables and herbs will now inhabit the city-owned land. Our plan was unanimously approved by Austin City Council as part of the Holly Shores and Edward Rendon Sr. Park Master Plan on August 28th, 2014. The Master Plan will enhance the expansive neighborhood park by increasing accessibility, improving maintenance, and establishing the Festival Beach Food Forest. This project was first envisioned by community activists from the East Feast Coalition who recognized the power of community members connecting, growing, and celebrating together. Grounded in their neighborhoods' heritage and inspired by the possibility of renewing relationships with the land and with each other, they gathered neighbors and allies in support of edible landscaping. The idea of the Festival Beach Food Forest took root over the course of two years of community conversations convened by the Parks and Recreation Department as part of the Master Plan process. It has been nourished by ongoing community contributions of time, talent, and resources ever since. The Festival Beach Food Forest will be a center for growth, connection, and celebration. The food forest concept is an ancient one, drawing on indigenous practices of caring for the land and people. Our team of permaculture designers and landscape architects is helping us incorporate these ancient concepts to restore health to the soil and create abundance over time. The Festival Beach Food Forest will be a welcomed additional layer to sustainable food production in Austin.

03/22/2026

MONDAY 3/23, 6pm at City Hall, the Parks Board will be considering a proposal to give Austin Energy a permanent easement for two new transmission line towers, one in the food forest (cutting off our mulch/materials drop off area) & another along the community garden fence line. Please join us to OPPOSE Item #3, and call for city support to ensure that if this does move forward, (1) APR will work with FBFF & to access the $2.5M mitigation funds, (2) support site design & park plan revisions necessitated by the impact, (3) help FBFF recover fully from the recent damages of the wastewater pipeline installation, and (4) protect FBFF & FBCG from continued takings/harm caused by the I-35 capital express project. Link to sign up in bio. 💚

03/05/2026

Join us March 14 for our Second Saturday Workday! will lead us in a traditional Cherokee corn planting & we’ll work on other workday tasks in the food forest 🌽🌞

RSVP at the link in our bio or festivalbeach.org/events🌱

March 14
9am-12pm
Festival Beach Food Forest
29 Waller Street Austin TX

02/17/2026

Today was another long day of pipeline harm mitigation at the food forest. The mountain laurel is getting moved 10ft out of the path of the pipeline. Sadly, our beautiful community banner came down and broke a young palo verde tree in the last 24 hours too… it wasn’t our first rage hurricane damage🌀& probably won’t be our last — but we are resilient. 🎶 we grow, we bend, we rise again 🌱 please consider donating to our mitigation fund or joining our monthly giving guild if you have abundance to share 💚 link in bio

02/12/2026

Over the past few weeks, we’ve mounted a campaign to call for a pause to the imminent construction of a wastewater pipeline, set to cut through our Phase II barrier berm and destroy a 40-year-old Texas mountain laurel. We are endlessly grateful for the community support we’ve received as we’ve attempted to navigate this crisis! Over 2,200 people have signed our petition, with hundreds adding personal comments. We wanted to take a moment to uplift voices of the Food Forest community & provide an update on the situation we’re facing.

After providing public comment at four different city of Austin board & commission meetings and City Council, plus several meetings with staff, we have been granted a two-day delay on construction and received assistance from the City with short-term equipment and labor needs to remove plants. We have not received a clear promise of financial compensation for the devastating loss of our barrier berm. TxDOT has not once spoken with us directly.

As we have been left with little choice, we are moving forward with “un-planting” this Thursday and Saturday. Volunteers will remove & pot each tree and shrub in the path of destruction and care for them until they can be re-planted. We’ll also be excavating our irrigation lines and relocating the rich soil we’ve built on the berm.

We will continue to fight for funding to re-plant our barrier berm (estimated need is $70k-$120k) and compensate for the loss of resources and the community’s investment in the land. We have also started a fund to support our pipeline mitigation efforts (betterunite.com/pipeline). All donations are tax-deductible via our 501c3 fiscal sponsor .

