Building a Food Garden at Portland’s City Hall

Photos by Steve Cohen.
Must-see photo set(116) of building the Portland garden here.

City Hall hopes new garden puts food on the table
Food grown in Southwest Fourth Avenue plot will be donated to feed hungry

BY JIM REDDEN
The Portland Tribune
May 5, 2009

Portland Mayor Sam Adams and Commissioner Nick Fish inaugurated a new food garden on the east side of City Hall at a Tuesday morning ceremony attended by gardeners and representatives of food banks.

“The purpose of this garden is to show that in Portland you can grow food in relatively small spaces,” said Adams, explaining that the food grown in the garden will be donated to Elm Court, a community kitchen operated by Loaves and Fishes that serves 250 meals a day in downtown Portland.
Adams said the garden was part of an effort by the City Council and Multnomah County Commissioner to encourage Portlanders to grow more food and donate the excess to community programs such as the Oregon Food Bank that provides food to low-income people.

“Let the growing gardens multiply,” he said.

Constructing the food garden at Portland City Hall. May 1 – 5, 2009. Photo by Steve Cohen.

Fish said growing and sharing food now was important because of the high unemployment rates and hunger in the state, including the region.

“Improving access to healthy food helps make our community more resilient,” he said.

The garden replaces two small lawns on the Southwest Fourth Avenue side of City Hall. It is part of the “Portland is Better Together” Program the city launched in January to encourage volunteerism. The project was led by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability, with the support of Portland Parks & Recreation employees and volunteers from garden-related programs and businesses.

All of the food plants and decorative rocks were donated.

Multnomah County is planting a garden – called Hope Garden – at its headquarters building, 501 S.E. Hawthorne Blvd. Food grown there will be donated to a local hunger-relief agency.

During the City Hall press conference, Adams thanked several people and businesses who worked on the garden or donated to the project, including Mary Bedard Landscape Architecture, Fiddleheads Landscapes, Smith Rock, Heritage Rock, Brentwood Park Nursery, Portland Nursery, One Green World, Wood Waste Management, Laughing Planet, Hot Lips Pizza and Percasso.

See article here.

Must-see photo set(116) of building the Portland garden here.