VGR Member Revival Efforts

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Food access is a really important cause. We plan to inspire you by telling first hand accounts from people who are giving up their time for what really matters right now.

Below you will find member submitted stories of people from all walks of life, with different goals, to help the  victory gardens revival, and the world around them. 

We feature things like- starting a seed share, helping a farmer, teaching the future generations how to grow, or process their food. Really anything that involves access to food is what we aim to have here.

You can submit any project you're working on in during the covid 19 pandemic of 2020, as long as it is related to food, and the food access issues. Please tell us your story, and send  high quality photos of what you're doing.

Good morning,

We are in the planning stages for upgrades to the “Winter Green Community Garden” (it is on Winter St) in Hartford.  We were pleased to find two plots growing tomatoes, beans, corn and maybe some cabbage (under baskets to shade or keep out pests?)

We plan to add a shelter with a rain barrel system and tool storage.  The existing beds are overgrown with weeds and volunteers from prior gardens, but look stable.

I am involved in this project as a volunteer via a Pratt & Whitney group.  I believe this one is with the environmental group, but it may also be working through the local engineers without borders, but I hope to help our cause and share my gardening work. 

Everyone is terrified right now, and rightly so, we never expected our world to suddenly halt to a screaching stop. But it has.
 

The only thing we can do is listen to the news knowing that we are only getting half truths, shotty timelines, updates about the terrible lack of supplies, and the numbers of virus infected, very sick people are rising by the hour.
 

It's admittedly, pretty grim looking overall, well, at least, it FEELS that way right now. I mean if the president is giving us money to keep us calm and survive, it's probably a S.H.T.F. situation....or eventually will be.
 

But let me offer you all some HOPE for the future, hope is a powerful thing, it's ultimate faith that God will always prevail in all of his works. We can trust his process. His will be done.
 

When this is over, the world will be better, healthier. We will make our own goods,-again, we will learn to live minimally & simply-again, people will understand the value of life after losing so much of it at once, they will even learn the value of a dollar -once again.
 

People will appreciate learning how to grow their own food; They will plant their bare hands in the dirt, and rebond with mother earth. They will learn compassion & many will reconnect with God in a way they never thought possible.
 

The world's environment will only get better. The earth is a friend of God, and afterall, mother earth  has self sustaining capabilities, She will do whatever it takes to balance out her ecosystem. That means clearing out some of what is destroying her...unfortunately, this time...... that's us.
 

People of the future-
Do not allow this shameful history to repeat  itself take care of your world. Don't be greedy, don't be vain, don't take more than you need. Help eachother, love one another, & respect whatever world is left behind after this. Your world will look very different than ours. Clean up our oceans, and never hurt your world again. Live like you want to leave no trace of yourself when you're gone for good, and maybe you will have the chance of leading a beautiful life. You only get 1 of those, please, never waste it.

-BWRD

 We must reclaim the ability to feed ourselves. Over the years I have put a fair amount of thought into the word, "nutricide". The deliberate manipulation of food systems by one group of people with access and power to obtain a predetermined outcome for a different group of people. This is my own definition. Perhaps the abbreviated version is something like, "starve them into submission". Maybe there is an official one somewhere. 

Having been born, raised and living most of my life on an Indian Reservation in northern MN, I fully understand how manipulations of food systems can impact a target group of Indigenous Peoples. Beginning in colonial times to the present, the results are self evident. And it is very political, from the past to the present. Enough said about that.

I applaud this group for the efforts to feed yourselves and others. It gives my heart great joy to reclaim our food systems and to witness the movement to feed ourselves and our communities with food that is safe and being sourced from a secure place.

I thank and salute you all for your work. Whether you are growing from a few containers on your apartment patio or from something much larger, it is all great work. Taking back our food systems.

Access to safe healthy local food is very political. Based on where I live, my own experiences and the experiences of my ancestors, I know this to be true. Happy gardening to you all  and enjoy the  delicious bounty this Mother Earth provides. We are all in this together.

