Portland, Ore., June 9, 2022 - Today, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS) in Oregon announced Portland’s People’s Garden location at Our Village Gardens’ Seeds of Harmony community garden.

Our Village Gardens, located in North Portland, builds food resilience and community leadership alongside residents, communities of color and refugee and immigrant families impacted by economic and food inequity. Our Village Gardens has three properties in North Portland: The Seeds of Harmony community garden, the Fruits of Diversity community orchard and The Village Market grocery store.

USDA People’s Gardens are models of what local gardens can do to build community, grow local and nutritious food, nurture greenspace, and inspire people through the experience of growing from seed to plant. People’s Gardens benefit and educate the community, incorporate sustainable practices and are collaborative in nature.

“We’re excited to announce Our Village Gardens as Portland’s People’s Garden,” said Ron Alvarado, NRCS Oregon’s State Conservationist. “The People’s Garden Initiative is focused on creating strong, resilient food systems for local communities and Our Village Gardens embodies this commitment.”

Our Village Gardens
Our Village Gardens currently operates programs in the New Columbia and Tamarack apartments, a low- and mixed-income housing neighborhood of over 100 acres in North Portland. This neighborhood is home to a vibrant community with deep roots in the area, as well as a growing number of families arriving as immigrants and refugees. The area also has some of the county’s highest poverty rates and limited access to fresh, healthy, and affordable food.

“We are so excited to be chosen as Portland’s People’s Garden,” says Kris Soebroto, Our Village Gardens’ Director. “Our community leaders built this garden from the ground up, and 12 years later, it continues to feed and nourish our neighbors.”

In 2001, community leaders and a local youth program, Janus Youth, joined forces to create Our Village Gardens in the St. John’s Woods apartments of North Portland. The group wanted a community garden to support neighbors and connect them to local, healthy food sources.

The garden was quickly successful, with high demand for salad greens grown by youth in the community and sold at the Portland Farmers Market. The garden is often credited with reducing crime and vandalism and increasing a sense of neighborhood safety in the local community.

In 2005, the project expanded to the New Columbia and Tamaracks communities a few miles from the first location. In July 2021, Our Village Gardens became an independent nonprofit to more authentically center the organization’s leadership with BIPOC, immigrant, and low-income leaders.

Today, Our Village Gardens operates on about 1.5 acres of land at the Seeds of Harmony community garden and the Fruits of Diversity community orchard. The Seeds of Harmony community garden has over 70 garden plots available for neighbors to grow fresh, culturally relevant foods and connect to others in the community; the Fruits of Diversity orchard is home to over 50 fruit trees.

Just recently in March 2022, Our Village Gardens staff and volunteers installed a greenhouse on the property, which will help extend the growing season and cultivate starter plants earlier in the year.

In the height of the summer, some of the produce grown at these community growing sites is sold two blocks away at the Village Market, a small grocery store focused on affordable fresh produce, healthy and culturally relevant pantry staples, and house-made prepared foods.

Fresh garden produce is distributed through the Village Market grocery store Produce for the People program. Additionally, the Neighbor to Neighbor program provides free delivery of fresh community grown vegetables to neighbors throughout the growing season.

The Gardens regularly host community workdays and volunteer days to help manage the property and nearby orchard. The Village Market supports hundreds of local customers a day and promotes the Good Food Program, which provides discounts and incentives for households to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables.

“One thing we learned during the pandemic is that when we turn to one another during unsteady and scary times, we find innovative ways to deeply care for our greater community,” says Soebroto. “We are grateful to be here today and to be celebrated as Portland’s People’s Garden.”

NRCS Oregon, Our Village Gardens and other partners will commemorate the People’s Garden with a ribbon cutting event later this summer. View photos from the garden here.

About the People’s Gardens
USDA originally launched the People’s Garden Initiative in 2009. It’s named for the “People’s Department,” former President Abraham Lincoln’s nickname for USDA, which was established during his presidency in 1862.

Recently, the USDA has expanded People’s Gardens to 17 cities across the nation, one being in Portland, Ore. USDA plans to expand the initiative to other communities later this year.  

School gardens, community gardens, urban farms, and small-scale agriculture projects in rural and urban areas can be recognized as a “People’s Garden” if they:

• Benefit the community by providing food, green space, wildlife habitat, education space.
• Are a collaborative effort. This can include groups working together with USDA agencies, food banks, Girl Scouts, Master Gardeners, conservation districts, etc.  
• Incorporate conservation management practices, such as using native plant species, rain barrels, integrated pest management and xeriscaping.
• Educate the public about sustainable gardening practices and the importance of local, diverse, and resilient food systems providing healthy food for the community.

 To watch these gardens grow, visit our People’s Garden Webpage or follow the hashtag #PeoplesGarden on USDA’s social media channels.

More Information
USDA touches the lives of all Americans each day in so many positive ways. Under the Biden-Harris Administration, USDA is transforming America’s food system with a greater focus on more resilient local and regional food production, fairer markets for all producers, ensuring access to safe, healthy and nutritious food in all communities, building new markets and streams of income for farmers and producers using climate smart food and forestry practices, making historic investments in infrastructure and clean energy capabilities in rural America, and committing to equity across the Department by removing systemic barriers and building a workforce more representative of America. To learn more, visit usda.gov.

Release No.: 2022-06-003
Contact: ORInfo@usda.gov

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