Got dirt? Grow food cheaply. How urban farms and gardens thrive in Lansing (2024)

LANSING— The city is growing— in population and also vertically.

Tomatoes, greens, squash and more sproutin garden plots and small farms across Lansing.

More than 100 communitygardens are tucked into vacantlots sitting in Lansing neighborhoods, their usecoordinated by the Ingham County Land Bank, which owns them.

There were only nine such gardensin 1983 that were managedthrough the Garden Project, a Greater Lansing Food Bank program that'spartnered with the land bank.

"(It's) growing every year," saidDilli Chapagai, 31, a liaison to immigrants and refugees through the Garden Project.

A way of life

Located in all corners of the city,adjacent to schools and near major intersections, the community gardens attract city residents, growers from neighboring communities, as well asthe immigrants and refugees who use gardening as a step toward building new lives here.

Even more gardens and farms exist in private yards, planted by owners or renters who are determined to have a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

"If you've got a little bit of dirt, you're supposed to be growing some type of food," saidClarence Walker of Lansing, a lifelong gardener who grows vegetables in his westside yard. He recently started a 16-acre farm in Dimondale.

Walker, 40, is among the increasing number of urban dwellers creating a vibrant community that helps educate and support gardeners and small-scale farmers inside the 40 square miles that compriseLansing.

Stephanie Onderchanin, 28, also of Lansing, toils at promoting gardens through the non-profit Northwest Initiative.

She sees added value in gardens affiliated with Lansing schools.

"Everybody's gotta eat, so it's a natural setting anda way for people to be incommunity and have relationships with each other," Onderchanin said.

Here are stories of Walker, Onderchanin and others involved in Lansing's gardening and urban farming movement, along with their tips on how newcomers can get involved with little-to-no money.

Returning to roots

Walker was raised by a grandmother who gardened. Herecalls getting a green thumb as a child.

"To walk out in the morning and take a tomato and just eat it fresh off the vine, it just did something to me," Walker said.

Now Walker grows cucumbers, strawberries, tomatoes, peppers and potatoesin the backyard of his West Michigan Avenue Home, built in 1932.

In the front yard, Walker sells his own organic chicken eggs. During the fall he sells pumpkins,which he buysfrom a farmer in Ohio.

Walker has learned a valuable lesson about urban farming in Lansing.

Last fall,animal control officers and police seized82 chickens, four ducks and one turkey from his home because the animals violated ordinances.

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Now he splits his time between Dimondale and his Lansing garden.

InDimondale, Walker keeps about 150 free-range chickens, about 100 ducks, four horses, five cows and several goats. Teenagers from his Lansing neighborhood help tend to the animals.

Walker's advice to anyone interested in farming or gardening: Give it a try so you can place more value on the food youeat.

"For so many years, I was relying on Meijer, Sam's Club, Walmart, Kroger," Walker said. "They were feeding me, and I didn't know where any of that stuff was coming from."

Valuable lessons

Onderchanin, originally from Howell, also lives in Lansing's Westside Neighborhood.

She becameembedded in the gardening community through her work with the Lansing School District.

Onderchanin dropped out of Michigan State University a few years ago and is one of several people under 30 in the citywho work with area youth through gardening programs and cooking classes.

Onderchanin'sworkfor the non-profitNorthwest Initiativebrought her to Riddle Elementary School's ever-expanding community garden.

There are also gardens at Willow, Averill, Sheridan Road and North schools— all within Lansing's district.

At Riddle, conditions are so ideal that a duck visits annually to lay eggs.

A group called Lansing Grown sold vegetables last week at a Riddle garden open house aschildren made their own lemonade under a nearby tent.

The garden offers freetomatoes, peas, kale, chard, herbs, edible flowers, beans, broccoli, sweet potatoes and plenty of other crops.

Lansing has embraced the school garden concept, which helps reactivateneighborhoods and inspire residents who seek a higher purpose,Onderchanin said.

"There's a lot more magic that can happen just by having a lot more people in once space," Onderchanin said.

