guest column
Planting
Partnerships
at Yad Ezra
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O
ur mission at Yad Ezra’
s Giving
Gardens is to provide educational
opportunities and resources to
address hunger in our Jewish community
at its roots, with a focus on healthy and
sustainable practices. The
pandemic has not dried up
our resolve. We have capi-
talized on the nicer weather
and have been hosting
classes, providing a socially
distant way to interact with
people safely and provide the
community with knowledge.
This year, more produce than ever has
been brought in from local community
gardens. We have been able to extend
our reach through partnerships with the
Hazon Garden Relief Initiative, as well
as with partner gardens like the Bowers
School Farm and the Farber Tamarack
Farm.
As Giving Gardens flourishes, an
increased volume and value of produce
goes to Yad Ezra’
s clients every year. Every
Yad Ezra delivery gets a taste of the Giving
Gardens in their package.
The pandemic has tested the reach of
communities around the world. In Metro
Detroit, we are so fortunate that our com-
munity has come together to help our own
as well as our neighbors and friends. At
Yad Ezra’
s Giving Gardens, we are proud to
share some of our partnerships which have
been developed over the past few years
and have quite literally begun to bear fruit.
Judaism emphasizes the importance
of community in so many ways. One of
the most compelling arguments is the
Talmudic passage that defines an appropri-
ate city in which to live. In order for a city
to be habitable, it must accommodate the
needs of all its members, assuring there is
appropriate care for everyone (Sanhedrin
17b).
Our Lady of La Salette Church is our
neighbor — the church has been a land-
mark in Berkley since the 1920s. The land
behind the church was not being used; it
was a flat, expansive lawn. Giving Gardens
has a new productive partnership with the
church. They have allowed us to farm their
land, which we call the Genesis Garden.
The farmed plot has doubled our growing
space, adding more than 5,000 square feet
of garden space. The Genesis Garden is
currently growing beans, peas, zucchini,
cucumbers, radish, turnips, lettuce, toma-
toes, eggplant, basil and peppers. All these
vegetables will be harvested and distribut-
ed to our clients. Not only does this allow
us to offer more food, it also raises the
amount of fresh nutritional choices to food
insecure families who often otherwise eat
less nutritional foods.
Since the middle of June, Giving
Gardens has been participating in a
Community Supported Agriculture (CSA)
partnership. Generously funded by an
anonymous donor, the Central Detroit
Christian Farm and Fishery and Fisheye
Farms have sold Yad Ezra 15 and two full
shares, respectively, of their farm harvest.
This amount of fresh produce is enough
to generously supplement the grocery
distribution of approximately 35 people.
Additionally, for every two shares Yad Ezra
receives, one share is donated to a family
in the neighborhood in which the CDC
farm is located. Our Giving Gardens team
has organized a trial of this 20-week part-
nership with the 35 Yad Ezra clients who
are also members of our Giving Gardens
Club. Each client has been receiving a
weekly distribution of farm fresh produce
to supplement their regular Yad Ezra
grocery delivery. The farm produce is
delivered to Yad Ezra and Giving Gardens
volunteers and staff divide the shares and
deliver the produce to our clients/club
members.
This is truly an innovative way for Yad
Ezra to engage in a community effort that
helps the farmers, who cannot otherwise
distribute all of their harvest during these
times, and gives healthy, fresh food to
food-insecure families in our community.
We hope that this test program will serve
as a model for others. The ripple effect of
helping our clients, helping a local busi-
ness, and helping feed people in other
communities is rewarding.
Giving Gardens was started at Yad Ezra
with an amalgam of goals that were all
rooted in the concept of partnership. We
had partnered for years with master gar-
deners who grew produce on our property,
and we have embraced the culture of part-
nership and teamwork that is an inherent
part of the urban farming and community
farming culture, as well as celebrating and
supporting partnerships of other Jewish
and community organizations that work
toward sustainability and community edu-
cation.
We are proud of what Giving Gardens
gives our clients and welcome any who
are interested to join us — opportunities
abound!
Anyone interested in classes at Giving Gardens is
welcome to join! Check us out on Facebook
@YadEzra or Instagram @Yad.Ezra.
Lea Luger
6 | OCTOBER 8 • 2020
Genesis Garden at
Lady of La Salette Church in
September
Josh bags produce grown
at Giving Gardens for
clients.