Please stay tuned for other ways you can help & thank you for joining us in thoughtful, caring stewardship of this land.

02/05/2026

Things are moving quickly at Festival Beach Food Forest as we respond to the proposed wastewater pipeline relocation tied to the I-35 expansion project. After careful consideration, we have decided to shift plant relocation to next week and use this Saturday to gather in community.

Rather than rushing forward, we believe the most supportive thing for the land and for each other right now is to slow down for a moment and be together. This gathering is an opportunity to learn, reflect, and tend grief as we collectively process a major disruption to a place we care deeply about.

We’ll make space to honor the plants, acknowledge the work already poured into this landscape, and build a shared understanding of what’s happening and what comes next.

Let’s gather to:
• Thank the plants and the land
• Explore and celebrate the work and care that have already been poured into this space
• Grieve what may be lost, together
• Build shared understanding and align on next steps

What to expect:
• A guided plant walk along the impacted barrier berm
• Updates on the pipeline situation and concrete ways to plug in
• A sound bath and grief ritual with and for the plants
• Banner-making in support of the forest
• Optional workday activities for those who want to get their hands in the soil

Come for all or part of the morning. All ages welcome. Thank you for showing up with care as we move through this moment together.

Click the second link in our bio to register or visit festivalbeach.org/pipeline 🔗

Join us on February 14th for a plant rescue workday.

02/04/2026

❗️Join us tomorrow (Thursday) at the Austin City Council Meeting ❗️

Aly Tharp of the Festival Beach Food Forest Core Team will speak about the wastewater pipeline issue at Austin City Council during General Public Communication this Thursday, February 5th. This section of the meeting begins at noon and ends by 1pm. Join us in support, and wear your Food Forest t-shirt (we will have extras on-hand if you don’t have one).

Thursday, February 5th, arrive at council chambers by 12:00 p.m.
Austin City Hall: 301 W. Second Street, Austin, TX

Parking for the City Hall garage can be validated at the table outside of Council Chambers.

01/31/2026

🚨NEW Call to Action🚨 TOMORROW - Attend Austin Parks and Rec’s board meeting Monday @ 6 pm.

The Austin Parks and Recreation Board has rescheduled its Special Called Meeting for 6 p.m. next Monday, February 2, 2026, at 6310 Wilhelmina Delco Dr. Some members of the Parks and Recreation Board may be participating by videoconference. The meeting may be viewed online at: http://www.austintexas.gov/page/watch-atxn-live

Public comment will be allowed in-person or remotely via telephone. Speakers may only register to speak on an item once either in-person or remotely and will be allowed up to three minutes to provide their comments. Registration no later than noon the day before the meeting is required for remote participation by telephone. To register to speak, call or email Tim Dombeck, (512) 974-6716, [email protected].

Our beloved food forest is facing imminent disruption from an unexpected and insufficiently communicated wastewater pipeline relocation associated with TxDOT’s I-35 project. We are calling on the community to help us secure an immediate pause so the City, TxDOT, and community stewards can work together on a permaculture-based approach that minimizes ecological damage and honors years of City-approved planning and public investment.

Over 100 volunteers have spent the last year planting more than 90 trees and shrubs in this specific area, including several plants specifically chosen to complement a 40-year-old Mountain Laurel in the space that will be killed during the pipeline installation. These plants were cared for over a hot and dry summer last year and are now established & thriving.

We have been informed construction will begin (i.e. this area will be uprooted & destroyed) on February 16th. This has pushed our volunteer-led team to the brink of capacity.

🚫We do not consent to this timeline!🚫

Visit festivalbeach.org/pipeline for more info and other ways to support.

01/28/2026

🚨Community Call to Action🚨
Pause Wastewater Pipeline Construction at Festival Beach Food Forest

Our beloved food forest is facing imminent disruption from an unexpected and insufficiently communicated wastewater pipeline relocation associated with TxDOT’s I-35 project. We are calling on the community to help us secure an immediate pause so the City, TxDOT, and community stewards can work together on a permaculture-based approach that minimizes ecological damage and honors years of City-approved planning and public investment.

