1. Volunteers Plant Home Gardens Throughout City

Courtesy of Growing Gardens

GROWING GARDENS digs at the root of hunger in Portland by building raised-bed vegetable gardens in backyards. This fascinating 14-minute video takes us into the backyards where Growing Gardens has made a huge difference in families' lives: Digging at the Root of Hunger.

2. Bicycle-Powered CSAs Based in Our Backyards

Courtesy of Sunroot Gardens

Kollibri Sonnenblume, who runs SUNROOT GARDENS CSA, is profiled in this Willamette Week story, The Bike Farmer (2/20/08), and this story from THE BEE, Urban farmer rides bike, not tractor (2/29/08). In 2008, Kollibri will be partnering with another backyard CSA farmer, Melanie Plies of BACKYARD BOUNTY.

3. Change at the City and County Levels

The Street Roots cover story, "Growth Opportunity," discusses upcoming changes we can expect in accessibility to community gardens across the city — especially for Portland's low-income residents: Street Roots special edition on FOOD AND POVERTY (11/16/07).

Specifically, the article reports that the Food Policy Council will be putting forth recommendations that would significantly change the PORTLAND COMMUNITY GARDENS program by increasing funding, staffing, number of gardens and outreach programs.

In the meantime, Multnomah County has adopted a new urban agriculture project called COUNTY DIGS, which makes surplus and tax-foreclosed land available to local governments and non-profits for urban agriculture purposes, such as community gardens. The first plot to be farmed is in East County on a road that divides the Centennial and Rockwood neighborhoods.

If you're interested in getting involved in shaping local food policy, consider attending Portland Multnomah Food Policy Council meetings. Held on the second Wednesday of every month from 4–6 p.m., the meetings are open to the public. Find out more here.