Women-led, multidisciplinary design collective A+A+A creates an online workshop for Freedom Gardens to bring digital community engagement and localized outreach to partners in New York City.

A+A+A has built a practice around community engagement within public facing projects. They have designed a workshop series called “City Gardening” that invites communities to re-imagine their homes as spaces for Freedom Gardens. No matter how big or how small your living space, the workshop hopes to demystify some of the basics of gardening by helping you to imagine how to  grow something even on the smallest window ledge. 

The two main ideas behind “City Gardening” are: to spark a new interest in growing edible plants at home and to increase knowledge about plants and food systems. A+A+A worked with Shannon Lai, Freedom Gardens’ resident urban farmer, to develop an index of edible plant species categorized by size, light necessity and recommended start methods. Inspired by analog collage techniques, the workshop invites every participant to take a photo of their current living space and use it as a background for planning their new garden. The index transformed into easy to use digital “stickers” that facilitate the transformation of an existing image into something new. Along with the experience of the workshop, the studio has curated a book of plant knowledge infused with simple healthy recipes available to each participant to download after the workshop. 

A+A+A believes that food access and food knowledge are some of the most important challenges this generation will face. Thanks to the Freedom Garden’s movement, the studio seeks to bring educational content, resources, and community building to the general public in the broader New York City area. Stay tuned for the next workshop!