I live in a food desert on this Indian reservation in northern Minnesota. Convenience stores in these communities. I want to try something this year. I am going to put some potted tomatoes and cucumbers in front of the stores. 

People can take the food as it matures. Free. The store keepers will water the plants. Trying to introduce the palette to something a little bit better than pop and chips. We also gave away over 2,200 packs of garden seeds on our Indian Reservation in MN.

Thank you all for the great food work you are doing in your communities.

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Hey ya'll!  My name is Sheri and I have the best job ever.  I work on a farm.  Seriously, pigs, cows, goats and a large garden.  Work life is paradise, but it doesn't end there.  The farm I work for is located in Ohio and is also a day program for autistic adults.  That's right. I get to garden AND teach amazing individuals about self sufficiency. 

Our program started as a way to give our "farmers" a sense of ownership, responsibility and education.  They show up to work, work the farm, and go home happy.

We have a woodshop program and crafts program.  We have animals, hydroponics and a massive garden.  Every cent that the farm makes in sales goes back to our farmers.  It's their employment, it's their hard work that makes us who we are.

I could talk to you for hours about the farm.  It's my passion.  I often say that the farm is better than Disneyland, which is the happiest place on earth, you know.  Instead, I'm here to tell you about our garden.  Is it a Victory Garden?  I would say absolutely.  We feed the community.  We give those who come to the farm for produce an abundance of different vegetables to try and take home to their families.  We are all about victory, and we are all about gardens.

I was recently promoted to "Garden Lead". Let me tell you, we don't plant a "traditional" garden.  My first thought was how to engage our farmers.  How could I create an inviting, creative and happy space for those individuals that we serve? A place that they want to be in,  something they want to be a part of?

I knew instantly that this wasn't my garden.  But I also knew that I had a responsibility to create a space that our farmers want to be a part of.  In years past, time in the garden for our folks meant days and days spent weeding.  There was no end result to be proud of.  I knew that would have to change.

Things have been interesting.  What I wanted in the future is for our farmers to be 110% a part of our garden program.  What I got this year was a program stalled by Covid.  So I've compromised.

We are working around new guidelines to be able to serve our entire population.  For now, I work with what I have.  So please, let me tell you about what we have going on in this year's garden!

We've expanded.  In many different ways.  In years past we have planted an in ground garden, which had been great.  This year we have found fun ways to expand.  We have added several raised beds, arched trellises, and a straw bale garden.  All of these offer our farmers the opportunity to be a part of our garden. 

In our straw bale garden, the work has been done by our farmers.  I have done the fertilizing, but they have done everything else.  The massive amount of watering.  Chosing what plants to grow, and where those plants should be planted.

Our program offers each individual the opportunity to choose the work that they do.  Some prefer heavy lifting with animals care.  Some would rather create amazing crafts.  Some like to spend their day in the garden. 

Through every step of the process, we have the opportunity to include the most amazing of people.  Our farmers.  And let me tell you, there is no better feeling than seeing those we serve excited and engaged with what they do. 

You can find more info at out website, hiramfarm.org, or give us a "like" on our Facebook Page by simply searching "Hiram Farm".  Thank you for taking the time to read about our amazing program.  ❤💛❤

