what is mutual aid gardening?
what is mutual aid gardening?
why
why
This is an effort to address the history of white supremacy in agriculture/land by focusing on designing accessible spaces to learn about and grow food, herbs, and flowers. Hunger impacts far too many community members in Portland. We deserve safe spaces to nourish and flourish together.
The Brooklyn Community Garden does not have accessible raised beds, requires an annual plot payment, and has a waitlist. Many other public community gardens across the city have 2-5 year waitlists! Creating more safe spaces where food sovereignty can happen is central to racial, disability, economic, gender, and climate justice.
where
where
Not everyone has equal access to the resources needed to grow food for themselves, their families, and/or their communities. Many folks don’t have yard space - which will become more common as people move into urban areas - or the financial resources to engage in any type of gardening.
To meet this community need, we’re working to build a physical space in the Brooklyn neighborhood of SE Portland for gardening and community building centered on plants, wellbeing, and food justice.
We center QT/BIPOC, queer/trans, and disabled neighbors. This work strives to provide access to material and community resources for increasing food sovereignty.
how
how
Our approach seeks to reduce barriers to gardening and nature. We collaborate with and include neighbors on food sovereignty building by providing free or low cost, inclusive opportunities to learn the basics of gardening through workshops, classes, and field trips to queer and BIPOC farms in the region.
We believe in compensating local QT/BIPOC, queer/trans and disabled gardeners and farmers to share their knowledge. Together we’re designing, cultivating, and maintaining community learning and gardening spaces. We engage with the nature around us and are rooted in the knowledge that gardening is for the people. Join the club!
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shared values.
land back ~ reparations ~ food sovereignty ~ housing for every body ~ protect queer and trans youth ~ disability and climate justice ~ abolish the police ~ our bodies, our choices ~ visionary healthy futures for all ~ honoring our rest ~ holding our joy ~ building a hate free space for us to grow.
Just like we amend soil by adding diverse materials and organisms to increase its health and support the growth of lush plants, there are many parts of history shaped by white supremacy, ableism, and anti-queerness that need amendments. You can’t have mutual aid gardening without recognizing the history of community supported agriculture (CSA) and the Black agriculturalists, gardeners, activists, and community members who created the concept we use today.
ancestral lands.
We live on the ancestral lands of the Multnomah and Clackamas bands of the Chinook peoples. We recognize that Indigenous communities around the globe are the most directly impacted by the climate crisis and food insecurity as a result of imperialism and white settler colonization. We also know that these same communities are leading the efforts against the climate crisis and protecting our planet’s flora, fauna, and folks.
Land acknowledgements are not enough. Action whether through financial contribution, learning and unlearning, and building intentional relationships with Indigenous/Native American communities and organizations to support tribal sovereignty and land back must be cornerstones of dismantling systems of oppression.
You can find resources, organizations, people, and businesses to follow and support on our community resources page.
disability justice.
As people with disabilities, we are committed to striving to embody disability justice values and working to make our events, programming, and space as accessible as possible. If you are immunocompromised or have a disability that might prevent you from attending in person programming but would like to participate, please email us to coordinate something that is meaningful to you. We are happy to organize with you. If you have suggestions on increasing accessibility, please feel welcome let us know.
Our vision for a free, community learning garden is an ADA accessible and moving towards universal design and disability justice. This is a physical space that is designed for impact. It's safe, welcoming, and affirming for our QT/BIPOC, queer/trans, and disabled community members. We believe this is essential to growing liberated, joyful futures.