Green Thumbs for Healthy Bodies: Food Yards
In a residential neighborhood a few blocks from Yellow Green Farmers Market in Hollywood, a group of volunteers show up at a house where the front yard is landscaped with rows of peppers, broccoli, lemongrass and zinnias. Armed with bags of mulch, the volunteers get a briefing on the task at hand from Jazmin Locke-Rodriguez and Danielle Ramos of Green Thumbs for Healthy Bodies. Then they get to work weeding and mulching the first of three homes where edible gardens have been planted by the nonprofit.
“We want to show people how you can garden as an alternative to grass in the front yard,” says Locke-Rodriguez, who is working on her Ph.D in agro-ecology at FIU. Homeowners sign a one-year contract allowing Green Thumbs to use 500 square feet of the yard to plant an edible garden in return for a box of veggies weekly. Volunteers take care of the garden and harvest the produce for both the homeowner and their co-op, where customers subscribe to receive regular shares throughout the growing season.
Their first food yard customer was Jeanne Monks, who says she and her husband wanted to put in a backyard garden, “but time and life got in the way.” They started researching local companies to install a garden, then saw a flyer for the food yard program and signed on. Green Thumbs planted sweet potatoes, radishes, red bananas, Okinawa spinach, lettuce, cucumbers and katuk outside of the screened-in patio. The weekly produce shares make it worth it, says Monks. “Also, having our toddler see where food comes from is huge. We’ve had the opportunity to get to know participating food yard neighbors and to get creative with produce we get that we don’t usually cook with.”
The downside includes dealing with their aging irrigation system, since water is an essential part of any garden. But it’s been a great experience, she says. “Besides being a beautiful and unique fixture to our backyard, there’s less lawn to mow!”
Green Thumbs, Healthy Bodies
Interested in hosting a food yard, volunteering or subscribing to their co-op? Visit their website or stop by their booth at the Yellow Green Farmers Market.