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Sitting under my impressive Modesto Ash, in the cool shade, I look at what is on my Farm-stand table and realize just how much this idea has blossomed in such a short period of time. This one idea has brought the neighborhood closer, helped me to meet and form meaningful relationships with my neighbors, and feed and teach other single parents how to grow fresh fruit and veggies for their little ones. As a Botany and Ornithology student this semester, I definitely had the head knowledge about plants (Thanks Professor Geary!) to execute the task ahead, but the question was did I have the dedication and the time to pull this off. You see, I am a single mom with sole custody of my 12 year old son, Jackson, whom I love dearly. Time is a constant balancing act, but I was determined to just go for it! The event that spurred the idea on, was of course COVID-19, which we started talking about in class beginning on January. With a lot of prior knowledge, I pulled my son out of his homeschool programs earlier than a lot of people, and we began to see less and less people. I vividly remember hearing my grandfather’s strong gruff voice in my head, saying “Someday there will be a time when you will need to live off the land”. With my botany project of growing a few plants for an experiment, and that gentle reminder, I started growing food in my urban, cemented, backyard in the middle of Silicon Valley, in San Jose Ca. My friend Teresa works at a Nursery not too far, and I asked her if I could come in for some advice. Upon arriving, she showed me around, and introduced me to the expert in growing food, Rose. Rose showed me everything, and in great detail explained what was beneficial for growing different plants, and what was not. I took notes on my phone of exactly how to care for each plant, what fertilizer to feed them, how often, just like I was doing a controlled science experiment (I was in a sense for botany). Rose and I continued to talk through text and messenger, and she started an Apocalyptic gardening group to help all us beginners learn how to grow food. Luckily I had purchased 65 different types of seeds and had my starts when they shut down our Nurseries here in the bay area, saying they were not essential businesses. The run on seeds and chickens began shortly after this, and thankfully I had purchased my 12 chicks right before this all went down from an amazing little family run business in Los Gatos called cHICK n bEES. About the same time, I purchased a Bee-Hive and my little urban farm was coming together. I started swapping seeds and Starts with Rose, and many other friends finding great pleasure in it, in the dark times we started to face with all the mandatory shut downs, stores and business going under that had been around since I was a child, and peoples overall attitude diminishing. Rose was doing something really cool, and encouraged me to do the same. She was growing a massive amount of veggie, fruit, and herb starts along with some flower, and giving a lot away as well as selling some for a very reasonable price. She encouraged me to do the same, and with the shelter in place, I figured why not? Cambrian Farms was born, as we acquired more animals, and planted over 750 seeds spanning 65 different varieties of fruit, veggies and herbs. We became a rescue for animals who’s owners could not keep them any longer, or could no longer afford to feed them. I had no clue how I was going to feed all these animals, and myself and my son for that matter, but I kept going! Being a single parent, and a full time student on scholorships left for no wiggle room financially. Top all of that with being in recovery from Alcoholism for 4 years and some change, and you really start to get a fuller picture of what we were born out of. Like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes, Cambrian Farms rose out of the destruction caused by the virus. I knew when we saw empty shelves at the grocery story, we had to not only grow food, but grow as much food as possible. We are on a ¼ acre here, nestled in silicon valley, with the Santa Cruz mountains bordering us to the west, and Mount Hamilton off in the distance. My Goal is to turn this ¼ acre into producing as much food as possible! My friend Bunny had suggested this group, Victory Garden Revival, and as soon as I realized it was about Food activism my heart went aflutter. Deep in my soul, I am an activist for many different issues. Food Supply is something I had never thought about, but now, with the help of this group, you have set me on fire to