All across the nation people are converting their landscapes, vacant lots and other spaces into thriving and productive food gardens. You can too! In small spaces,indoors and outdoors!
On a single weekend, May 14-15, 350 landscapes will be transformed intobountiful Victory Gardens, which uses water wisely to grow food all while educating and empowering community and supporting local businesses. This can be as simple as planting a fruit tree or a tomato plant in a pot. But it is also an opportunity to create innovative gardens with mothers day flowers on frontyards, apartment patios, school and church grounds, and business premises while being waterwise. We use the term “waterwise” to emphasize the need to conserve water in all aspects of life including as we increase local food production.
The 350 Victory Garden Challenge was inspired in part by the 350.org international campaign to find and implement solutions to climate change. Why the number 350? According to scientists; this is the parts per million of CO2 that the earth’s atmosphere is the safe limit for humanity. Today, we’re at 391.06 parts per million CO2. We have work to do. Gardening is just one way to get to 350.
According to Transition Voice, the movement’s origin goes something like this:”The idea got started in Sonoma County last year, when folks who weren’t spending the morning sampling Fumé Blanc in the Kendall-Jackson tasting room were instead out in the fresh air of California wine country planting or sprucing up more than 600 gardens in a single weekend. A coalition of groups was behind the successful push, convened by Daily Acts, a Bay Area sustainability and community-building groupHeckman [Trathen Heckman, chair of the Transition US board of directors], founder of Daily Acts, then brought the garden challenge idea to Transition US when he joined the group’s board last year.Now, Transition US is running a nationwide version of the Sonoma program in conjunction with its own coalition of groups, including Transition Voice along with Yes! magazine, the Post Carbon Institute and publisher Chelsea Green.Another partner is 350.org. The Home and Garden Challenge is not named for them, but it shares an interest in the same climate-saving goal, namely getting atmospheric carbon dioxide back down to 350 parts per million, the maximum to avoid total freaking climate hell, according to many scientists.”
Encouraged by iGrowSonoma, Victory Garden Foundation joined the challenge last year at the to register 350 gardens in the East Bay California area and across the nation. We’re added gardens to it this year and many gardens are repeating this challenge. By working together one garden at a time and collaborating with community organizations with the same goal; we can do our share “improving the quality of life in and around the garden.” It’s our mission.
Support the 350 Victory Garden Challenge You can help in many ways to help others get their food growing at home …donate garden materials, seeds or plant starts.make a financial contribution to support the project – just click the Donate Button on the Right Side Bar. Your contribution is tax deductible. help us get the word out.
How your Group Can Get Involved
The 350 Victory Garden Challenge’s success is dependent on many organizations, groups and individuals getting involved. We hope you are as excited as we are about catalyzing this moment of interest in food growing, water conservation and community into one mass mobilization. We are looking for partners and have many ways your group can get involved.
Get involved with organizing events
We need help in each community with organizing demonstration projects, publicizing the event, recruiting gardens and volunteers, doing outreach to groups.
Adopt a garden project
Your group can take on putting in a garden- at a public spot, an individual’s home, a business, or a church. We need lots of groups working in many places to make 350 gardens. If you don’t have a spot but are willing to take one on, let us know and we can connect your group with a garden project.
Publicize to your network
We hope to partner with as many groups as possible to get the word out. Will you send out information to your email list, write about it in your newsletter, put up information in your office.
Recruit volunteers
You have connections to hundreds of people we might not be able to reach, can you use your network to put out the word that we need volunteers to help both before and during the weekend.
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