A new University of Northern Iowa project will provide services to install vegetable and pollinator gardens free of charge to residents in the Cedar Valley as part of an ongoing effort to address issues of food insecurity.

The Backyard Steward Initiative is a new program from UNI’s Green Iowa AmeriCorps, based at the Center for Energy & Environmental Education, that kicked off with a training session on garden installation last week. 

“We started building this project with the idea that we wanted to address the barriers and increase the access of people being able to connect to their food sources,” said Ashley Craft, program director of Green Iowa AmeriCorps. “If you don’t have the equipment or the know-how or the money for labor or plants, we can show up, assess the space, put in the labor, install the plants and then provide support so people know when to harvest and have recipes to cook.”

When a resident signs up for the program, two AmeriCorps members will visit the property to assess the space, light, soil moisture and other conditions while planning which vegetables and/or pollinators the owner’s desires. Four AmeriCorps members will then return to prepare and install the garden.

Participating in the program also provides residents with access to helpful gardening tips, timely harvesting information, recipes, and future workshops.

And while areas in the Cedar Valley have struggled with food security for years, the onset of COVID-19 laid bare the issues in the food system and provided a push to get the program off the ground, Craft said.

“COVID-19 showed us how vulnerable we are to food insecurity and how disconnected we are from accessing our own food,” Craft said. “People had a reawakening about local food and growing their own food, and we wanted to be a resource for that and remove as many barriers as possible.”

Those interested in signing up a site assessment and garden installation, visit the Green Iowa AmeriCorps website to complete an application at www.greeniowaamericorps.org or email GreeniowaBSI@gmail.com.