Solidarity Gardens: Partnering to build food production through sustainability education for small-scale producers

View the project final report

Commodities

• Vegetables: beans, carrots, cucurbits, eggplant, greens (leafy), greens (lettuces), onions, peppers, radishes (culinary), rutabagas, tomatoes, turnips

Practices

• Education and Training: technical assistance, workshop
• Sustainable Communities: food access and security, urban agriculture

In this project, Sola Gratia Farm (SGF) partnered with 6 vegetable growers in Champaign County, Illinois, in order to educate on and demonstrate how sustainable growing practices can enhance their capacity to supply food. Partner gardens were participants in Solidarity Gardens, a collaborative initiative managed by Cunningham Township Supervisor’s Office (CTSO), SGF, Urbana Park District, and Champaign Park District to increase local food production. Solidarity Gardens collaborates with 1) skilled gardeners to support them in increasing production of nutritious, fresh, local produce, and 2) emerging gardeners to develop food production skills in order to address their and their neighbors’ food needs. Working with the first group (our partner gardens), we identified gaps in knowledge and skills needed to support garden productivity and developed 6 hands-on educational workshops to educate on these topics (which included seed starting, season extension, seed saving, season planning, companion planting, recommendations for growing high-value crops, measures for maximizing tomato production, and networking for mutual support among gardeners). These workshops were advertised to the public and especially gardeners in the second group (our larger network), reaching nearly 100 new and intermediate gardeners and providing all participants with opportunities to discuss and address challenges of managing a small-scale growing operation to be ecologically and economically sustainable while ensuring gardener well-being. The 6 workshops and a further 4 gardener gatherings helped gardeners gain skills while increasing networking and relationship-building.
All participants in the workshops and gatherings learned new skills and several followed up with us by sharing ways they implemented these techniques in their gardens. Additionally, a number of participants became more involved in Solidarity Gardens. Since Solidarity Gardens operate on an entirely voluntary basis, opportunities for connection have been valuable in helping interested individuals gain confidence and support to engage with the project and ensure continued food production into the future.

1. Educated nearly 100 growers on agricultural methods that are economically viable, ecologically sound, and maintain gardener wellbeing.
2. Assisted 6 growers to implement and maintain sustainable agriculture methods in their gardens, materially increasing their sustainability and mitigating pressing challenges that prevent them from operating their gardens at a high level of productivity.
3. Deepen relationships between growers by collaboratively planning and practicing how to grow more sustainably.
4. Develop capacity at SGF for future grower education on sustainable agricultural practices.