Who and What is Food is Free?

The Food is Free Project grows community and food, while helping gain independence from a broken agricultural system.  The Food is Free Project is a community building and gardening movement that launched in January of 2012. We teach people how to connect with their neighbors and line their street with front yard community gardens which provide free harvests to anyone.

The first Food is Free wicking bed garden on our block

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 2-4 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 neighbors to interact and connect, strengthening our communities while empowering them to grow their own food.

Time to take back our food and meet our neighbors. Invite your friends to join the mission. Transform your own neighborhood and become a garden host.

The Food is Free Project started with one front yard garden. Less than 3 months later, the majority of neighbors on our pilot block host front yard community gardens.  We are documenting the process as we continue to expand, sharing our mistakes and successes, making the information open-source and available to anyone around the globe.

Food is Free garden assembly line from a workday on our pilot block

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

The Food is Free project not only transforms neighborhood blocks, but has installed gardens at Elementary schools, community arts spaces, Farmers Markets, churches and small businesses.

We 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.

Clouds of Life

As I head home I’ m thinking about the magic of aviation. Something that seemed unheardof 100 years ago is now commonplace and I find myself wondering what kind of things will be totally normal 100 years from now which we can’t even begin to fathom. How will we gennerate energy? What methods of new transportation and communication will weave through our lives? 

It is all very uncertain. Mysteries which tickle my imagination and leave me excited. In a way our journey through life is much like ascending a spiral staircase. We can barely see what’s around the immediate corner. All we really can do is take it step by step.

Right now as our plane is flying through clouds, I find a strong correlation between how the pilot is navigating through these skies with very little if any visibility. He does so with great confidence however with many lives in the palm of his hand. How does he do such a thing? It truely is amazing.

It is humbling leading a life in the middle of a cloud of uncertainty. Some may see the uncertainty and want to resist. Fighting to know as much as possible. Filling their minds with as much knowledge hoping to create a bit of clearing.

In this information age, many of us are seeking for more and more knowledge, hoping that we’ll find the Holy Grail. The grain of truth that will give us true understanding as to how to navigate through the cloudy skies of life or to climb our own personal staircase.

There is nothing wrong with this at all but what I’m finding is that I’m never going to stumble upon the one great insight that will mark my quest complete.

What I do think is important is to find our own navigational tools that take the pressure off our job of piloting. For everyone may find these tools in different places and means, as many of us are on different flights to different destinations. However, we all share a fundamentally similar flight

Tools that I have found most useful are a sense of humor, quiet time alone, joyful experiences with loving family and friends, a labor of love, creative expression, and a sense of connection to my community.

Many of these things sound simple but have taken a great deal of searching to pin down.

With these tools, what I once saw as a battle of life where we must struggle to rise above others has shifted. Now I look around and see life as more of a video game. Life is a space to play. To try on different “hats” and see which fit best. Our life journey will probably entail a wide variety of hats. If you don’t feel like your current hat fits quite right then you might want to try on a different hat. Now’s the time to go for it! That doesn’t mean you need to go out and quit your dayjob tomorrow but it could mean taking up a new hobby or beginning to keep a journal of what interests you.

I heard some wise words that really reaonated with me: find something you would pay to do, then find a way to get paid to do it! Sounds pretty cool, eh?

For me this journey has led me to gardening, then urban farming. It started by planting a seed. Litterally and metaphorically. What started as a small 4×4 foot garden plot in my front yard has evolved into the transformation of our neighborhood block, lining 2/3 of it in community gardens, meeting each other, interacting and growing community. I’ve met more neighbors than I ever would have by simply bringing my passion from behind my privacy fence out into the open.

A front yard community garden bed opens the door to community building

What excites you? What do you do that makes time seem to disappear? Once you find out either on your own time or with those around you, try asking yourself how you can bring this to your community. I’ve had many folks stop by admiring my garden letting me know it has inspired them in one way or another. You never know how making your personal passions more public can transform our world.

In a world where the illusion of our division and separateness is constantly reinforced by newspapers and TV, we need reminders that as human beings we really are much more alike than it often seems.

Once you find something you love. Do that one thing. Don’t put pressure on yourself. Just do it because it makes you smile and then share it with the world. You never know what your seed will grow into!

Do something today that your future self will thank you for!

Growing With Our Plants

Hugelkultur Labyrinth Farm taking off!

Our Food is Free Project headquarters and Urban Patchwork Farmplot were featured on this weekend’s Austin Community Garden tour. What a pleasure it was to open up our farm to folks from all around the city.    Getting ready for the tour was a little hectic, but with the help of the community and a few Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day volunteer workdays, we have not only completed some much-needed projects, but also have beautified the farm into such a pleasant community space.

Our outdoor kitchen is well underway, and we have plans for a solar oven, cob oven and rocket stove on the horizon. We’ve finished up our composting bay area to facilitate community composting for the neighborhood.

Mural, Community Bulletin board, and Food is Free wicking beds invite folks into the farm

Our farm is starting to catch many neighbors eyes as they walk by and folks are starting to be more open to inviting themselves into this space. We’re excited about the space unfolding as a model for how to bring community to your block, growing community together as well as tasty fresh organic vegetables!

Food is Free Project featured on the Austin Community Garden Tour – April 28th

We are honored and excited to open up our block and community farm to the community this Saturday, April 28th. Come walk our block that we’ve lined in front yard wicking bed gardens that provide fresh food for our community.  Stop by and see our Urban Patchwork CSA plots, a hugelkultur meditation labyrinth farm, our 27 chickens and salvaged coop, community composting program and aquaponics demonstration.

Community gardening is on the rise in Austin! Join us for the 3rd Annual Austin Community Gardening Tour on Saturday, April 28th, from 12 – 4pm. This free, friendly-to-all-ages, open-house style tour provides the opportunity to visit an inspiring array of gardens throughout the Austin area where participants are growing food and growing community together. Get on your bike, in your car, or on your feet and check out this showcase of urban food-growing strategies! Enjoy instructional talks, celebrations, kids’ activities, and the opportunity to get your hands dirty by helping at a work day along the way.

Presented by: The Coalition of Austin Community Gardens, Sustainable Food Center, the City of Austin Sustainable Urban Agriculture and Community Garden Program, and the Congress for the New Urbanism.

For more information and a printable map of participating gardens, visit http://communitygardensaustin.org/?page_id=605

Facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/events/344444642260356/

Free Wicking Bed Garden workshop this Sunday

This Sunday we are excited to collaborate with The Hope Farmers Market by installing our first Food is Free Garden and leading a workshop to prepare you with the knowledge to build a drought-tolerant garden that can thrive in the Texas heat. We are using salvaged materials that can be found in cities of all shapes and sizes. Last summer I didn’t water my wicking bed garden for FOUR weeks in AUGUST when it was 100+ degrees every day…and it was overflowing with swiss chard! Come out and see how simple it is to build one, and become inspired to put one in your front yard and start transforming your block.

What: Free Wicking bed garden workshop

Where: HOPE Farmers Market    

Food Is Free from The Daily Texan on Vimeo.