KANSAS CITY, Mo, — Community gardens in urban areas are popping up all over the city. But one neighborhood is taking it a step further. In the Ivanhoe neighborhood it starts with training people how to grow things like broccoli and potatoes. It ends with more food on their dinner tables and a little extra cash in their pockets.
Francine Nelson is a certified “Ivanhoe Grower.” That means she completed 12 hours of training and can sell per produce if she chooses.
“They are responsible for planting, weeding, harvesting, and taking care of it themselves,” said Dina Newman, the Ivanhoe Neighborhood Advocate for Change.
Ivanhoe started the program for a number of reasons.
“Right now Ivanhoe is a food desert,” Newman said. “We’re over 400 blocks and right now we’re without a full service grocery store.”
That means neighbors can supplement their own dinner tables with the produce they grow. Because Ivanhoe was also one of the first neighborhoods to take advantage of the urban ag code that allows people to sell food from their homes, it will also mean extra money for growers like Francine.
Ivanhoe leaders say there are other benefits to community gardens as well.
“It lowers crime rates because more and more people are out and you kind of have eyes on the street and people begin to connect and get to know each other.”
Carrots cutting down on crime in a garden blooming with potential.
The Ivanhoe neighborhood is going to host Farmer’s markets every Friday from 5-7 starting June 15. They will run through the end of September.
