At our Community Lunch this past Friday, we heard about the great work of Keep Growing Detroit (KGD) from Ashley Atkinson. She is KGD’s longtime co-director of Farm and Market Operations and an old friend of the Green Garage.
Keep Growing Detroit supports thousands of gardeners and farmers across Detroit, Highland Park, and Hamtramck through education, resources, and connections. Their goal is a food-sovereign city, where the majority of fruits and vegetables consumed by Detroiters are grown by Detroiters. The idea is that the owners of such a system develop a greater resilience in the long run, since they are empowered to not only to be “consumers within the food system but also growers, stewards, and decision-makers guiding its future,” according to KDG. They support four types of gardens: family, community, school and market gardens.
Inspired by research that suggests children learn their connections to food and nature by age 3, Keep Growing Detroit has a strong relationship with the Detroit Public Schools Community District and over 50 early childhood centers in the city.
We also recommend checking out their Garden Resource Program, which provides thousands of Detroiters—including many members of the Green Garage coworking community!—with seeds, transplants, workshops and access to soil testing.
Here is Ashley’s talk and her slides:
Our next Community Lunch is Friday, May 15th. Join us then to hear from Diana Graham about the Detroit Repair Cafe, which helps people fix items for free and teaches repair skills to visitors in the process. We look forward to seeing you then!