The First Tree We Planted
The first tree we planted at Kintsugi Village’s pocket forest was a serviceberry.
A pocket forest is a small, densely planted woodland made up of native trees and shrubs. Ours sits behind Kintsugi Village in the heart of Corktown, where more than 1,100 trees and shrubs now grow across a compact piece of land.
The serviceberry is one of them. It is a native tree that produces small berries eaten by birds, insects, animals and people. Its fruit has also become a powerful symbol of generosity and reciprocity through Robin Wall Kimmerer’s book The Serviceberry.
That first tree went into the ground in September 2025, one month before our preschool opened. That same month, another serviceberry was planted with The Greening of Detroit near the entrance to our outdoor space.
They were the first of many. Serviceberries are now scattered throughout the forest, alongside hundreds of other native species and thousands of native plants growing across the roughly one-acre outdoor space behind the building.
The choice to begin with a serviceberry was intentional.
In The Serviceberry, Kimmerer uses the tree and the fruit it freely offers to explore a different understanding of abundance – one rooted not in accumulation, but in generosity, gratitude, relationship and reciprocity. A serviceberry feeds a larger living community. Its abundance comes from how its gifts circulate.
That idea feels deeply connected to what we are building at Kintsugi Village.
We are a community gathering place where people of all ages can learn, create, grow, and belong. You can see that throughout the building: in our preschool, art gallery and studios, event spaces, culinary kitchen and larger gathering areas. Our outdoor space extends that same philosophy beyond the walls.
When our founders acquired the former St. Vincent School, they also acquired the land behind it, creating a two-acre campus. From the beginning, we imagined the land not simply as an amenity but as a gift – to children, neighbors and the wider community.
Today, a circular path moves through the grounds. Eleven laps make a mile. Three mini meadows sit along its edge. A pollinator garden is filled with native plants installed in partnership with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Brightside Collective. A 26-bed garden, developed with Featherstone Farms, grows food, herbs and flowers for people in the Village.
The forest, meadows, gardens and native plantings also provide food and shelter for birds, butterflies, bees, insects and other living beings – including Chuck, our neighborhood groundhog, who regularly arrives to sample the plants. He belongs here too.
None of this was created alone. Our outdoor space exists because many people and partners gave something: time, knowledge, plants, labor, funding and care. The way the space came together reflects the same values as the serviceberry itself. Gifts were offered, shared and brought together to create something larger.
We hope people will come and experience it.
Walk the path. Notice what is flowering. Watch how quickly the forest is growing. Sit on the lawn, read beneath a tree, bring a hammock, look for butterflies or simply spend time outside. We have already seen neighbors walk in and explore and we welcome it.
Belonging needs a place. We are creating one here – not only for people, but for the fuller community of life that surrounds and sustains us.
The trees are still young. So is the forest. But over time, this small piece of land may become one of the most densely biodiverse spaces of its kind in Detroit—a gathering place where children, neighbors, plants, pollinators, birds and even a hungry groundhog can find nourishment, connection and a place within something larger.
That is the world we hope to help grow: one of deep belonging, shared abundance and gathering across the whole community of life.