Reactivating neighborhoods

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Talesha Dokes, a 34-year-old Michigan State University graduate student, has found a way to embrace her southern family's gardening history.

She's studying natural resources, fisheries and wildlife and plans to graduate in December.

Although she studies on the East Lansing campus, Dokes found herselfdrawn to Lansing's Foster Garden, on the city's east side, after hearing about it from a classmate.

Instead of joining a local organic food sharing program, Dokes found it easier to just grow her own.

"This gives me more of an opportunity to see what Lansing has to offer — outside of Michigan State, where I usually find my activities year-round," Dokes said.

Dokes takes pride in growing cabbage, spinach, kale, okra, tomatoes, sweet and hot peppers, and a variety of herbs.

Shesigned up forthe Greater Lansing Food Bank's Garden Project to get her own plot in the garden.

The program allows people to not only rent plots, butborrow tools for free and obtain seeds and plants at the Foster Park Resource Center, 2401 Marcus St.

Gardening is a nice break from sitting behind a desk, laboring away at a dissertation, Dokes said.

There's always something new to learn about gardening, Dokes said.

She recentlymet a woman at Foster Garden, originally from another country, who grows black-eyedpeas just for the edible leaves.

"It's a lifestyle," Dokes said of gardening. "And it forces you to utilize everything and see how you can maintain and preserve your body."

Refugees, immigrants welcome

Chapagai,the Garden Project'simmigrant and refugee liaison, has followed an unlikely path to the 2.5-acreWebster Farm Community Garden on the city's south side.

Born in Bhutan,Chapagai and his family traveled to Nepal when he was three.

Chapagai spent the next 16 years in a refugee camp before a resettlement programfound a home for himin Lansing.

"They basically said 'You're going to Lansing,'" Chapagai recalled. "Then I'm like, 'OK, I'm going to Lansing."

Webster Farm is one of 115 community gardens in the Lansing region and one of nine catered to Lansing's community of immigrantsand refugees.

Webster has 114 plots that accommodate80 families, mostly fromBhutan, Burma and several parts of Africa including Congo.

Chapagai speaks three languages— English, Nepali and Hindi.

Immigrants and refugees who work in Lansing's community gardens gain self-confidence and are encouraged to use and teach the skills they learned back home, Chapagai said.

"Gardening helps revive them as a person," Chapagai said. "They were farmers, and then all of a sudden they had to leave their country."

Webster Farm is affiliated with South Lansing Urban Gardens,a group that provides resources for gardeners of all experience levels. For information, visitbit.ly/2SAgzUa.

'Kids are our future'

Since the mid-1990s, veteran Lansing School District teacher Ying Zheng, 68,has maintained North Elementary School's garden.

Zheng has been an educator for more than 25 years and found the garden to be therapeutic for children of all abilities.

The garden has a few planters that are accessible to people in wheelchairs.

It's open several months out of the year and often provides a classroom break for summer school students.

Zheng grew inspired to build a garden at the school when she became a special education teacher in Lansing. She has a son, Hui, who is 36 and has autism.

"My motto is 'The kids are our future,'" Zheng said. "They need to know where our food comes from."

Over the years, Zheng, a native of China's Fujian Province,has planted cherry, appleand pear trees.

The food bank's Garden Project has helpedZhengmanage the garden, as well as helping peoplewho rent plots there.

Families have flourished growing tomatoes, corn, cabbages, peppers, beans okra and a variety of herbs.

Zheng has seen the calming effect gardening has on others. She suggeststhat people leery of getting involved in a community plot should keep it simple.

"You can grow your own food— even if you don't have a patch in the garden," Zheng said. "You can grow a plant in a pot. You can be self-sufficient in that way."

Trial and error

Jay Ellis, 33, doesn't lack creativity or initiative.

This single dad of three kids, ages 4, 9 and 10, is a tattoo artist and has remained dedicated to gardening on the city's north side, despite an often wet spring and summer.

Ellis, nicknamed "Bird,"created Bird Guyz Urban Farm, located on three Ingham County Land Bank-owned lots next to his home.