help the masses! Wish me luck, Jenn HayesVSitting under my impressive Modesto Ash, in the cool shade, I look at what is on my Farm-stand table and realize just how much this idea has blossomed in such a short period of time. This one idea has brought the neighborhood closer, helped me to meet and form meaningful relationships with my neighbors, and feed and teach other single parents how to grow fresh fruit and veggies for their little ones. As a Botany and Ornithology student this semester, I definitely had the head knowledge about plants (Thanks Professor Geary!) to execute the task ahead, but the question was did I have the dedication and the time to pull this off. You see, I am a single mom with sole custody of my 12 year old son, Jackson, whom I love dearly. Time is a constant balancing act, but I was determined to just go for it! The event that spurred the idea on, was of course COVID-19, which we started talking about in class beginning on January. With a lot of prior knowledge, I pulled my son out of his homeschool programs earlier than a lot of people, and we began to see less and less people. I vividly remember hearing my grandfather’s strong gruff voice in my head, saying “Someday there will be a time when you will need to live off the land”. With my botany project of growing a few plants for an experiment, and that gentle reminder, I started growing food in my urban, cemented, backyard in the middle of Silicon Valley, in San Jose Ca. My friend Teresa works at a Nursery not too far, and I asked her if I could come in for some advice. Upon arriving, she showed me around, and introduced me to the expert in growing food, Rose. Rose showed me everything, and in great detail explained what was beneficial for growing different plants, and what was not. I took notes on my phone of exactly how to care for each plant, what fertilizer to feed them, how often, just like I was doing a controlled science experiment (I was in a sense for botany). Rose and I continued to talk through text and messenger, and she started an Apocalyptic gardening group to help all us beginners learn how to grow food. Luckily I had purchased 65 different types of seeds and had my starts when they shut down our Nurseries here in the bay area, saying they were not essential businesses. The run on seeds and chickens began shortly after this, and thankfully I had purchased my 12 chicks right before this all went down from an amazing little family run business in Los Gatos called cHICK n bEES. About the same time, I purchased a Bee-Hive and my little urban farm was coming together. I started swapping seeds and Starts with Rose, and many other friends finding great pleasure in it, in the dark times we started to face with all the mandatory shut downs, stores and business going under that had been around since I was a child, and peoples overall attitude diminishing. Rose was doing something really cool, and encouraged me to do the same. She was growing a massive amount of veggie, fruit, and herb starts along with some flower, and giving a lot away as well as selling some for a very reasonable price. She encouraged me to do the same, and with the shelter in place, I figured why not? Cambrian Farms was born, as we acquired more animals, and planted over 750 seeds spanning 65 different varieties of fruit, veggies and herbs. We became a rescue for animals who’s owners could not keep them any longer, or could no longer afford to feed them. I had no clue how I was going to feed all these animals, and myself and my son for that matter, but I kept going! Being a single parent, and a full time student on scholorships left for no wiggle room financially. Top all of that with being in recovery from Alcoholism for 4 years and some change, and you really start to get a fuller picture of what we were born out of. Like the Phoenix rising out of the ashes, Cambrian Farms rose out of the destruction caused by the virus. I knew when we saw empty shelves at the grocery story, we had to not only grow food, but grow as much food as possible. We are on a ¼ acre here, nestled in silicon valley, with the Santa Cruz mountains bordering us to the west, and Mount Hamilton off in the distance. My Goal is to turn this ¼ acre into producing as much food as possible! My friend Bunny had suggested this group, Victory Garden Revival, and as soon as I realized it was about Food activism my heart went aflutter. Deep in my soul, I am an activist for many different issues. Food Supply is something I had never thought about, but now, with the help of this group, you have set me on fire to help the masses! Wish me luck!

