Whether people are growing their own food in gardens intheir own back yards or in community gardens in vacant lots, urban farming isimproving the lives of thousands in Milwaukee. Urban gardeners are growingfresh produce by the ton. Along the way, they have become knowledgeable aboutagriculture and farming entrepreneurship, while eating well, getting to knoweach other better and improving their neighborhoods.
For example, since 2007, Groundwork Milwaukee has helpedtransform nearly 100 vacant lots into community gardens and public spaces. Since2008, the Victory Garden Initiative has installed about 3,500 raised beds ingreater Milwaukee, most of them in private yards. All Peoples Church has beenfarming a city lot for 20 years, but has greatly expanded its growing capacityin the past four years.
“We used to think, we would reach a saturation point,” saysGretchen Mead, founder and executive director of the Victory Garden Initiative.“But every year more people buy our gardens,” during the Victory Garden Blitzin May. During the Blitz, volunteers install raised beds for gardeners. Meadsays that the increasing income disparity between the rich and poor may be adriving force behind the popularity of urban gardening along with a newawareness about health issues related to processed food.
Mead grew up in rural Illinois. She started farming in thefront yard of her Shorewood home because she needed to reconnect with her ruralroots. She believes that many urban dwellers are cut off from the land, andthat farming is good for the soul.
“It’s just part of our humanity,” she says. “We have beenagriculturists for generations and generations. Farming is part of ourevolutionary history. It’s kind of like if you cut off a dog’s tail, they don’twag, and they just seem a little less dog.”
Antoine Carter is program director at Groundwork Milwaukee, aprogram developed by the National Park Service with programs in 23 cities. GroundworkMilwaukee helps groups that want to establish a community garden to getstarted. Sometimes residents want to plant orchards or create pocket parks inaddition to gardens. Groundwork Milwaukee helps with building raised beds andoffers basic agricultural instruction. It also helps the group realize itsunique vision for developing the community.
“Because the availability of vacant lots has increased, thenumber of beds has increased,” Carter says. “It has provided a uniqueopportunity for people to transform their neighborhoods and to provide little nichesthat provide checkpoints.”
He adds that Groundwork goes beyond growing food and is thefirst point of contact for any group wanting to start a project. Carter canhelp a group with its programming and find volunteer yoga or Zumba instructorsor can connect groups to cooking and canning classes. Recently, GroundworkMilwaukee partnered with True Skool, which teaches knowledge through hip-hoplyrics. They commissioned young people to design and paint 20 Little FreeLibraries, which are currently being installed in the community gardens.
Carter estimates some 10,000 people actively participate inthe planting and maintenance of the gardens. Groundwork Milwaukee figures thatmore than 200,000 people benefit from their projects and programs.
The gardens are self-sufficient. Many have simple rainwater harvestingsystems, which help with storm water runoff and provide a free source of waterfor the beds. Farmers are taught simple irrigation practices. Some spaces haverain or pollinator gardens. Groundwork Milwaukee has planted almost 6,000shrubs and trees and close to 30,000 bulbs and perennials in public lots orresidential rain gardens. When there is a bounty of produce in summer, somegardens turn into mini farmers’ markets and sell to local residents.
“That brings other people to the garden who may not havewanted to grow the food, but they will pay for the food,” Carter says. “They canbuy right around the corner.”
Gardening can have a beneficial effect on the economy of ahousehold. “In the middle of the season when your cup runneth over withtomatoes and everything, I would say you save hundreds of dollars,” Cartersays.
Groundwork Milwaukee runs Young Farmers, a program to teachhealthy habits through entrepreneurship. Starting at 10, the children tend agarden bed. They then either sell the produce at a farmers market or through aCSA, gaining customer service and inventory skills in the process.
Carter says the benefits of urban gardening include physicalactivity and de-stressing. “It helps you get purpose in life,” he says. Communitygardens provide a site for a lot of social interaction. The spring cleanup, thesummer barbecues and the harvest fest all take place at the garden. “You throwin an art project and that really brings people together,” Carter says. “Agarden really just creates those areas of intersection among those people whofly by night and never talk to each other. Residents come to the garden, andthey’re like, ‘I didn’t know this was going on.’ They meet someone new and theyget into the groove.” Carter is working now to create clusters among nearbygardens to enhance communication and teamwork.
All Peoples Church at Second and Clarke streets has had acommunity garden for 20 years. “I like to say we gardened before it was cool togarden,” says Susan Holty, a volunteer, who manages the community garden. TheAll Peoples Church garden has 34 raised beds, two hoop greenhouses donated byGrowing Power, 50 containers and an extensive rainwater harvesting system,along with apple, pear, plum and cherry trees. Around the perimeter of theproperty are blackberry and raspberry bushes.
Like Groundwork Milwaukee, the church has a program forchildren called Kids Working to Succeed. Last year 150 children participated inthe program.
The program starts with Bible study. The program teaches thestudent to develop a good work ethic. They learn not to judge each other, totake care of and be kind to one other. “They have to stick to those rules orthey get warnings, and then they can’t work with us,” Holty says.
Last year the garden gave more than 800 pounds of produce tolocal residents. The garden also distributed 8,000 ears of corn, donated by afarmer who didn’t want to plow under his crops. Holty says she hopes to develop more relationships like this with otherfarmers.
“The community is just amazing,” she says. “They want tocome together. They want to eat good food. They want to teach each other. Theywant to remember their history, their cultures. For all that they say I teachthem, they teach me so much more,” she continues. “We are not doing anything forsomebody. We’re doing it together.”
Mead sees a bright future for urban agriculture and hopes toexpand her Victory Garden Initiative across the Midwest. Already, the VictoryGarden Blitz has trained gardeners in Green Bay, Wis., and Berea, Ky., to dothe Blitz. “It can really catalyze food movements within communities. InMilwaukee, I’ve seen how it just emboldened everyone. That was really part ofthe momentum of it all, where people just claimed it and said, ‘We’re going togrow our own food right here in the city.’”
Urban gardening resources:
Alice’s Garden: 414-687-0122; alicesgardenmke.com
Groundwork Milwaukee: 414-763-9947; groundworkmke.org
Growing Power: 414-527-1546; growingpower.org
Home Gr/own Milwaukee: 414-286-3748;homegrownmilwaukee.com
Milwaukee County UW Extension: 414-256-4664; milwaukee.uwex.edu
The Urban Ecology Center: 414-964-8505;urbanecologycenter.org
Victory Garden Initiative: 414-431-0888; victorygardeninitiative.org
