“Never underestimate your power to inspire and affect your community around you. Even the smallest of acts can really ripple out.”
—John VanDeusen Edwards, founder of the Food is Free Project

What is the Food is Free Project?

It is a non-profit organization that grows community and food, while helping gain independence from a broken agriculture system. The Food is Free project is a community building and gardening movement that launched out of Austin, Texas, in January, 2012. They teach you how to connect with your neighbours and line your street with front yard community gardens that provide free harvest to anyone.

The gardens are built and offered for free using salvaged resources that would otherwise be headed to the landfill. By using drought-tolerant, wicking bed gardens, these low maintenance gardens only need to be watered every two to four weeks. This simple tool introduces people to a very easy method of growing organic food with very little work. A wide variety of vegetables along the block promote neighbours to interact and connect, strengthening our communities while empowering them to grow their own food.

More and more people are recognizing the importance of local food and supporting our communities. Food is Free provides a platform for community interaction that opens doors to further collaboration and connection. Imagine walking down your street, where the majority of homes host a front yard community garden, neighbours come together for potlucks, establish tool-sharing, and community composting programs while creating safer, more beautiful neighbourhoods.

The Food is Free Project not only transforms neighbourhood blocks, but has installed gardens at elementary schools, community art spaces, farmers’ markets, churches, and small businesses.

They are creating models for how to grow food in unused public spaces that provide opportunities for people to experience fresh, healthy, organic food, and the power of community when we come together for a cause that’s greater than ourselves.

How to Start a Food is Free Chapter in Your Area

Step 1 Declaration

Start sharing your vision and ideas with friends and neighbours. Start a Facebook page for “Food is Free (your city or neighbourhood).” Invite others to join you. Everything that exists was first a thought, so dream big!

Step 2 Location

Find a spot for the first #foodisfree garden or #foodisfree sharing table. It can be in your front yard, a friend’s place, apartment courtyard, or a container garden on your porch. Get creative for there’s always a place to grow. Consider a place where people will walk past it and be inspired.

Step 3 Discover Resources

Identify what materials and tools you have as well as what you still need. There are so many free resources in the community: free mulch, coffee grounds, yard trimmings, pallets, and more. Check craigslist, freecycle, or contractors about salvaged items. Don’t be afraid to ask.

Step 4 Planting

It all starts with that first garden. Go for it and invite friends and neighbours to join. It’s ok to make mistakes. We all learn faster and have fun when we grow together. Enjoy the interactions with neighbours and let them know you’ll be sharing the coming harvest.

Step 5 Sharing

Sharing what you grow is exciting. It’s such a joy to share the harvest and connect with others, growing community as well as food. Share your #foodisfree photos on social media to keep the ripple of inspiration going.

My Inspiration for Starting a #foodisfree Stand

My original inspiration for starting my own stand didn’t come directly from Food is Free. I had seen a picture posted on facebook by my friend Sharon Pratchler (organizer of Regina Seedy Saturday) for the “Trading Post.” (see photo) I thought this was a really neat idea and contacted Nichole, the owner, to find out more.

Nichole lives in the core neighbourhood in Regina and through a community specific grant, their Heritage Community Association created three things in their local neighbourhood. They wanted to increase community connection and interaction and created the Trading Post, a little art gallery, and a lending/sharing library. Nichole says she “loves to look out the window and see people stop and look for a CD for example, and drop off something different” and that the Trading Post is “really sweet” and that it “ultimately gives more ways for people to interact.” She says that the Trading Post isn’t just a trading spot but has also become a drop off post for free items.

Once an idea is in your mind, you seem to manifest more of these kinds of thoughts. It wasn’t long after seeing that original post that I stumbled across the Food is Free facebook group. I was instantly inspired by the pictures that people had posted with their own #foodisfree stands. I thought, this is something I need to do.

