The Big Garden collaborates with local organizations to create community gardens, help fight hunger

Juli Oberlander • October 1, 2020

The Big Garden collaborates with local organizations to create community gardens, help fight hunger

Photos courtesy of Jaimee Trobough

When COVID-19 reached Omaha in March, Big Garden Executive Director Nathan Morgan and his team knew food security would become more important than ever in the coming months.

As the pandemic brought financial troubles to Omaha, Jaimee Trobough, director of communications, says Morgan and the Big Garden staff discussed the need to address food insecurity for low-income families in the community.

"A pandemic and the business closures and job losses that accompany it increase the chances of food insecurity for the most at-risk populations," Trobough says.

In the summer, Trobough says Big Garden staff and interns normally would be teaching gardening classes throughout the Omaha metro. Instead, a group of local urban agriculture organizations including The Big Garden began meeting in March to explore ways to work together in response to the pandemic.

Trobough says Albert Varas from Latino Center of the Midlands contacted Morgan with the idea of employing young adult interns through its Siembra Nebraska program to work on urban agriculture-related projects in South Omaha. The two organizations connected with potential partners who had space to develop gardens, eventually working with Southside Redevelopment Corporation, Kids Can Community Center and Together to develop or expand gardens on their properties.

As the project continued, Heartland Workforce Solutions and the Kroc Center also became involved. In addition, two private farms located in Oakland, Iowa and Springfield, Nebraska donated the use of their land.

Trobough says 14 interns were hired as part of the Siembra Nebraska internship program. The program is funded by the Sherwood Foundation, Farm Credit Services of Nebraska and The Peter Kiewit Foundation. Over the summer, the interns planted, maintained and harvested more than 200 raised garden beds in Omaha and the 2-acre plots outside the city.

"Working alongside Big Garden staff, these interns learn valuable job readiness and urban agriculture skills," Trobough says. "Their daily work consisted of installing raised beds, planting gardens, watering, weeding, harvesting and delivering produce to local food pantries."

Trobough says the program has continued into the fall due to its success over the summer. Each day is different for the interns and staff, as they often alternate work at various Siembra Nebraska sites, such as Kids Can and Southside Redevelopment. Other days, they rotate among Big Garden sites in Omaha, including Girls Inc. and OPS school gardens.

On some days, Trobough says the team travels outside of Omaha to the donated farmland in Oakland and Springfield. They also spend one day a week at The Big Garden’s campus, harvesting and processing garden produce for distribution.

Distribution sites include Together, Free Farm Syndicate, the Fair Deal Farmers Market and the Kroc Center. Trobough says the project has made a large impact on the Omaha area.

"All of the produce is distributed to people in need in our community," Trobough says. "In this way, The Big Garden is working to increase food security in our local communities during these pandemic times."

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