How tiny garden plots in the heart of Portland help fight food insecurity in Portland, Maine
Portland’s 11 community gardens offer inexpensive plots and tools for growers to use, and they prioritize low-income residents.
By David Guildford
News Center Maine
September 3, 2025
Excerpt:
The organization educated elementary school kids, provides food for farmers markets, and oversees 11 public gardens spread out around the city. All are welcome to reserve a plot and grow anything they want.
Many who use these spaces identify as low-income, and the nonprofit caters to them. Self-identifying low-income growers pay as little as $15 a year for a plot. They get tips from experts and have access to tools, water, and even seeds.
Silvan Shawe is Cultivating Community’s executive director. She said many of the 485 people enrolled in the program live near their plots. They can walk outside their apartments and quickly pick fresh produce for their next meal.
“Working in food systems is a really incredible thing,” Shawe said while standing in the middle of the Boyd Street garden. “Because it really brings together so much of both real challenges—whether that’s food security, climate resilience—and provides a really joyful solution.”
There are other challenges facing the program itself.
The Trump administration announced this year that it would make significant cuts to the U.S. Department of Agriculture and end two programs that provided food from local farms to food banks and schools. The USDA’s Local Food Purchasing Assistance Program, one of the institutions on the chopping block, funds initiatives that distribute food to more than 200 Maine hunger relief organizations.
Read the complete article here.
Source: https://cityfarmer.info/how-tiny-garden-plots-in-the-heart-of-portland-help-fight-food-insecurity-in-portland-maine/
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