Florida Organic Growers Finds Green Pastures Through Urban Farming
February 28, 2013 
A large component of Gainesville-based Florida Organic Growers’ (FOG) work has been the promotion of gardens for the community. Through their Gainesville Initiative for Tasty (GIFT) Gardens program, raised bed vegetable gardens are built for low-income families and the institutions that serve them. To date, more than 270 GIFT Gardens have been built across Alachua County. Many of these were built for individuals, but GIFT Gardens also have been installed at seven churches and 29 institutions. Community and school gardens were established by FOG 15 years ago. “For us, a big part of promoting sustainable agriculture is showing others how it can be done,” says Marty Mesh, FOG executive director. “Our work here in our hometown is meant to serve as a model for other communities. Sure, all of our work is important, but our community food systems work is where we stop just talking about organic agriculture changing the world, and start actually showing how that can happen on a small community level.”
Travis Mitchell, community food project manager for FOG, says, “Through our GIFT Gardens program, I’ve seen the positive and immediate change in people who discover the simple joy of digging in the dirt and growing your own food. It’s empowering.”
FOG also helped form “Grow Gainesville,” an urban garden network, in 2011. For $20 per year, members gain access to a seed library, information, and individualized support. Mitchell says, “The group has been widely successful and we have seen a community of gardeners grow around it.” Another of FOG’s community food systems successes has been the Downtown Farmers Garden. This educational garden is located on the lawn of the Alachua County Administration building. Established with the help of a local rotary club, this community garden consists of 11 raised beds, along with a variety of fruit trees and edible landscaping. It acts as a living classroom while also donating several thousand dollars’ worth of produce to local charities each year.
FOG’s latest food systems project is Porters Community Farm. This urban farm also is dedicated to growing food for charity and is located in a low-income neighborhood in Gainesville. “The project came about entirely through community support,” says Mitchell. “We raised needed funds to start the farm, and get a tremendous amount of help from volunteers and neighborhood residents.”
Porters Community Farm hosts raised beds that are free for community members to use and also about a ¼-acre of intensively grown rows of mixed vegetables which are donated to charity or harvested by community members who need them. A youth training and job program will hopefully be added soon. Future organizational work will expand the local work and look to being more active in other Florida communities. “Access to fresh fruits and vegetables is crucial to good health,” adds Mitchell. “Unfortunately, not everyone has that access. Our goal with the Porters Community Garden is to provide a sustainable source of nutritious, good quality fresh fruits and vegetables to our local soup kitchens. Everyone deserves to be able to bite into a fresh-from-the-farm tomato, lettuce, or carrot. It is our pleasure to be able to help it get growing.”
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