June rolled around and the excitement of creating my first stand was billowing out of me. I had done some research on their webpage (foodisfreeproject.org) so I set out to find something in the garage that I could salvage to use for my stand. I made a sign with the hashtag #FoodIsFree and put out my stand. My adrenaline was running… an excitement of doing something illegal but valuable… like guerilla gardening (not that what I was doing is illegal, but certainly different). That first day, I had garden onions and rhubarb. I took a pic and shared it on the Food is Free facebook page and also posted it on my Garden Therapy Yorkton page and other social media sights like Pay it Forward Yorkton. Then, what seemed like moments later, the views of this picture exploded over social media. Like Nichole from the Trading Post, I too found it fun and exhilarating to see folks stop in to grab fresh produce from my stand.

A few days later, Colleen Valentine did a shout-out segment on her local radio show mentioning Pay it Forward Yorkton and Garden Therapy Yorkton Food is Free Project. I met a new friend that week as she popped by to drop off fresh garden oregano and chives. She had an abundance and wanted to give back to the community by sharing. I knew at that moment that this was going to catch on. Like John, the founder of the project said, it just starts with one. To my excitement and surprise, I was soon interviewed by CTV news. That news segment was aired on June 25, 2015, and then it was on again on Farm Gate. Really cool stuff. Very grateful for all the support!

I’ve since created a facebook page called Food is Free Project—Yorkton SK. This way folks can see what is available and where it is located. I know other people have been inspired and want to share their abundance, too. I’m so excited to see where this will go!

Giving Back to the Community

Amazing things are happening all over the place. Since posting my #foodisfree pics I’ve chatted with folks about how they give back to their community. I know the focus of this article is on the Food is Free Project, but there are so many amazing people giving what they can, when they can. We’ve got a great facebook page here in Yorkton called Pay it Forward where folks post free items for pickup. One gentleman said to me, “I don’t have produce to give but when I have a garage sale, I always have free candles and flashlights for anyone to take.” Another friend said, “My dad has been giving away free produce for years.”

In Yorkton, we have the Assiniboine Food Security Alliance (afsamatters.ca) and through this non-profit organization (with which I volunteer) we have created a Community Garden Group. We mentor people who want to learn how to garden and we also donate produce to the local food bank/Salvation Army. We also have a Seedy Saturday (Prairie Sun Seed Festival)—a group that hosts a yearly event in the spring (free) where we connect community and local organic seed growers. There’s also a seed swap table where people can donate seed in exchange for something different.

This summer, we’ve all been aware of the massive forest fires in Northern Saskatchewan—the number of people evacuated from their homes, sent to various temporary shelters, and the tragedy and loss. Community is at its strongest, it seems, during times of need. I was chatting with a friend of mine, Nadine LeBean of the Wandering Market (out of Gravelbourg, SK), as she was getting ready to take donations of Good Food Boxes and more to a drop-off location in Regina. When I asked her about why she was inspired to get involved, she had this to say: “I just feel compelled to help the evacuees and food is what I know. It’s always been my connector. I feel compassionate about everyone having access to good food and clean water.” Nadine has donated over ten Good Food Boxes to people in need this year. Amazing stuff. To connect with Nadine go to The Wandering Market facebook page.

Closing Statements

The Food is Free Project started with one front yard garden with a #foodisfree sign. Less than three months later, the majority of neighbours on their pilot block host front yard community gardens. Two hundred cities around the world have started #foodisfree chapters. They are documenting the process as they continue to expand, sharing their mistakes and successes, making the information open-source and available to anyone around the globe. Start a Food is Free Project in your town this season. It all starts with that first garden.

It’s time we take back our food and meet our neighbours. Invite your friends to join the mission. Transform your own neighbourhood by planting a community garden in your front yard. When we come together to grow, there is abundance for everyone.

References:
Foodisfreeproject.org
Food is Free Project (non-profit organization) – facebook

Stacey Tress, a Holistic Nutritional Therapist (HNT), lives in Yorkton, Saskatchewan, with her husband and two daughters. She is the owner of Garden Therapy Yorkton which offers fermenting workshops, design work, organically grown produce, and more! To learn more, please contact her at 306-641-4239, email: stacey.gardentherapy@gmail.com, www.gardentherapyyorkton.ca, or on facebook “Garden Therapy Yorkton.” Also, see the display ad on page 9 of the 21.3 September/October issue of the WHOLifE Journal.