After making our first Liberty City food garden in April 2009, we initiated a big push to make many food gardens in Liberty City. This was called the"10/10 by 10/10 Campaign": We made 10 gardens for 10 families by October 10th, 2009! Many more were made after that. Photos below are from 10/10.
Note: after the campaign was over, we continued making gardens and have made dozens. We are seeking funding to continue this effort, called GIVE Gardens: Gardens Inspiring Volunteerism and Education. Please help by donating time, money, materials, or paying us to make a garden for you. (See "Get One, Give One" link to left)
Sunday, Sept. 20- Garden # 2 finished!
Friday, Oct. 2- Gardens 4, 5, 6, and 7 finished! An amazing day! Photos here.
Saturday, Oct. 10, Last 3 gardens made, photos coming soon!
Here's a recap of the first of our 10 gardens: Liberty City is a challenged urban area of Miami, Florida, an urban food desert. Good folks there want to make it better. Getting families to planting food and getting neighbors to do the same is a good first step. Urban Oasis Project volunteers helped with labor and materials, and together we created a food garden for Steve's family and new baby.
We used all recycled materials except for the cinder blocks. The cardboard and bags were reclaimed, and found new life in the soil. Plants and seeds came from our own gardens, sharing our bounty. We planted bananas, okra, beans, herbs, melons, and much more. Everyone contributed something and the resulting whole was better than the sum of its parts! Steve is getting his neighbors involved in taking this first step toward a more sustainable food system.
Creating community is a fringe benefit of growing your own food, an example of how reaching out to your neighbors creates a ripple effect with benefits for everyone.
____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ A nice family with young children was thrilled to get their very own food garden.
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Gardens # 4,5,6,7 finished:
Urban Oasis Project volunteers spent an entire day making 4 food gardens and planting fruit trees for some very appreciative folks!
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Another 10/10 Campaign Garden Finished!
Mr and Mrs. Major of Liberty City, senior citizens with a love of gardening, were not physically able to get a get a garden going, although they could maintain it once planted. Urban Oasis Project volunteers got to work removing weeds, overgrown vines, and rotted wood from the space where they had gardened in the past. We fixed it up, adding new soil, putting walking planks between rows, and planting seeds in the new, revitalized garden! Mr. Major chose from the seeds and seedlings we had, and we planted them. Soon, they will be enjoying tomatoes, cabbage, collards, arugula, parsley, cilantro, cucumbers, peppers, squash, and more. Art will be stopping by to check on them on Sundays on his way to the weekly volleyball game at Earth n Us Farm in Little Haiti.
When we finished, Mr. Major thanked us many times. He is 75 years old, and and he used to feed a lot of people in the neighborhood from his garden. He said that now he will feed lots of people from his garden again!
We gave him a "Happy Gardening" card signed by all of our volunteers: Maria Chercoles, Tiffany Lum, Liz Esparza, Art Friedrich, Antonio Guadamuz, Anthony Olivieri, Cesar and Melissa Contreras.
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FAQ's
How can I volunteer?
E-mail us, and we'll send you the details. You can meet us at the volunteer site, or we'll share a ride.
I want to help, but I can't volunteer, what can I do?
The easiest way is to donate. Any amount helps, really: $10, $25, $35. If you can afford $75 to sponsor a raised-garden bed garden, we will give the garden recipient a "Happy Gardening" card signed with your name.
Why Liberty City?
Much of Liberty City is an urban food desert. It is easy to buy beer or cigarettes or Twinkies, but very hard to find a fresh tomato or other vegetable. Many folks in Liberty City remember their grandparents' vegetable gardens where they picked fresh collards for supper, but don't even know where to start to have their own vegetable gardens. We can change this. We have made connections with Liberty City folks who are interested enough to support each other in caring for their gardens and getting others involved after 10/10 to continue what we started. This local commitment makes our work successful, and is necessary for us to pick a project location.
Our first food garden project was in Liberty City where a a family with an appreciation for local food from their own garden needed some help to make it happen. Their little 4-year-old girl, Autumn, was an inspiration to us as she beheld the packets of okra seeds, so excited to have her own garden. She worked along with us, thrilled to help plant her own food. She will lead her generation and change the urban food desert into an urban oasis!
Do you only work in Liberty City?
No, our last meeting included people from Kendall, South Miami, Miami Shores, South Beach, North Beach, Lauderhill, Fontainbleau, Pembroke Pines, Miami Springs, and Bay Harbor Islands. As these people become more involved, we hope they will help to launch their own local projects. Where do you live? Join us and help get us started in your neighborhood. |
Making Food Gardens in Liberty City |