A harvest of riches: Meet some of Milwaukee’s finest urban farmers
“People used to sit on their front porch to talk to their neighbors, bring food, strike up a conversation,” Hendricks said. “This garden is my front porch. It’s a gathering space with food.”
By Sam Woods
Milwaukee News
October 26, 2021
Excerpt:
Eugene Bivens has been gardening for 10 years and has been at Alice’s Garden Urban Farm, 2136 N. 21st St., for six. He initially got started because he had high blood pressure and wanted a cost-effective way of getting fresh vegetables. He no longer has high blood pressure but continues to garden, giving excess produce away to other tenants in his apartment building.
“I’ll be doing this for a lifetime,” Bivens said. “It gives me peace of mind.”
Shaina Snyder, who is Diné and Southern Ute and an enrolled member of the Navajo nation, learned about the Native Wellness Garden while getting vaccinated at the Gerald L. Ignace Indian Health Center. This year, she planted the Three Sisters: corn, beans, and squash. Her advice for new gardeners is just to start because there is a wealth of knowledge out there from other gardeners as well as the plants themselves.
If you are Indigenous, connect to the Indigenous Seed Keepers Network and get seeds mailed to you, Snyder said. “Then you can contribute to the rematriation of the seeds and help revive ancestral foods.”
