Community gardens
We turn vacant lots into planted gardens that put fresh food within walking distance of the people who need it.
Birmingham, Alabama
Food growing where people already live
We plant native edible trees and crops in neglected urban spaces, then leave the harvest free for whoever walks past. Help us turn vacant lots into places that feed people.
26+
Gardens built
7
Volunteers
$0
Cost to harvest
Our mission
Replace cosmetic planting with food
Most of what gets planted in cities is decorative and does nothing for the people or the ecosystem around it. We think that space can do more.
Educational workshops
Sessions on sustainable gardening, native species and nutrition, so people can grow and harvest their own food rather than depend on ours.
Food distribution
When a harvest comes in bigger than a site can absorb, volunteers pack the produce and get it out into the community.
Urban edibles
Plants that keep producing
We choose low-maintenance, hardy species that yield food for years rather than annuals that need replanting every spring. Native species come first, because a plant that belongs here supports the insects and birds that also belong here.
The result is a garden that survives a dry August, a cold snap and a season when nobody has time to tend it.
Photo slotA planted site
Why it matters
Children are going without produce in a country full of food
According to the CDC, 32% of children aged one to five did not eat a fruit on a given day, and 49% did not eat a vegetable in the preceding week. Only 7% of US high school students met the federal recommendation for fruit intake, and just 2% met it for vegetables.
Native Harvest exists to change that. Planting fruit trees and native crops in the middle of our cities gives every child a chance to reach for something fresh and alive.
A word about the Bradford pear
Interest in urban green space has grown, and so has the planting of invasive species. Most of what goes in the ground in cities is purely cosmetic and gives almost nothing back to the ecosystem.
The Bradford pear is our clearest example. It is sold as sterile, but it cross-pollinates readily with actual fruit-producing pear trees, and the offspring spread. Every one of those could have been a tree that fed somebody.
Let's grow together
Volunteer at a planting day, donate native edible plants, or offer a piece of land. All three move this forward.