Detroit nonprofit, Triscuit build new community gardens as part of national urban ag effort

Detroit group, Triscuit partner on urban gardens

DETROIT — A nonprofit that puts vacant urban land to use for growing food will kick off work next week on one of several new community gardens it’s planning for the Detroit area under a nationwide partnership with Kraft Foods Inc.’s Triscuit brand.

Next Thursday’s planned groundbreaking is part of an effort that Detroit-based Urban Farming and Triscuit began in March to create about 50 “home farms” in 20 areas around the U.S. from Los Angeles to Washington, D.C.

The partnership with Northfield, Ill.-based Kraft has allowed Urban Farming to more swiftly expand its efforts to use agriculture to fight hunger and improve neighborhoods, founder Taja Sevelle said.

“Having a win-win relationship with a company like Kraft is great for us,” Sevelle said. “The private sector steps in. They’re helping to feed people.”

In Detroit, residents are increasingly working to transform vacant, often-blighted land into gardens and small farms. Urban Farming has been part of that push since 2005, when it put its first gardens in the ground.

The group currently has gardens at about 90 Detroit-area sites, Sevelle said. Along with one at the city’s Northwest Activity Center, the Triscuit partnership is planning five other community gardens in Detroit and the suburbs of Farmington Hills and Wayne.

A mix that includes Urban Farming employees, volunteers and people doing community service tend the group’s gardens. Area residents are asked to help decide what to plant, and they’re encouraged to pick from the garden. Urban Farming also donates some produce to food pantries.

At the group’s largest garden, which stretches for a full city block, 65-year-old Rose Stallard is among the local residents who volunteer each year. She’s lived in the neighborhood since 1952, when homes and apartments stood on land that this year will produce rows of greens, tomatoes and peppers.

“Instead of being an eyesore, the blessing has been they have given back to the community with the garden,” Stall said.

Kraft would not say how much money it is devoting to the effort. But, along with helping to pay for the new Urban Farming gardens, Kraft helped create a website to promote home gardens. And Triscuit included cards with basil or dill seeds in 4 million packages of its crackers to encourage shoppers to grow at home.

Detroit has an estimated 40 square miles of vacant property — more than 25,000 acres — and Sevelle said her group wants to help make the most of some of that land until there’s interest in redevelopment. And while it’s being farmed, she noted, the city doesn’t have to worry about paying for upkeep.

“We want to be of service,” Sevelle said. “We want to help beautify the city, but we’ll move whenever they need us to.”

Online:

Kraft Foods Inc.: www.kraftfoodscompany.com

Triscuit’s home farming website: www.triscuit.com/homefarming

Urban Farming: www.urbanfarming.org