Curtis Lowe

What This Is Really About When I say “community garden on vacant land,” I don’t mean a couple of raised beds with hand-painted signs. I mean a lot that’s been sitting empty for years—maybe the city owns it, maybe a bank, maybe nobody can figure out who holds the deed—and you turn it into a … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Losing It to the City

I’ve stood on cracked asphalt in the middle of July, staring at a lot that used to be a house, thinking: this could feed people. I’ve also spent three hours in a city hall hallway waiting to find out who actually owns that same lot. Both moments are part of the work. If you’re reading … Read moreHow to Turn a Vacant Lot Into a Neighborhood Garden Without Losing It to the City

I’ve sat through enough zoning hearings to know how they go. A developer’s attorney stands up with renderings, traffic studies, and a story about “blight” and “revitalization.” Slides. Data. A consultant who was paid six figures to argue that your neighborhood needs their project more than it needs you. Then a resident stands up. “My … Read moreWhy Your Neighborhood Needs Its Own Archive, Not Just a Facebook Group

Most city programs won’t tell you this straight, so I will. You don’t need a grant, a nonprofit sponsor, or a clean title search to start growing food on an empty lot. What you need are a few neighbors who are sick of waiting, a clear-eyed view of what you’re risking, and a plan that … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Waiting for Permission

You know that lot. The one with the busted fence and the couch someone dumped three summers ago. It’s been sitting there, doing nothing, while you’ve been hauling grocery bags from a store three bus rides away. You could grow food there. You could grow a lot of things. But if you don’t do it … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Getting Pushed Out

I’ve watched too many good people haul in fresh soil, build beautiful beds, and plant neat rows of kale—only to see the whole thing paved over or sold out from under them. A community garden on empty land isn’t just a beautification project. It’s a land-use claim, a logistical puzzle, and a direct challenge to … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Getting Burned

You walk past it every day. A lot choked with knotweed and broken glass, sitting there year after year while your neighborhood has to bus two miles for fresh greens. The owner is some LLC registered in another state, or the city holds it for back taxes nobody will ever pay. Meanwhile, elders who remember … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Waiting for Permission

You know the lot. It’s the one you walk past every day—chain-link fence sagging, weeds pushing through cracks in the asphalt, a faded sign for a developer who vanished years ago. The city doesn’t see it. The owner’s forgotten it. But you and your neighbors live with it, and you’ve started to imagine something else: … Read moreHow to Start a Community Garden on Vacant Land Without Asking for Permission

Every Block Has a Story. Make Sure It’s Yours. Every neighborhood tells a story about itself. Sometimes it’s true. More often it’s a fiction that developers, city officials, and even some of your own neighbors have repeated so many times it hardened into something everybody calls common sense. “This area is blighted.” “Nobody wants to … Read moreHow to Build a Block Story That Moves People: Narrative Strategy for Neighborhood Organizing

An empty plot in the middle of a neighbourhood doesn’t have to stay empty. A community garden—just a piece of land worked by a group of people—can put food on the table, grow friendships, and bring life back to a forgotten corner. Around here, we talk about things like urban farming, land access, food sovereignty, … Read moreTurning an Empty Lot into a Neighbourhood Garden