Cadillac Urban Gardens Grows Free Produce to Build Food Security in Southwest Detroit
Despite the pandemic, Cadillac Urban Gardens managed to grow and donate more produce to the community in 2020 than the previous year
By Courtney Burk
Detroit Eater
Jan 27, 2021
Excerpt:
On a typical day during the growing season, Cadillac Urban Gardens would be filled with young volunteers watering and tending a lush selection of vegetables, children laughing and digging small fingers in the dirt, and community members gathered beneath the pergola. In the pandemic, the local community still gathers at the garden, but in much smaller groups through scheduled walk-ups and pick-ups, chatting beneath masks and waving to neighbors from a distance. Regardless of the scenario, residents leave the garden with an overflowing bag of freshly harvested produce and herbs.
Cadillac Urban Gardens On Merritt (CUGM) grew 3,500 pounds of free produce in 2020 and distributed it to food insecure community members through garden pick-ups, local donations, and weekly drop-offs to Detroit Community Fridge and Brilliant Detroit. With COVID-19 restrictions and the number of volunteers significantly reduced, the garden’s growing season was delayed last year. Transplants meant to go in the ground by mid-March were not put in beds on the farm until the end of April into early May. But through innovation and its volunteers, CUGM found creative ways to grow the garden’s highest yield of produce for people living within the Southwest Detroit community.
