Studio Lily Kwong began its Freedom Gardens journey in March. Our team had spent years together creating large scale botanical installations all over the country - from a project on the High Line to a pop-up shop for Glossier in Seattle to a 3-acre retreat center on Long Island. We worked with plants - oftentimes BIG plants. My studio’s first project in New York involved trucking 26 mature palm trees to industrialized Brooklyn and installing them across a 150,000 square foot space. So when the COVID-19 crisis hit and public art projects & community gatherings screeched to a grinding halt, we felt lost. After spending a few weeks running damage-control and brainstorming on long Zoom calls, we all felt a glimmer of hope as we started reading about the Victory Gardens movement. 

We learned during WWII that vegetable, fruit and herb gardens planted in backyards, empty lots and city rooftops across the nation flourished again during WW2. It’s estimated that home, school and community gardeners produced close to 40 percent of the country’s fresh vegetables from about 20 million gardens - or an astonishing 9-10 million tons of produce, an amount equal to all commercial production of fresh vegetables in the early 1940s. No one on my team had grown food or plants from seed since we were children - we were used to working at a fast-pace and a totally different scale. It suddenly became clear the moment was ripe for a Victory Gardens revival - growing food is a beautiful activity we could do alone, together. When we were all stuck at home worried about our health and wellbeing - the simple act of growing food had the potential not only for increased security, but the ability to boost morale. 

We had so much to learn, so we started reaching out to our community of plant people. I’d always admired Farmer Nick for his wealth of knowledge and unparalleled kindness. The man has such a passion for urban farming and loves to share it - he was generous enough to help me kick start my own home-gardening project. It had been a long time since I felt like a total beginner in this space, and I realized I was overflowing with questions. When I suggested a webinar for novice gardeners to learn from the experts, Nick jumped on it and brought two truly inspirational, powerful people to the table: Joe Lamp'l & Amber Tamm. Amber is a farmer, horticulturist and floral designer that has a direct line to mama earth and is a true leader & visionary in the field. Joe is an absolute legend and the creator & host of the Emmy Award-winning PBS series, Growing a Greener World.

Urban farming and agriculture is not my world and it has been a true delight to venture into this thriving community of growers. I have found everyone to be enormously generous with their wisdom, and motivated by a higher calling to serve the community and the planet. Tune into our webinar below - I hope you soak up all the knowledge & find the inspiration to start your very own Freedom Garden! 

With gratitude, LSK