California Landscape Design

GRAB & GROW GARDENS

 We jumped in with both feet ...

Sometimes, you just have to jump in with both feet, as my colleague Mim Michelove and I discovered when we started Grab & Grow Gardens last April.  

The COVID-19 quarantine had just begun. News reports showed block-long lines of cars waiting for bags of free food distributed by local hunger relief agencies. The organizations were, and continue to be, a county-wide safety net for desperate people who lost their jobs and could no longer pay rent, pay bills, or afford food.  

Mim and I are both involved in food and hunger issues.  She is founder and CEO of Healthy Day Partners, a nonprofit that works on health and food equity issues, creates educational farms and gardens, and promotes healthy eating for children and their families. I’ve been involved in food systems since my college days. In fact, several episodes of my TV show, A Growing Passion focus on food systems, food deserts, hunger issues, and related topics.  

A late-night phone call between Mim and myself quickly turned into a brainstorming session that birthed Grab & Grow Gardens. It occurred to us that food deserts (areas without supermarkets or other places to buy fresh food) are also nursery deserts. So people who have the skills for and/or interest in growing vegetables don’t have access to seeds or seedlings. 

To us, people growing their own vegetables just makes sense – it’s a way to feed their families, an activity for parents to share with out-of-school children, a focus for seniors in seclusion, an opportunity for children to learn where food comes from, and a tools for self-sufficiency. 

We envisioned Grab & Grow Garden “kits” of seedlings with simple directions in English and Spanish for growing on a patio, balcony, or the front porch.  

In that initial phone conversation, Mim and I compared our community connections, then started making phone calls. Within a few days, we had commitments for vegetable plugs (tiny seedlings), potting soil, pots, and so on. A grant from San Diego Gas & Electric soon followed, as did monetary contributions from contacts who simply loved the concept. 

As we figured out how to make the gardens, we also had to figure out distribution. It’s one thing to create the garden kits, but how do we get them to the people who need them? We reached out to the hunger relief agencies. Were they interested in offering gardens alongside bags of food? Absolutely.  

For most of April, Mim and I and our husbands gathered in Mim’s living room at the crack of dawn to pot, label, and package Grab & Grow Gardens. We loaded them into my truck, then headed to drop-off points across San Diego County.  

Soon, the demand Grab & Grow Gardens outgrew the four of us.  That gave rise to an unexpected side benefit of the project, an amazing and dedicated “army” of volunteers. Once a week, we gather in Mim’s backyard – masked and socially distanced - to plant, pot, package, and pack. More volunteers do the deliveries.

By the end of January, we will have distributed more than 8,000 Grab & Grow Gardens through social service agencies, school districts, Blue Star Families at Camp Pendleton Marine Base, and more. We are actively pursuing funding to double our production and help that many more families. 

Mim and I often find ourselves shaking our heads in amazement. Within a few short months, a simple idea has become a staple in the arsenal of the regional COVID hunger relief efforts. We look forward to a time when the demand for Grab & Grow Gardens is a fraction of what it is today. Until then, our little army keeps marching along.  

If you’d like to make a tax deductible donation to Grab & Grow Gardens, please visit https://www.healthydaypartners.org/donate.