During the COVID pandemic, flaws in the national and global food systems were evident with the plethora of empty grocery shelves caused by supply chain and other challenges. Often, local producers came to the rescue by providing healthy, nutritious produce to communities through neighborhood farmers' markets and consumer farm visits.
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| Recently planted garden Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images |
According to the study's lead author, Benjamin Campbell, UGA College of Agricultural & Environmental Sciences, "Gardening not only gave people something to do, but it also gave them a little bit more happiness.” Food insecurity was a driver for many of those included in the study.
Historic Gardening Movements
Depleted soils, broken food systems, and supply-chain challenges contribute to food insecurity for rural and urban populations. Local food security is a a severe challenge for humanity.
According to the U.S. Department of Human and Health Services, in 2020, 13.8 million households were food insecure at some point during the year. The World Food Programme made a dire announcement:
2022: a year of unprecedented hunger
As many as 828 million people go to bed hungry every night. The number of those facing acute food insecurity has soared - from 135 million to 345 million - since 2019. A total of 49 million people in 49 countries are teetering on the edge of famine.
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| Image courtesy of Living Farm History |
In World War II (WWII,) the federal government called on citizens to plant victory gardens; nearly 20 million Americans answered the call in the name of patriotism. Victory gardens produced an estimated 9 - 10-million tons of vegetables, the equivalent of the commercial-agriculture-crop production destined to feed the troops: victory gardens made a tremendous difference and avoided food-shortage and hunger scenarios during the war.*
Thus, the U.S. has precedent on preventing food insecurity on a mass scale during the Great Depression and WWII via home and vacant-lot gardening. Challenge: both programs were strongly promoted and supported by the U.S. federal government. Without government support, communities, non-profits, and individuals must create a movement for U.S. residents to plant and nurture gardens, instead of lawns, at their homes.
* Facts provided by the Living History Farm, Farming in the 1940's, Victory Farms.
** Section is an excerpt from the Regeneration in ACTION (RiA) article, Water & Soil: the foundation of life.
Modern-Day-Gardening Movement
Inspired by the relief gardens' and victory gardens' past successes and fueled by the food shortages during the COVID pandemic, a modern-day-gardening movement is underway.
In 2021, Modern Farmer publisher Frank Giustra and Big Green Co-Founder Kimbal Musk announced the launch of the Million Gardens Movement (MGM,) a charitable food initiative; MGM aspires to give everyone the opportunity to grow their own food, whether it is on a windowsill or in a backyard, and to create a healthier, happier, more sustainable world.
“Big Green and Modern Farmer started Million Gardens Movement to make it simple for anyone to give a family a garden,” says Musk. “Planting a seed is an act of hope for a brighter tomorrow.
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| Ei food forest Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images |
The RiA article, Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots, introduces the pilots while the article, Urban Afforestation: Food Forests and Microforests, showcases the global-food forest movement.
Tours are an excellent avenue to inspire neighbors and community residents to join the gardening movement. Individual tours were common from the onset of planting seeds, seedlings and saplings within the Ei Pilots.
Food Forest Tours
As part of their 2023 Eat Local Week (ELW) festivities, Transition Sarasota hosted dual for-pay food forest tours on October 18. As the curator of the Ei Rewilding Urban Landscapes Pilots and a food forest at his parents' home, Zach Zildjian of ZZ Design Services spearheaded the tours. One of the most popular ELW events, the food tours were oversold!
The RiA article, Food forests transform lawns into lovely, beneficial landscapes, features the ELW food forest tours.
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| Holly begins the Ei Food Forest tour in her backyard. Photo credit: Ana Galeana |
Beginning indoors due to the rain and chilly temperature, tour participants were welcomed with homemade sweet treats along with Holly's butterfly pea blossom-white-tea blend. While indoors, Holly gave the an introduction to Ei, the Ei Pilots, and the underdevelopment Ei Focus Area What We Eat Matters.
As the rain subsided, the tour began with the Native-Plant-Landscape Pilot in the front yard; the pilot intention is to provide food and habitat for local, urban wildlife. Over two-years young, the Native-Plant-Landscape Pilot was designed by Pam Callender of Lifelines and installed on November 18 & 19, 2021. Holly explained that the impervious driveway was removed to enlarge the pilot area and aid with rainfall retention on the property.
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| Holly explains the evolution of the Ei Food Forest. Photo credit: Ana Galeana |
The POL Pilot general rule is any non-native plant must either produce human food and/or nourish the soil ecosystem.
After Holly hand weeded it, the designated food forest area was covered with cardboard and topped with mulch to prepare the soil for the trees and ground cover. On June 15, 2022, the food forest was installed under Zach's design and direction. An organic process, the food forest welcomes new plantings, ground cover, and trees on a sporadic basis.
Two of the groundcover crops - sweet potatoes and African mint potatoes - produce an abundant, tasty harvest. The Meyer lemon, Persian lime, Surinam cherry, Barbados cherry, mulberry, and loquat trees bore fruit in their first year; though healthy, the tangerine, Eureka lemon, persimmon, pomegranate, and kaffir lime trees are yet to bear fruit.
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| Harvested blossoms and house-made tea blend Photo credit: Holly Elmore Images |
In late September, 2022, Holly along with Zach's crew planted over 500 seeds in preparation of the garden installation weeks later.
... and then Hurricane Ian ravaged the Florida Gulf Coast mere days after planting the seeds. As they were moved indoors while preparing for the hurricane, the seeds were unharmed. Though Ian wreaked havoc on it, the food forest proved resilient and sustained minimal long-term damage.
Hurricane debris, mainly large branches and medium-sized tree trunks, were perfect for confining the garden's three main plots. In its second winter season, the garden thrives and produces an abundance of lettuces, vegetables, herbs, and edible flowers.
As the tour concluded, many participants eagerly accepted plant cuttings and seedlings from the food forest.
Beyond Food Security
Though a strong proponent of building local food security for humans and urban wildlife alike, the Ei Pilot's primary focus is on replacing lawns and open space with native-plant and permaculture-oriented landscapes.
Lawns are environmentally detrimental as they lack diversity, generally are non-native plants, and are often treated with the "cides"* and petro-chemical fertilizers. The previously referenced RiA article, Water & Soil: the foundation of life, explains the devastating impact of lawns on the environment and urban wildlife.
Ei celebrates that the Ei Rewilding Urban Landscape Pilots create a tremendous added-value benefit by supporting the modern-day-gardening movement via building local food security with yard gardens and food forests.
* the "cides" include herbicides, pesticides, insecticides, and fungicides.
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