Jenn

"We call our granddaughter Beastie. She loves school, and when the shelter in place orders came through we knew we would have big shoes to fill. Her teachers are AMAZING! 

 We ordered soil and seed and plastic to be delivered by local building and garden centers. We wrapped our back porch with plastic sheeting in March to use as a makeshift greenhouse and we cleared space in the basement for a grow light. 

Then we set to work learning. We taught her how to make paper pots like I was taught. We read up on how to grow each plant. We watched loads of BBC gardening documentaries. She seemed to like those best. We learned and learned and then we worked.

 Soon we had so many plant seedlings we couldn't move!!! We let her decide what to do. She said, "we should share." So that's what we did. 

Today was a marvelous day. We sat on the porch and greeted everyone who came. We saw family and neighbours and friends and strangers (now not so strange). We laughed and smiled and cried a bit. When I went to tidy up after they were almost all gone we found money tucked in. It's in a jar and Beastie is super excited to ...... You guessed it.... Buy more seeds!!!!! 

Thank you to the Victory Gardens Revival page for all the supportive messages and kind words. So much knowledge on this page with so much eagerness to share. We are grateful. Stay tucked in and safe."

-VGR member Kellie 

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"My name is Chad Kernell.

My wife Jessica and I have two young children and we live in Ohio.

My parents were part time farmers when I was young and we always had a huge garden and fruit trees and, berry patch. We canned froze and preserved for the winter.

My parents, both born in the 1930s, had grown up poor in the depression and experienced rationing and victory gardening during WW2 and passed that appreciation of self sufficiency and food security onto their children.

I got away from gardening in the years I was in the Navy and I didn't own a home.

I got involved in the slow food and local food movements when I sold produce to restaurants, but to be honest at the time, it was more about being trendy and being a foodie. 

I established relationships with farmers, and chefs and it was fun, people in my circle cared about local businesses and local family farms because we wanted to.

Things have changed. Now I realize people need to support local farmers and local food businesses because our food distribution system is broken.

After Jess and I got married we started gardening. She is a country girl. Her father and grandparents have a farm and she rode horses and did 4H growing up but we became city people.

Nothing wrong with that, but once our kids came along we both had a growing desire to return to our roots and raise our kids in a rural atmosphere, where they knew where their food came from,  because they grew the vegetables and raised and cared for the animals.

We are still in the suburbs and can only have raised beds and containers and no livestock.

We had started planting and working a larger extended family garden at her fathers farm, but it's almost an hour away and the epidemic has made it hard to get there and plant this year.

We have quadrupled our growing space at the house.

I already was the Administrator of a Facebook group about homesteading, self sufficiency and prepping/survival topics. I also had a huge catalogue of articles on my pinterest page on those topics before the epidemic.

When the restrictions and stay at home orders increased I realized starting another Facebook group,  specifically to help small family farms and families connect, would help everyone.

Everyone can victory garden, even if it's a few small buckets. Not everyone can raise livestock and when the meat shelves started looking bare at the store I felt the need to help not just my family, but all families, have more food security through a direct relationship with local farmers and butchers.

I got lots of encouragement from Danni and the leaders of Victory garden revival and Vicki with the prepper survival network and good advice on farm to home groups from the Shop Kansas Group.

Our group, Farm to Home Food buying now has several hundred members and is growing daily with a great lakes region and now a Kentucky, Tennessee region and a PA, NY region.

Lots of families and farmers have made connections.

Some long term goals we are considering are a network of co-ops and CSAs and helping in the movement to change the food supply chain problems we face as a country..."

