And the needs of our neighbors are growing.

The Second Harvest Heartland website states,
“1 in 10 = The number of households in Minnesota affected by hunger. Hunger is an urban, suburban and rural problem.
There is no corner of the state where hunger does not exist.”

Chris was driven to make a social impact that went, “beyond politics, no matter who you voted for in the election; most everybody felt exhausted, beaten down by the campaign process.” This was a chance to empower himself and others.

Chris shared that he, “maintains the belief that people long for an experience in life and interpersonal connection that is genuine and authentic,” and he’s ready to help you dig in.

He researched other examples of giving gardens around the area, and after finding the Bemidji Community Food Shelf Farm, he was inspired to bring the garden to peoples’ homes in the form of raised garden beds. He also wanted to give people the recurring chance to physically touch and feel what they were doing to help others. He thinks it will serve as a good reminder of the issues, and a positive way to impact those issues.

Activism is for Everyone

Once the decision was made, many of the pieces for the Giving Garden dream came together naturally, from long-time friends to chance meetings. He started by garnering the support of a few local companies. Harms has gratefully received lumber commitments from Universal Forestry Products and Structural Wood Corporation, both in White Bear Lake and J.L. Schwieters Building Supply in Hugo.  “In addition to the lumber commitments, Rehbein’s Black Dirt in Hugo will be providing high quality screened topsoil at a greatly reduced cost and no delivery charges,” Harms happily added. Kind of proud of that awesome support from our local companies. He is starting with 50 raised beds this summer.

With a solid agency like the White Bear Lake Emergency Food Shelf in the community, Chris knew where to find that partner. He’s been working with Lee Bailey-Seiler, the White Bear Area Food Shelf coordinator, on learning how to weigh and log the produce grown in the giving gardens.

Once a garden is adopted and planted, the gardeners will be expected to donate a majority (51%) of the produce grown to a local food shelf of their choice and keep adding fresh veggie power to their neighbors’ meals, and the Giving Garden goal of fighting food insecurity here at home.

Chris Harms, installing his own Giving Garden

This idea is quickly gaining momentum!

Just before publication, Chris reported that 32 raised bed are adopted. He loves that people from all walks of life have signed on for the fun. The youngest gardener is a college kid home for the summer who will be setting up the bed in her parent’s yard, the oldest, an 89-year old woman who decided it was the right time to do something. (Gosh I love that)

They are still looking for more people to adopt the rest of the gardens, 18 gardens are looking for homes with caring families. Delivery starts on Friday, May 19th, and Saturday, May 20th. If you can’t bring a garden home to your own yard, you could still help deliver one to a neighbor!

Chris has long term dreams to tackle food insecurity as well, a community farm, deep winter green-house for when kids are in school to use it as a service project, and when we all could use the fresh produce.

You can contact Chris and stay up to date through the Giving Gardens Facebook page or leave a comment for me and I’ll get you in touch.

Giving gardens of all shapes and sizes are popping up around our towns. If you read this and are too far away to have Chris deliver a garden to your yard, here are some ways to get your own giving garden growing soon!

Are you inspired yet?

Dig In & Do Good!

Michelle

The post Grass Rooting for Good Food: Giving Gardens appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.

Look at those smiles!

The couple caught my attention because they are farming with the sole purpose of giving all the food to a local food shelf! So, I decided to tag along and lend my mini-muscles to the ‘groundbreaking’ of their newly acquired plot. It’s right off Marshall and Snelling, nestled up to a parking lot.

My Urban Farming Experience

It was fun, hard work. And I couldn’t stop smiling afterwards. Five of us prepped about 250 feet of beds for an early crop of green onions. Next, they’ll be followed by collard greens. The other plot will grow radishes, turnips, carrots, baby bok choy, and tomatoes. Any remaining holes will be filled with lettuce.

Getting Started

These two have a passion for growing food, and have been figuring out how to lend that passion to serve the community. In the spring of 2016, when a call was put out to the Woodland Hills Church community for help planting a garden, the couple answered. During its first season, these two helped build six raised bed gardens outside of the church with the purpose of adding fresh produce to the Merrick Services food shelf housed within the church’s walls.

The gardens produced a small but impactful amount of food that was donated last growing season. “Since we enjoy growing food at a scale that far exceeds what we can consume ourselves, we ended up donating produce from our personal gardens as well. In continued response to what we feel is a calling, we decided to challenge ourselves to dedicate all this year’s growing power and space to produce food for Merrick,” says Anna. Turns out, that’s a lot of growing power!

Digging in, by hand, with big hearts.

Urban Farming

On two small urban lots, they are planning to produce enough food so that each family can take home 2-3 veggies/herbs each week for about 6 weeks this summer. That equals 300-450 servings of veggies per week for the growing season! This food shelf currently assists roughly 150 families every week.  Like other area food shelves, Merrick is trying to increase the amount and quality of fresh produce they offer. Samantha Soriano, the Merrick Food Shelf manager, agrees: “we recently surveyed our participants and found a real desire for fresh produce. That Anna and Jesse had conversations with food shelf participants so they could grow what the people wanted shows their level of commitment. We’re excited for the added produce to get onto the plates of the family’s we serve.” Here’s where to find out more about digging in with the Merrick Food Shelf.

Anna and her trusty wheelbarrow

Connected to Community

Being in the local, organic food and farming world has helped them make connections with both land and supplies. Jesse is the buyer at Linden Hills Co-op, and Anna has worked on farms for seven seasons, this being her eighth. They were able to scoop up land after another urban food farm, Stone’s Throw, decided to go in a more educational direction. Many of the plants that will soon be planted out in the fields got their start in a friend’s greenhouse. Gaining access to ‘farmable’ land in the Twin Cities is tricky business right now, especially according to the Star Tribune article from last week. So these two have been very lucky!

The sheer number of people experiencing food insecurity may surprise some of us. Our area’s largest food bank, Second Harvest Heartland, helped people gain access to 80 million meals in 2016. The same as 532,000 people in mid-Minnesota and Western Wisconsin. A large amount of food is lost annually from farm to table (like 96 billion pounds of pre-market food!). But food shelves around the world and right here in St. Paul are forging connections with local farmers, gardeners, and distribution chains to divert food from the landfill to plates.

Ready for planting!

Gleaning

“Gleaning” is the term used to describe harvesting food that would otherwise be left on the field. Here’s a cool NPR Story to listen to from a few years ago on gleaning.

I want to “Go Glean” later this season!! Anyone with me??!!!

As for Anna and Jesse, this summer gives them a chance to “…above all, learn and grow ourselves. The project is a creative outlet for us both in different ways.” Way to get growing, guys!

“We also not-so-secretly want the lawn around Woodland Hills Church to be turned into a huge garden surrounded by fruit trees and bushes,” mentioned Anna, a glint in her eye.  If these ‘giving gardens’ are any indicator, I’d say see you at Woodland Hills for a harvest party next summer! 

Small-Scale Takeaways

What I learned from talking with and digging with them is that it doesn’t take a lot of land to make an impact. Think of how much a 3 pack of organic bell peppers costs at the store or farmer’s market. Now think about being able to bring your own extras in a few times a summer. A little goes a long way. And you’ll be smiling longer than I was after our ‘garden groundbreaking’ day.

These two inspired me to add a few more rows to my garden. Anyone else inspired to garden a little extra for your local food shelf?  I’d love to hear from you!

And if you’re interested in helping with Anna and Jesse’s farming efforts, just leave a comment and I’ll connect you.

Let’s Dig In!

Michelle

The post Urban Farming for a Food Shelf appeared first on Forks in the Dirt.