We all eat. But the foods we eat, and have access to, varies widely. In this episode, we meet some people who have been gardening in Green Bay's vibrant community garden program for years. They tell us why these gardens matter, what they grow, and how planting seeds impacts their lives in real ways. We also talk with some of the women who got the garden program started, figured out what makes a garden thrive, and are keeping it going despite ongoing challenges.
"We learned that 41% of the people who were food insecure said, 'Oh yeah, having a garden would really help me.'” - Karen Early.
In 1994 Karen went to the city of Green Bay with the results of surveys done at area food pantries. They gave her a vacant lot and said she could start a community garden. That first year, they had six families. Three years later, there were 176 families working across four gardens. In the 2021 summer season, there will be 250 families working on 12 different garden plots! This is most people in the program’s history.
In 2019, Wisconsin Humanities awarded Brown County Extension's Community Garden Program a Mini Grant for a project called "Exploring Cultural Roots." A public event gave community members the opportunity to interact and learn from the gardening traditions and foods of Brown County’s non-European cultures.
The Community Gardens were developed in 1996 as part of an initiative to increase food security in Brown County. Learn more about Brown County Extension Community Gardens program and the Friends group, the fundraising arm that helps to support the garden program.
Voices in this episode:
Three Convicts, Twenty Dollars, and a Newspaper
A Mic and Five Minutes
Death-defying Feats
Season 2 Trailer
The Power of Being Seen (with Tracey Robertson)
The Power of Indigenous Knowledge (with Marvin Defoe)
The Power of Untold Stories (with Rachel Monaco-Wilcox)
The Power of Experience (with Caroline Gottschalk Druschke)
The Power of Listening (with Arijit Sen)
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