Lyon (seen here) tucked the food forest along the side of the yard, next to the detached garage. The homeowners have planted produce in the ground and in raised beds. Pollinators play a crucial role in helping the food forest thrive. The productive plant palette includes native currants, three types of grapes, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, artichokes, basil, kale, strawberries and beans. There are also passion fruit vines that climb up a new wood-and-wire trellis next to the garage.

The food forest also has citrus, apricot, apple, plum, fig and persimmon trees. In addition to attracting pollinators, improving the soil quality was also important. Lyon added soil-improving species to keep the soil rich. These include a California coffeeberry (Rhamnus californica, zones 7 to 10), Catalina currants (Ribes viburnifolium, zone 8), California lilac (Ceanothus sp.), sticky monkeyflower (Mimulus aurantiacus, zones 7 to 10) and alpine strawberry plants (Fragaria vesca, zones 5 to 9).

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