One day I looked at my neighborhood parkway (the area between the sidewalk and the street) and thought that it could be more than just another flower garden. I was motivated to make use of it. I became inspired to make the parkway into a working, sustainable, and highly productive organic garden… a farm. After mentoring and rounds of trial and error, I now grow spring, summer, and fall organic vegetables. Today, the farm’s yield feeds not only my family but also many of my neighbors, whom I encourage to help themselves.
Through my gardening, I was able to connect to Earth. Connect to seasons. Connect to weather. Connect to the food I eat.
Gardening was my gateway to beekeeping. Bees allowed me to expand my connection to a fluid ecosystem, foundational to Earth’s, to our foods’, to our own well-being.
I take great pleasure watching them pollinate the very foods I put on my table. I call them my KowBees and value them for the work they do every day on my parkway farm. Of course, they don’t stop there; the KowBees also produce a lot of honey. To me, that honey is not just sweet to taste; it also represents how cooperation among species promotes the Earth’s well-being.
Like my veggies, I started to give my honey away until I conceived this BIG IDEA …
Sell the KowBees honey to fund urban gardens to provide healthy food to people in need! Feed people! And so began the Block Ko-Op non-profit.
Simply put, and please do read more at www.blockkoop.com, Block Ko-Op is a non-profit to create parkway gardens, like mine, in locations where there are food deserts – areas which have no grocery store within 1 mile. We will mentor and work with our neighbors to help them grow their own organic vegetables, sharing our bounty and feeding the block for free.
KowBees will use 100% of its profits to fund the Block Ko-Op. Sell honey to fund urban gardens. Feed people!
