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These gardens ask visitors to reconsider solitary confinement

Anna Deen

December 23, 2020 |

Grist |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New Orleans, Louisiana

Solitary Gardens is an art project that protests prisons' solitary confinement conditions. Incarcerated people connect with volunteers on the outside who plant flowers, vegetables, or herbs in beds matching the tiny dimensions of the prison cell that confined Herman Wallace for a record 41 years in Louisiana. The people inside prison imagine their garden, often with memory triggers of what they have lost, and their gardener carries out their plan. The idea is to make a place for grief, healing, public service, and public education, as the gardens in four cities teach about solitary confinement.

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Would you let someone grow produce in your yard, for food justice or for profit?

Colleen Hagerty

December 17, 2020 |

The Counter |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Los Angeles, California

Yard sharing is the latest urban agriculture trend enabling city dwellers to enjoy home-grown produce whether or not they have the space, time, or expertise to grow everything they want. Crop Swap LA is also starting to match people who want to grow a garden - but lack the actual yard - to people who have space but don’t have the know-how. Their goal is to transform unused space into “micro-farms,” while helping communities of color that typically don’t have access to fresh produce.

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This sacred bean saved an indigenous clan from climate calamity

Agostino Petroni

November 25, 2020 |

National Geographic |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: Colombia, Manaure

A community gardening project growing the guajiro bean has allowed Wayuu farmers in the Colombian desert to achieve food security despite the effects of climate change and external pressures. While scaling this agricultural success to other Indigenous clans can be difficult, using a low-tech irrigation system and red earthworm compost has allowed one settlement to feed its community and make their soil fertile again.

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Cities Want Green Spaces. Here's How to Make Them More Fire-Resistant

Marianne Dhenin

November 06, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Ashland, Oregon

A 20-year project by the nonprofit Lomakatsi Restoration Project to restore native plants helped to spare Ashland, Ore., from the worst destruction of a wildfire. Along the Bear Creek greenway in Ashland, the restoration project's work to replace dense thickets of invasive Himalayan blackberries with native shrubs and trees is credited with slowing the speed and severity of the Almeda Fire. Traditional firebreaks and the greenway at other points on the creek failed to slow the fire, and in some ways even sped its destruction.

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Local farms, small gardens see boost in interest, funding to tackle hunger

Elizabeth M. Miller

September 28, 2020 |

New Mexico In Depth |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Villanueva, New Mexico

During the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations and government agencies are connecting farmers with people in need by making fruits and vegetables more affordable or even free. For example, Bueno Para Todos, a small farm in New Mexico, has planted new fruit trees alongside a vegetable garden, and allows people to pick what they want and pay how they can, either with money or by helping on the farm. Scaling these efforts can be difficult if communities want to encourage growing more local food.

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'Money is worth nothing now': how Lebanon is finding a future in farming

Jenny Gustafsson

September 25, 2020 |

The Guardian |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: Lebanon

Lebanon is going through an economic crisis. According to the UN, more than half of the population is experiencing poverty. Some people are finding that the solution to their economic problems is farming. Multiple initiatives to that would allow ordinary people to farm have surfaced; food banks offering seedlings, volunteers teaching sustainable farming, and even gardens in rooftops.

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When Boston's public schools closed in March, their gardens went untended. Then a volunteer effort grew.

Lisa Zwirn

September 08, 2020 |

The Boston Globe |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Boston, Massachusetts

After Boston Public Schools closed in March because of the COVID-19 pandemic, about 70 volunteers tended schoolyard gardens at 14 schools to grow food for local families experiencing economic hardship. While students were not able to participate because of COVID restrictions, residents during the summer months cleaned garden beds and planted vegetables like eggplants, cucumbers, and peppers. Organizers expect to harvest about 300 pounds of vegetables by the end of September.

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Citrus for Sourdough, Eggs for Yeast

Annelise Jolley

July 21, 2020 |

Life & Thyme |

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1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Michigan

Food bartering helps families during times of food insecurity, which is often exacerbated by crises such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Families with lower incomes have bartered for food for a long time but the pandemic has brought diversity to the families exchanging food with friends and neighbors. Food bartering is part of the cultural fabric of different groups, such as the Keweenaw Bay Indian Community, which hosts workshops on cultivating gardens. Food bartering is an inclusive and community-building practice but when bartering is the only way to get food, the communal reliance can be an emotional drain.

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Milwaukee has a problem with food insecurity. Urban agriculture can be part of the answer.

Patricia McKnight

July 13, 2020 |

Milwaukee Journal Sentinel |

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800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Milwaukee, Wisconsin

Urban agriculture is providing residents of Milwaukee with a direct link to their food through programs that include urban farming, community gardens, and the knowledge needed to maintain personal gardens. Gardening has been linked to a healthier lifestyle and an improvement in diet. The programs intend to create a healthy knowledge of and relationship with food.

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Trenton's Urban Gardens Foster Food Sovereignty and Civic Engagement

Brianna Baker

July 01, 2020 |

Next City |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, Trenton, New Jersey

Isles, Inc. provides plants, seeds, and support to over 70 community gardens in Trenton, 20 of which belong to schools. In a city where many residents experience food insecurity, Isles also maps food-assets and food deserts, runs a training garden to teach new growers the basics of at-home gardening, and hosts a free summer camp to get young people interested in agriculture and nature. Since the coronavirus pandemic began, Isles has distributed over 100 pounds of seeds, 1,000 pounds of fertilizer, and thousands of seedlings to its garden network members and shifted many instructional workshops online.

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