“Sometimes, I can’t believe we pulled it off!” says Craig King, founder of Here We Grow, an organization whose documentary by that name and work throughout the country focuses on helping people reevaluate their eating choices and get back to producing their own healthy foods.  Last November, Frame It All was honored to take part in a very special project in partnership with Here We Grow and Whole Foods.

King had been using Frame It All raised garden beds to install vegetable gardens at assisted living facilities along the East coast. These events brought together local youth and senior residents to raise awareness of not only the enjoyment of gardening as a hobby, but the ease of growing healthy food through gardening.  “After I’d found these great raised bed kits at the local Home Depot and used them a few times, I thought maybe I’d better let the company owner know about all the things we’d been able to do with his product.”  King sent a video of a large completed project in Florida with a thank you letter to Frame It All’s president, Anthony Topping, and a fruitful partnership took seed. When King was asked to install a garden at the David & Margaret Home in La Verne, California, Frame It All supplied the raised bed kits, traveling to California to pick up a shovel and pitch in to help install a large garden of 9 raised vegetable beds.

Teachers at the David & Margaret Home, which houses around 50 adolescent girls and offers many services to at-risk youth and families in the area, feel that the garden grows more than just food. Because it touches so many subjects, including math, science and health, the hands-on experience of gardening has proved to be an invaluable educational tool. But more than its educational value, a garden connects people with the land in a way that fosters a sense of belonging and hope.  Installing the raised vegetable beds and raised flower beds at assisted living facilities, King had seen how gardening brought generations together, allowing the elderly to share their knowledge and wisdom, and giving all involved a sense of purpose. Topping echoed these observations: “Gardening is for everyone. Even if you’re a child just able to hold a shovel, or an adult who is limited physically, you can garden.”

King’s mission is to raise awareness of sustainable gardening, not as a trend or a hobby, but as the way life was intended to be. He urges people to start with 4 or 5 items, saying, “Anyone can get started with an indoor herb garden or use those raised bed kits from Frame It All to make it easier.”  It’s all about committing to take back their ownership of food and stewardship of the planet on a local level.  “We call it a peaceful revolution, the way we’re changing how people think. To go from buying everything in a grocery store to growing some or all of it at home, well, it’s a paradigm shift, but it’s possible. We’ve gotten away from something we were doing very naturally until a few years ago. But we can all do something about it, and it all adds up.”