I had my first little accomplishment last week! I was able to set up a meeting with one of our potential partners for the plot against hunger, Momentive. Today I am on-boarding them into the program and orienting them to what the initiative is about. Essentially, we are trying to incorporate the corporate and other organizations in the Columbus area into the plot against hunger through their adopting of a plot that consists of two beds. One bed will be planted by them and the other by the Mid-Ohio Foodbank. The produce from plot planted by us will go to our food pantry and their plot will be theirs to keep or donate. The idea is that a garden is an environment in which those involved are connected via the similar and the grounding nature of the work they do. No matter what your background. everyone is pulling weeds and fostering growth for the same outcome. This breeds a perfect environment to begin the conversation about food insecurity and our food system through social change and cohesion among community members. The hope is that this conversation will spark interest in furthering the Foodbank’s goal of “ending the line” and alleviating food insecurity.

It is important however to make note that we are not interested in promoting the creation of community gardens in food insecure areas. This has proven to only put the burden on an already heavily burdened population to not only continue with their daily tasks but to add on another huge and time consuming task of growing their own food. The idea is that for those who are unfamiliar with the food insecurity in Columbus, working in a garden can serve as a platform for a dialogue that gets people interested in the topic and hopefully called to action against it. There are many already existing, well connected and integrated community gardens and urban farms in Columbus that are providing fresh food at farmers markets and for those involved in the gardening and upkeep. There are also a few co-ops and Community Supported Agriculture systems in place that buy in bulk from local and regional growers of the best produce to help support the smaller farmers and industries as well as create a network of food security within their communities.

Finally, the Foodbank has an endless number of opportunities for volunteering and donations that will help further the cause. The issue is not that we do not have enough food, it is getting the food we do produce in excess to the hungry mouths before it goes bad. We throw a lot of food away and the Foodbank works very hard to efficiently gather the food that would be discarded and distribute it to the over 600 hundred agencies that can use it to feed their communities. Gardens are a luxury. They require spare time and they teach valuable often forgotten knowledge about how to “grow” literally and figuratively. Therefore, for those of us with spare time, I encourage us to use the garden as a way to bring a community together and begin a conversation about the injustice of food insecurity in our own backyards. Let’s work to distribute the food we produce in an equitable way. There should not be winners and losers when it comes to food access especially when there is such a surplus.