The Victory Garden Initiative promotes Urban Agricultur

Victoria Sayaovong, Staff Reporter

Too often has the connection between products in food and the impact it has on communities gone unnoticed.  On Oct. 8, Gretchen Mead, the Founding Director of the Victory Garden Initiative, spoke at UW-La Crosse about the effects growing homemade produce has on a community.  The Victory Garden Initiative is an organization that encourages communities to grow their own food and to reconnect with nature and each other.

Mead grew up in rural Illinois where she and her family lived off their land. Mead spoke of her mother’s garden and how the fresh produce she grew provided a healthy and natural lifestyle for her family.

This all changed after Mead’s mother decided to attend college, after struggles with finances, in hopes to support her family.  Due to this change, Mead’s diet, which consisted of organic vegetables and other natural products, transitioned to meals produced at fast food restaurants.  Mead’s change in diet significantly affected her lifestyle and health.

As a result of this negative change, Mead took the initiative to improve her health by improving her diet.  Mead began by growing a garden in her front yard.  Mead’s initiative to live a healthier life effected not only her life, but the lives of individuals and the community in which she resided.

“So I founded the organization on accident, kind of, and now I do all the strategic direction, and I manage the staff and I do most of the fundraising,” said Mead.  “And I still get to get my hands dirty sometimes, but not as much as I would like.”

Mead is concerned about the health of communities and the effects the economy has on its citizens and their food choices.  Mead explained how impoverished families and communities are worse off, health wise, than families who are financially well off.  For families and individuals who live on low incomes, a healthy diet is less attainable and results in obesity and other health issues.

With gardening as an alternative to buying goods at the store, Mead explained how self-produced vegetables and fruits allow citizens from all different spectrums of the social class to have access to healthier foods at a lower cost.  Mead also explained how gardening can bring communities together.

When asked about the impact the practice of urban agriculture had on people she knew, Mead replied, “I think the most important part of it is that people don’t feel apathetic.  That they feel hope.  That they feel that they can do something.  They can change.  That they can have some control over their little world.  That they can find a way to do that with other people.  I think that’s the biggest change.”

The Victory Garden Initiative was founded by Mead in 2008.  Since then, the VGI has installed roughly 2,000 gardens to date.  The Victory Garden Initiative organization installs gardens, holds classes for individuals who want to grow their own garden and much more.  For more information, you can visit victorygardeninitiative.org