Setting up a Liberation Garden in your backyard while you’re stuck at home can be a great way to increase your own food security and the food sovereignty of your community. It won’t solve grocery store shortages right away, but you could be less than a month away from fresh greens, and in three months, you could have more squash than you know what to do with. With the help of this printable gardening zine, you’ll be able to start your own Liberation Garden without spending any money or exposing yourself to germs in big box stores.
It’s not as simple as sticking seeds into the ground and hoping, but it doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. I needed some art time, so I drew a zine! It walks you through what you need, where to find it when stores are closed, and how to get ready to grow. Download it from here and follow these instructions to turn it into a little 8-page booklet that you can keep in a pocket or distribute to your neighbors.
There are way too many good gardening resources out there to list on a one-page zine, so I’m listing them here to make them easy to find.
- How to grow food for free: https://ourpermaculturelife.com/start-a-garden-and-grow-food-for-free-with-morag-gamble-and-huw-richards/
- Last frost date for your zip code: https://www.almanac.com/gardening/frostdates
- Apartment/Condo gardening options: https://ourpermaculturelife.com/balcony-permaculture/
- Resources for guerilla gardening around town: https://guerrillagardening.org/
- Best all-in-one seed pack I’ve found so far (the rest of their seed catalog is worth checking out too): https://www.amkhaseed.com/collections/assortments/products/garden-assortment-collection
- For my favorite gardening books: https://thecrankyactivist.com/book-recommendations/
- Get free woodchips delivered to your house: http://bit.ly/2TP9vFn
- Google your local nursery: they know your area and may deliver
- @PermieWomen have some of the best online gardening education out there: https://permaculturewomen.com
- Also Food Not Lawns for suburban/urban gardening: http://foodnotlawns.com
- Soothing & Informative YouTube gardening channels (both are important right now):
- Morag Gamble is a veteran permaculture teacher and cool aunt you wish you had out of Australia: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-bU0T-JKZ3kVpO77Nt1hMA
- One Yard Revolution focuses on small space, high yield gardening in the Chicago suburbs: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCv9ITE5nuShQ37Xd-NVkdcg
- Living Web Farms has in-depth workshop videos on a very wide range of sustainable food topics: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiBgK94oWs_x2wszFD-nlEQ