Our Roots
Our Roots
“It may take a village to raise a child, but it only took one garden to unite our village”
Present day 2025
Tending to the programs
Today, Our Village Gardens offers over 80 garden plots in the Seeds of Harmony garden to neighbors in North Portland affordable housing communities, cultivates a community fruit orchard, Fruits of Diversity, and employs youth and residents of North Portland affordable housing communities in our healthy corner grocery store, Village Market, in the neighborhood of New Columbia. Garden and Orchard programming continues to engage over 60 local community gardeners in 80 garden plots.
2024
Feeding the community
The Seeds of Harmony garden provided over 1,800 pounds of produce to residents through the Neighbor to Neighbor program, and over 250 pounds of produce were purchased from community growers for sale in the Village Market.
2021
Planting “Seed of Harmony”
Village Gardens separated from Janus Youth Programs and became Our Village Gardens, an independent organization accountable and working in solidarity with North Portland communities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Our Village Gardens was a lifeline for North Portland residents. The Village Market remained open as an essential service and even added grocery delivery.
2013
Blossoming “Fruits of Diversity”
The community orchard Fruits of Diversity was created by the community coming together with a tree proposal. Arborists plants the trees and the trees began to bear fruit. The fruit was given to the Neighbor to Neighbor program to feed needing families and the remainder was sold at the The Village Market.
2006
Becoming “Our Village Gardens”
The Seeds of Harmony committee and garden was started. The intention for a bountiful community space where people could share their cultures, ideas, love and food became a reality. Neighbors came together and the community began to heal with the medicine of locally grown food.
2001
Responding to the community
Community Leaders in the St. Johns Woods apartments (now Cathedral Gardens Apartments) in North Portland, organized with Janus Youth Programs' support to build a community garden in direct response to the poverty, isolation, gang activity and hunger that impacted their community, youth, and families. The St. Johns Woods Garden project grew to be a highly successful effort over its first few years, often credited with reducing crime and vandalism and increasing a sense of neighborhood safety in the apartment complex. The demand for salad greens from garden plots grew at Portland Farmers Market much to the excitement of the youth.
2005
Setting the foundations
Garden leaders wanted to share what they had done with another community and were invited by Home Forward to expand the project to the New Columbia and Tamaracks communities, two miles down the road. At the same time, neighborhood youth expanded onto donated land on Sauvie Island providing additional employment and capacity to grow produce. For several years youth worked on the 2.5 acre Sauvie Island farm until the program had to close in 2018.