Over 100 volunteers have spent the last year planting more than 90 trees and shrubs in this specific area, including several plants specifically chosen to complement a 40-year-old Mountain Laurel in the space that will be killed during the pipeline installation. These plants were cared for over a hot and dry summer last year and are now established & thriving.

We have been informed construction will begin (i.e. this area will be uprooted & destroyed) on February 16th. This has pushed our volunteer-led team to the brink of capacity.

🚫We do not consent to this timeline!🚫

We are asking our community to:
• Sign the petition
• Email City Council & Parks and Recreation
• Volunteer to help relocate plants
• Follow us & subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed and share updates

Visit festivalbeach.org/pipeline for more info.

12/15/2025

🌞 Solstice Reset at the Food Forest 🌙
This Sunday, we’re slowing down, resetting, and reconnecting with each other and the land. Come celebrate the Winter Solstice — the turning point toward longer days and fresh beginnings — with gentle movement, sound, reflection, and community exchange.

Schedule
11–11:45 Yoga
11:45–12:15 Sound Bath
12:15–1:15 Botanical Tarot
12:30–2:30 Clothing + Book Swap

📍Festival Beach Food Forest
29 Waller St, Austin TX
🗓️ Sunday, Dec 21 | 11am–2:30pm
💫 Free! Donations to support the Food Forest are welcome.

Bring a friend, bring a layer, bring your curiosity — and if you’re swapping, bring gently used clothes or books to share (or a few dollars to donate if you don’t have items to swap).

Let’s mark the solstice together in gratitude, rest, and renewal. 🌿

12/02/2025

This Giving Tuesday, we invite you to create a more resilient ecosystem with us in the food forest.

As the seasons shift, we rely on community support to ensure we have the means to keep our plants protected through severe winter weather and to continue investing in the systems and supplies needed to maintain our expansion.

Your donation directly sustains this living ecosystem, which provides free food, medicine, and community education. Will you help us reach our goal and support your local food forest during this giving season?

Every dollar you donate will be MATCHED, thanks to a generous commitment from a member of our Giving Guild. Your contribution will go twice as far, immediately doubling its impact on our community and ecosystem.

• A $25 donation becomes $50 to buy essential gardening tools.
• A $50 donation becomes $100 to fund educational workshops.
• A $100 donation becomes $200 to purchase fruit trees for our expansion.

Join the Giving Guild to make your gift recurring 🌱
This commitment is the most powerful way you can support the Food Forest. Recurring support allows us to plan for the future, allocate resources efficiently, and better navigate the unpredictable funding landscape, ensuring the long-term health of this vital community resource for years to come.

We are so grateful to everyone who has contributed so far!! See the last slide to check out our match campaign progress 👀

Visit betterunite.com/10yearmatch to donate to our matching campaign or betterunite.com/givingguild to make a monthly recurring donation. Links are also in our IG bio!

11/26/2025

Check out this recap to learn more about what we accomplished together during our fall Planting Parties 🎉🍁 With support from the community, we have made a lot of progress in Phase II and put thousands of plants and seeds into the ground!

For some long-term perspective, check out the photos on slide 3 from to see what a difference just 8 years can make.

There is still more time to help us plant! Join us Saturday December 12 (RSVP at the link in our bio) or any Tuesday or Thursday from 9am-12pm. We’ll be working on several new guilds including: pine tree, jujube tree, Mexican plum, pomegranate/mesquite and prickly pear/mesquite. See you there 🌱

Address

29 Waller Street
Austin, TX
78702

Website

http://festivalbeach.org/, https://linktr.ee/fbff

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Festival Beach Food Forest posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Organization

Send a message to Festival Beach Food Forest:

Shortcuts

Want your organization to be the top-listed Non Profit Organization in Austin?