What's Growing on Peterson Avenue

Three weeks’ time – about the time it takes for a seed to sprout and grow – that’s all it took for Chicago resident LaManda Joy to build a groundswell of support to begin the Peterson Garden Project. LaManda was featured in Edible Chicago’s winter issue

not only for her extraordinary “Yarden” (a 2000 sq. ft.. award winning backyard garden) but also for her passion for the history of Victory Gardens in Chicago, a subject she now gives talks about. Her enthusiasm led her to recreate history – with the help of Chicago’s 40th Ward Alderman Patrick O’Connor and his team, and a multitude of like-minded volunteers – she secured a vacant lot that was once the site of a Victory Garden on Peterson Avenue from 1942-1945. The Peterson Garden Project, launched this summer, is located on land loaned to the group by Asian Human Services. nearly 50 volunteers pitched in to create 140 organic raised beds on land once littered with trash and weeds. And one hundred heirloom tomato plants from a private collection were donated by a Board Member of the non-profit Seed Saver Exchange, just one of many edible seed donations. LaManda has bigger dreams. She envisions, over time, recreating the scale of popularity for community gardening in Chicago during the summer of 1943, when 172,000 Victory Gardens around the city produced 55,000 pounds of food. It’s proof that anything is possible when a budding idea is encouraged to sprout and grow.

For more information: www.petersongarden.org. A documentary is being produced about the Peterson Garden Project. At press time we’re told a sneak peek of the video will be available after July 4th. Go to www.ediblechicago.com for news about the documentary and on the garden’s progress.