Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project

Spiral Gardens Community Food Security Project addresses poverty, nutrition, health, urban ecology, and sustainable agriculture from the individual to the policy level. We are a nonprofit organization promoting healthy communities by encouraging the productive use of city soil and improving access to fresh local produce.

Spiral Gardens was founded in the fall of 1993 and was partnered with the Building Opportunities for Self-Sufficiency (BOSS) Urban Gardening Institute from December '97 through April '04.

Our current focus is the new Urban Garden Center, which is releasing the life-giving potential of formerly vacant public land spanning two city blocks. The Center consists of the following four elements:

• A Collective Food Production Garden -- 1/2 of harvest goes to the homeless and elderly, remaining 1/2 divided among the volunteers who grow it

• An Organic Urban Nursery specializing in plants for food, medicine, and ecological restoration. All proceeds go to support the project.

• A Low-Cost Organic Produce Stand featuring fresh food from regional farmers(primarily family-owned and operated, organic and transitional). We sell the produce at affordable prices in a neighborhood with numerous liquor stores and very few stores selling fruits and vegetables.

• Future Intensive Trainings and a regular schedule of Free Public Classes, in this new outdoor education site. These classes will be a way for people to share knowledge about self-sufficiency through gardening, skills for good eating habits, and tools to build a vibrant community.

For more information, please visit our website (www.spiralgardens.org)