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"I live in a food desert. There are already challenges to finding good healthy food and fresh produce. Many people ride the bus, which takes 2 or more hours out of the day. I know, because I used to be one of them. I was a single mom of five children, with no car, living in a food desert. My friend Tia gave me seeds, and I started my first garden in the back yard of our apartment building. I was scared every day of not being able to feed my kids. It was 8 years ago, but I remember laying awake at night worried about feeding my kids. 
       When COVID-19 happened I was between jobs at UnityPoint Hospital. A UPH, we talk about Fostering Unity, Owning the Moment, Championing Excellence and Seizing Opportunities. I applied those values to my Free Food Porch Pantry.  I was trying to find a little cabinet to turn into a free pantry, patterned like those little free libraries. I couldn't find one, so I dragged an old table out to my front porch and rummaged through my pantry and cupboards for food that we weren't using. I took pictures and posted it on my Facebook page. The table had a little drawer with a handle, so we tied a sign to it that said "FREE FOOD take what you need". I asked my friends for donations from their pantries. 
         I had seen a young mother in our neighborhood pushing two young  children in a stroller. She was telling me how hard it was to find bread and milk. She was walking with her kids in the falling snow to Dollar Tree or the gas station in search of milk and bread. We talked a few minutes longer and she told me that the people who didn't have time or money to ride the bus to grocery stores had begun shopping for food at Dollar Tree, Family Dollar and Dollar General. I shopped there too as a mom alone with five children. We walked 2  miles, there and back, in every weather to the Family Dollar. But now, because of paper goods shortages and canned good shortages people from outlying areas were coming to these dollar stores and buying up everything that my neighbors needed to feed their families. I went again to plead to my friends on Facebook. I took some money from our account to stock some things for our porch pantry. 
       We added another table thanks to generous donations from our friends, and then people in the neighborhood started dropping things off. Our local food pantries were closed at the time, because of social distancing guidelines.  One of our local pantries, East Bluff Community Center, began dropping excess food off to us.  Our local public news station ran a phone interview I did with them on WCBU/NPR. Our local tv station WMBD did a interview with me. The  newspaper Peoria Journal Star, Phil Luciano, interviewed me and did an article. I wasn't comfortable being interviewed, but  my husband Charles said it would help raise awareness of what we are doing and maybe bring more people to help us. 
     IT EXPLODED!!!! People from all over our area started bringing food. Mini fridges were donated so I could keep milk, eggs, sliced cheese and some meat for our pantry shoppers. Friends from far away started doing grocery deliveries, they'd pay a service to shop for groceries and drop them off. They sent us monetary donations which we use to supply what needs aren't met by others dropping off food. We've had to be creative, a lot of places I can't buy a whole flat of canned goods, peanut butter, jelly. So it requires more than one stop. Or others to help shop. I couldn't buy more than two cartons of eggs without multiple trips, so I found a local egg farmer, Haystack Gardens,  they let us buy whatever we need, but they also donate eggs to us. Every week they donate about 5-8 dozen, and we buy in bulk.  Even with that we do run short. I bought 27 dozen two weeks ago and they donated 12 dozen. Just today I bought another 42 dozen. 
     With an eye towards sustainability I enlarged our garden plans. I'm hoping to supply our pantry with fresh veggies and fruits as they become available in my garden. I planted over 100 disposable cups full of seeds to give away. I was going to give them away for Mother's Day to our shoppers, but it had been rainy and frosty that weekend. Hopefully soon we can start people becoming more food stable. 
       My favorite part is the people who donate and the people who shop. We have a lady who brings us rhubarb, chives and walking onions from her garden. She makes masks too. Another couple brings us dog and cat food so our shopper's furry family members can eat.  There's a family that shops here, the grandpa owns an apartment building and if his tenants have trouble making ends meet or problems buying groceries he sends them to us. His son teaches people to cook using shelf stable ingredients and whatever fresh food they can find. The grandson, I met him on his first day out of jail. He had been out walking around, and he stopped to talk to me about what I do and why. He took a few groceries that night. The next day he came back saying he wanted to bring groceries to an elderly neighbor. Now he has at least 4-5 elderly neighbors in our area he takes food to. He leaves me a couple dollars every day in my mailbox. We had a grandma who suddenly got custody of her 6 grandkids, they were dropped off on Friday night after the stores were closed. We took over boxes of food to get them through the weekend until Monday, when social services was supposed to help her. There was a lady whose mother's home health aide brought her over. She didn't have a car, they were laid off and had no food. My 8 year old son took her around our porch and put things in her bag while she cried so hard she could hardly answer us. She was crying so hard my 18 year old and 17 year old sons carried her food to the car. I still think about her, I remember feeling like that. We serve a large homeless population. There are barriers that I didn't know to homeless people getting food at food pantries. Most pantries won't serve people who don't have an ID or a permanent address. Also many of the soup kitchens in our area are closed. And there's restrictions on the shelters, there's a quarantine period they have to go through or they have to get a COVID test. Then there's the people we've inspired to take a chance on helping others. a lady who lives in our neighborhood owns and runs two bars. One is near us, but the other is in a different town and she's set up a food pantry outside the bar where people in that town can pick up food or donate food. 
     People tell me all the time that this is "all you" but it's really not. It's just my porch. Its our friends, and neighbors, community and donors that make this work. Like Mr. Rogers, we're all trying to be good neighbors. "
 

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