Unity Gardens
South Bend, Indiana
A network of 40+ open, free-to-pick gardens plus a seven-acre main site; volunteers tend, anyone harvests, no work required.
Why we're interested: The closest model to what we do — free harvest, volunteer-tended, gardens at churches, and skill-sharing. They've done it longer and bigger; we want to learn how they keep picking simple as they grow.
What they bring
- ●Scaling an open garden network across an entire county
- ●Simplifying the harvest experience for all community members
- ●Fostering patience through long-term volunteer-led garden growth
How we harmonize +
Like us: Food freely given, volunteer-tended, gardens as gathering places, skill-sharing, church sites, slow patient growth.
Food Is Free Washington
Washington State
A statewide effort growing food and giving it away; volunteer-powered gardens and programs working to eliminate hunger in Washington.
Why we're interested: The same 'grow food, give it away' ethos at a state-network scale — a model for how a small idea spreads.
What they bring
- ●Building a cohesive statewide network for food access
- ●Empowering local volunteers to eliminate hunger in neighborhoods
- ●Spreading the ethos of abundance through collective action
How we harmonize +
Like us: Free food, community building through gardens, volunteer-driven.
Beacon Food Forest
Seattle, Washington
A volunteer-run permaculture food forest on public parkland — free harvest, education, and community.
Why we're interested: A working permaculture food forest we can learn from for our hugel beds and perennial anchors.
What they bring
- ●Integrating permaculture principles into vibrant public parkland
- ●Creating functional food forests that feed the local community
- ●Hosting educational spaces that thrive through volunteer stewardship
How we harmonize +
Like us: Permaculture, volunteer-tended, free harvest, community education.
The Giving Grove
Kansas City, Missouri (expanding nationally)
Neighborhood volunteers plant and care for free fruit, nut, and berry orchards in under-resourced neighborhoods; harvest is free.
Why we're interested: A perennial, neighborhood-steward model that parallels our permaculture/perennial anchors and our 'neighbors nourish neighbors' ethic.
What they bring
- ●Planting perennial orchards to nourish future generations of neighbors
- ●Empowering local volunteers to transform under-resourced urban spaces
- ●Creating sustainable food systems through neighborhood-led orchard stewardship
How we harmonize +
Like us: Free food, neighborhood volunteers, perennial focus, under-served neighborhoods.
A national network connecting backyard gardeners with local food pantries to donate surplus harvest.
Why we're interested: The infrastructure we'd point our surplus toward — and a model for how a simple matching idea reaches all 50 states.
What they bring
- ●Building national infrastructure to combat food waste effectively
- ●Connecting home gardeners directly with those in need
- ●Creating a simple digital model for widespread social impact
How we harmonize +
Like us: Garden surplus shared free, anti-waste, gardener-to-neighbor.
Food Not Lawns
International chapter network (US-founded)
An international chapter network teaching people to turn yards into gardens and neighborhoods into communities through permaculture and seed sharing.
Why we're interested: The domestic-arts, front-yard-gardening, seed-sharing ethos matches ours; a model for spreading the practice through chapters.
What they bring
- ●Turning domestic yards into collaborative hubs for neighborhood connection
- ●Promoting self-reliance through accessible permaculture and seed sharing
- ●Building global community movements through localized garden chapters
How we harmonize +
Like us: Permaculture, seed sharing, community via gardening, domestic-arts ethos.
Syracuse Grows — Interfaith Community Garden
Syracuse, New York
An interfaith, volunteer-tended community garden whose primary goal is sharing — volunteers give time to make a positive impact.
Why we're interested: A direct interfaith-garden parallel; we want to learn how they hold the interfaith partnership in practice.
What they bring
- ●Bringing diverse faith groups together through shared garden service
- ●Cultivating positive community impact through collaborative volunteering
- ●Refining the model of interfaith cooperation in physical gardens
How we harmonize +
Like us: Interfaith, volunteer-tended, shared harvest.
Franciscan Monastery Garden Guild
Washington, D.C.
Volunteer-run gardens at a Franciscan monastery; a food-bank farm and gardens open daily as a place of respite for neighbors.
Why we're interested: The closest 'contemplative space + garden + shared harvest' model — exactly our quiet-room-plus-garden idea at a larger, established scale.
What they bring
- ●Providing peaceful, quiet spaces for neighborly reflection and respite
- ●Balancing historical stewardship with active community food production
- ●Opening sacred, garden-centered grounds to the general public daily
How we harmonize +
Like us: Contemplative grounds open to all, volunteer garden, harvest shared (food bank), daily-open space.
