MADISONVILLE, Ky. — Each morning, about 25 percent of people waking up in Cincinnati are living in a food desert — meaning they don’t have easy access to healthy, affordable food.
Brick Gardens, a non-profit founded by Domonique Peebles, is trying to eliminate those food deserts one neighborhood at a time.
Brick Gardens operates four community gardens that serve the following six neighborhoods:
- Madisonville
- Northside
- Bond Hill
- Evanston
- Avondale
- Norwood
Food grown in the gardens is available for free in these neighborhoods, but Peebles explained that it’s not just about giving out food.
Peebles is passionate about involving the community in the process and teaching them how to grow too.
Peebles explained that he lived in Over-the-Rhine back in 2015 when Kroger shut down the Vine Street store and then shortly after closed the Walnut Hills location.
His neighbors relied on those stores and then often relied on Peebles to help get food from Kroger stores in other communities.
Those same neighbors also watched Peebles grow his own food in the heart of OTR.
“When I would start growing food in my backyard, my neighbors would ask for me to help them do it because I didn’t have grass, I just had concrete so I had to find creative ways to grow food,” Peebles said.
And that’s how Brick Gardens came to be.
“How do I do this in the neighborhood, for the neighborhood, with the neighborhood,” Peebles said.
Peebles explained that he wants the gardens to be in neighborhoods that need the food.
Madisonville has that need.
“What we grow here gets distributed in this neighborhood,” Peebles said.
They have a farm stand outside the garden during the week, they have ‘you pick’ days and also partner with Mad Llama Coffee Shop to make sure food is available everywhere.
If you do stop by in Madisonville, you’ll likely find Marco, one of Brick Gardens’ seasonal employees.
Everyone seems to know Marco in the neighborhood. If you walk by the greenhouse near Ward and Chandler Streets, you’ll likely see Marco out watering or tending the plants.
And during the school year, you’ll also find Marco showing Lighthouse School students how to garden too.
Teachers incorporate gardening into their lesson plans so students can learn skills to take home with them.
Being outside in the garden is often the best part of the day for students, even those who are a bit apprehensive at first.
But when school’s out for the summer, Sierra Hayden steps in to keep kids involved.
Hayden is the director of the Green Team Youth Workforce Development Program for Groundwork Ohio River Valley.
Her team employs about 110 area teens in the summer to work on several outdoor projects.
“When they first start, they’re not sure how they’re going to feel,” Hayden said.
But then they dive right in.
“Community beautification projects, invasive species removal, a lot of honeysuckle throughout the city, we also are able to focus on urban agriculture education where they learn the basics of growing food,” Hayden explained.
It’s an opportunity that kids flock to.
“By the end of summer, I’ve seen tears, joy, happiness, a sense of self-worth and meaning and then also just excitement to just go outside and make their communities better,” Hayden said.
Applications for the summer program are open until the end of May. Students must be at least 14 years old and hourly pay starts around $12-$13 an hour.
Peebles is constantly looking for new ways to reach more people.
Most recently, the Greater Cincinnati Foundation’s ‘Boots on the Ground’ fund awarded Peebles a $15,000 grant to continue his work with the community.
Peebles has earned numerous grants from GCF and Black Giving Circle over the years to launch new programs including one surrounding mushrooms, the Caps and Trade program.
In the basement of a Northside church building, you’ll find a small room full of mushrooms.
It’s part of an educational program, Caps and Trade that Peebles runs with a partner.
“We can teach people how to grow mushrooms in a small space such as their closet, their kitchen their basement,” Peebles explained.
“That person has the option to grow their own premium mushrooms that they can eat for free because you save a lot of money doing that, or they have the option where now they have the product," he said. "If you’re savvy enough you’re more than welcome to reach out to chefs or people you think may want to buy your product to make extra money,” he said.
The third option is to sell the mushrooms back to Brick Gardens so they can distribute them in their communities.
“It’s really a way to take the art of growing food but use that to employ people,” Peebles said.
And the next idea that is well underway in another room involves growing fresh fruits and vegetables and turning them into baby food.
Peebles hopes to bring new mothers to the Northside location to teach them how to save money by making their own baby food.
The program hasn’t launched just yet, but Peebles is anxious to partner with other local nonprofits to get it off the ground.
For more information on Brick Gardens, click here.