Ellis plans on eventually buying the lots from the land bank for $2,000. He currently leases the lots for $50 annually.

The lots sit on a quiet dead end street and are surrounded by trees. Ellis has enough space that he's planning to create his own irrigation system next year.

"I got pretty lucky with this spot," Ellis said.

The rainy spring and summer limited Ellis' ability to grow healthy tomatoes, but he's found luck withyellow mustard, basil, arugula, dill and chard.

He's paid for gardening courses and continues to research new growing practices online.

Last year, Ellishad some success growing greens indoors and selling them toRuckus Ramen, a local restaurant.

To be successful, Ellis suggests keeping the basics in mind:start small with good soil and constantly manage weeds.

"You can have one row of really good crop or ten rows of really bad crop," Ellis said.

For information about gardening events in the Lansing region, visitletsgardenlansing.org.

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Eric Lacy is a reporter for the Lansing State Journal. Contact him at 517-377-1206 or elacy@lsj.com.Follow him on Twitter @EricLacy.

Want to read more stories about what makes Lansing unique? Support local journalism by subscribing to the Lansing State Journal. For current offers,visitbit.ly/2UnxlJE.

Isgardening for you?

A garden plot requires time and constant effort for about six months out of the year in order to produce a healthy harvest. The Greater Lansing Food Bank's Garden Project estimates gardening requires five hours per week of time in the spring, four hours per week in the summer and three hours per week in the fall.Some basic tasks required of gardeners:

• Preparing your plot: Clear your plot of weeds, loosen your soil and add compost before you plant to make your plants healthier and resistant to pests and disease.
• Planting: Plant within two weeks of preparing your plot. Place plants in places where they will grow best— without overcrowding.
• Provide water often: Seedbeds may need to be hand-watered daily until sprouts appear above the ground, usually the first 10 to 20 days.
• Weeding: Be diligent with this so you can keep them down in your plot and surrounding pathways. Getto weeds early in the spring to save time later.
• Harvesting: Keep an eye on when it's time to harvest. Keeping ripe produce picked reduces garden pests and vandalism.
• Preparing for winter: remove dead plant material and trellising from your plot. Reward your soil by loosening it and incorporating compost and dried leaves.

Source: Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project

A list of popular summer crops

• Beans: Several types of beans have a maturation date of 50 to 60 days and can add colorand nutrition to a variety of autumn meals.
• Carrots: A root crop that provides flavor and nutrition going into the cold winter months. They can produce in about 50 days.
• Greens: Asian green, colored mustards, collards, kale, arugula and chard are some of themost popular crops found in the Lansing area.
• Radishes: Addscolor and taste to fall salads. Early Scarlet Globe is a popular round radish that can mature in 22 days.
• Squash: Recommended varieties includeCocozelle, Crookneck, Pattypan, Straightneck, White Scallop and Zucchini.

Source: Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project, Michigan State University

What's the Garden Project?

People in the Lansing region who meet income requirements are eligible to receive free resources from the Greater Lansing Food Bank's Garden Project for their personal gardens. The food bank has a resource center at 2401 Marcus St. in Lansing that offers free seeds, seedlings, tool lending and cooking tips. Several community gardens are part of the food bank's network. For a list of the gardens and to register visitgreaterlansingfoodbank.org/programs/programs/garden-project. For more information, call517-853-7809 or emailgardenproject@greaterlansingfoodbank.org.

Michigan's planting timeline andtips

• The state's frost-free growing season, on average, is 146 days.
• Each winter, the risk of frost typically occurs from Oct. 3 to May 10.
• Frost is usually guaranteed to not occur form May 25 to Sept. 21
• Establish a list of plants that will be grown in the garden or farm that season.
• Find out if the types of plants are warm or cool season crops.
• Study your geographical location to determine what time of year to plant.
• Get insight on what to plant from markets and the fresh crops they sell.
• Don't waste healthy crops. Donate them. Popular crops food pantries seek: summer squash, cucumbers, tomatoes, greens, potatoes, carrots and apples.

Source: Greater Lansing Food Bank Garden Project