NeighborSpace
Chicago, Illinois
Chicago's only nonprofit urban land trust, preserving and sustaining community gardens on behalf of dedicated community groups.
Why we're interested: A model for how gardens survive in a city — land-trust protection so community gardens aren't lost; a structural lesson we may need someday.
What they bring
- ●Protecting vital community green space through innovative land trusts
- ●Sustaining urban gardens against the pressures of city development
- ●Empowering local groups to permanently steward their own land
How we harmonize +
Like us: Community gardens, neighborhood stewardship, preserving green gathering space.
Village Harvest
San Francisco Bay Area, California
Volunteers glean backyard fruit trees and share the harvest with local food initiatives; homeowners donate their surplus.
Why we're interested: A volunteer gleaning model we'd like to mirror in Forest — harvesting the fruit that's already here and sharing it.
What they bring
- ●Recovering hidden neighborhood bounty through active volunteer gleaning
- ●Turning backyard surpluses into a reliable source of fresh food
- ●Strengthening community ties by sharing local harvests with neighbors
How we harmonize +
Like us: Volunteer harvest shared free, neighbor-to-neighbor, food access.
Old North Church Gardens
Boston, Massachusetts
Multiple gardens on the campus of the Old North Church — a historic site — maintained as spaces for reflection, contemplation, and prayer.
Why we're interested: A working example of a historic church with contemplation gardens open to the public — the closest parallel to our chapel-plus-garden idea.
What they bring
- ●Preserving historic church sites as living centers for reflection
- ●Creating contemplative garden environments open to all visitors
- ●Honoring the spiritual legacy of land through beautiful landscaping
How we harmonize +
Like us: Historic church, gardens for contemplation/reflection, open to public.
Homestead Heirloom Gardens & Ecovillage
United States (intentional community)
An established, self-reliant intentional community rooted in deep ecology and ecocentric concepts, with gardens and homesteading at its center.
Why we're interested: A live-in intentional community practicing gardening and self-reliance — a different scale of the same 'share the everyday skills' impulse.
What they bring
- ●Modeling self-reliant living through deep ecological and home practices
- ●Building intentional communities centered on essential daily skills
- ●Practicing a deep, ecocentric lifestyle that inspires sustainable change
How we harmonize +
Like us: Intentional community, gardening, self-reliance, domestic arts.
GROW Enrichment
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville's first sustainable food-forest park; a nonprofit using permaculture and community engagement through volunteerism.
Why we're interested: A city's first food-forest park — a model for how permaculture becomes a public gathering space.
What they bring
- ●Transforming public parks into productive, sustainable food forests
- ●Engaging citizens through meaningful, permaculture-based volunteer opportunities
- ●Pioneering urban food models that benefit the entire community
How we harmonize +
Like us: Permaculture food forest, volunteerism, community engagement, public park.
Deer Park Monastery
Escondido, California
A mindfulness practice monastery in the Plum Village tradition with gardens, a volunteer program, and regular days of mindfulness open to visitors.
Why we're interested: The contemplative, shared-work cadence we aspire to — quiet, gardening, and an open door to practitioners.
What they bring
- ●Cultivating a calm, intentional cadence in all gardening work
- ●Sharing the beauty of mindfulness practice with every visitor
- ●Creating sacred spaces that invite quiet reflection and growth
How we harmonize +
Like us: Contemplative/quiet, volunteer gardening, open to visitors, shared work.
InterFaith Works of Central NY
Syracuse, New York
An interfaith organization that built a community garden adjacent to a church on Syracuse's South Side, bringing volunteers together across faiths.
Why we're interested: A clear interfaith + garden + church-site model — exactly the intersection we sit in.
What they bring
- ●Integrating community gardening into broader interfaith service efforts
- ●Connecting neighborhood residents across faith lines through shared work
- ●Strengthening the heart of the community through church-based gardening
How we harmonize +
Like us: Interfaith, volunteer, church-site garden, shared harvest.
The Ron Finley Project
Los Angeles, California
Turning vacant lots and parkways in South Central LA into edible gardens; teaching communities to grow their own food in the food desert.
Why we're interested: A bold urban food-access project with a 'change your neighborhood with a garden' ethos — an inspiring, smaller-scale model we admire.
What they bring
- ●Empowering communities to reclaim vacant space for fresh food
- ●Inspiring neighbors to take charge of their own nourishment
- ●Changing neighborhood perceptions through bold, edible urban landscaping
How we harmonize +
Like us: Food access via gardening, neighborhood transformation, grow-your-own teaching.
