The Fight for Food-Growing Space

February 28, 2025

Osoberry

Nature howls in February. The sun is stronger and slowly warms the soil. Buds are swelling and bulbs are reaching. The itch to garden is upon us. At FECO, we are spoiled to have a perpetual lease on public land. Others are not so lucky and the waiting list for community garden plots is often two years or more. But, for those who want to feed their families, creative ways to access land are increasing.

Substitute House Bill 1774 is about putting unused public property to use in beneficial ways. Under the bill, WSDOT property can be used for community purposes, defined as providing a public benefit such as parks, enhanced public spaces and recreation. Status of the bill? Not dead yet! Growing food is not specifically mentioned but I left a message for Rep. Jake Fey to ask whether part of the vision was to grow more food.

Camas

More unused land abounds in homeowner’s yards and parking strips. Last year, Spatula Farms in Ballard, with a mission to facilitate gardening at private residences, expanded with three gardens and one wildflower meadow for our pollinators. Spatula’s website states, “On a typical residential block, this leaves over an acre of open space primed for a new life.” Spatula aims to use gardening as a means to build communities, improve individual health, and rethink local food systems.

The Tulalip Tribe has reclaimed part of their ancestral land. As part of a government-to-government agreement with the U.S. Forest Service, the Tulalip Tribe signed a co-stewardship plan for a 1,280-acre parcel known as swədaʔx̌ali, or “Place of Mountain Huckleberries,” in the upper Skykomish watershed.

Evergreen Huckleberry

“Huckleberry is a food and medicine to our people,” said Inez Bill, who coordinates the tribes’ Rediscovery Program. “It is not only important that we continue the struggle to uphold our treaty rights, but we need to be involved in taking care of those resources our culture depends on so they will be available to future generations.”

Remember Joni Mitchell’s “They paved paradise and put up a parking lot”? Well, in Kent, Washington, folks pulled up the parking lot and created 50 gardens named Paradise Parking Plots Community Garden. Community members came from backgrounds where growing food is a common practice, but now live in apartments and have limited space to grow their own food. The gardens also provide a safe space for children to play.

Red Flowering Currant

Portland has an advocacy organization much like Seattle’s GROW. Portland Community Gardens acts as a fiscal sponsor for gardens and also looks for partners who have a desire to see new gardens built. “In the past three years we have partnered with three homeless village providers to create gardening opportunities at seven shelters and villages. We are always on the lookout for new places to put community gardens. Please contact us if you see a parcel with potential.” What they build includes non-traditional gardens like rolling cart beds, mobile tree planters, and roof-top gardens.

Add a comment if you know of other creative projects that provide gardening potential for people who don’t own land!

Ruth