Everywhere Gardens
The Madison Mutual Aid Network (MAN) Coop is creating multiple points of community contact and support which are available, accessible, welcoming, varied, and widely appealing, using our Everywhere and EveryBody Gardens outreach as a model to further develop Neighbor-to-Neighbor (N2N) care teams with new neighborhoods and with new expertise via new participants.
- EveryWhere and EveryBody Garden (EG) project: We're recruiting gardeners at all levels from beginner to expert, plus un- or under-used yards, to make some fun shared growing opportunities. And we'll share the food we grow and build our abundance. EG is a foundation to expand multidisciplinary educational opportunities tied to the stewarding, harvesting and sharing of high-density nutrition and soil fertility. Self-harvesting opportunities and regular events available to the houseless and others in the neighborhood provide interpersonal connections and open access to fresh foods. Combining EG activities and harvests with other Madison MAN Coop projects provides unique opportunities to introduce members, projects and neighbors to one another. We are connecting our Everywhere Gardens project this year with the building of ---
- Neighbor-to-Neighbor (N2N) Care Teams - members go door-to-door, introduce themselves and Madison MAN Coop to the neighbors and offer a printed checklist to receive support such as food and medicine delivery, transportation, or just a regular check-in to keep them feeling safe in their community.
Our outreach target area runs between Brearly Street and the Yahara River, from McPike Park/East Wilson to Williamson Street. We are adding outreach in the east-side Darbo Worthington neighborhood. We will continue to support Occupy Madison Grow at its Third Street and Aberg Avenue as well as the city-sponsored tiny village recently erected on Dairy Drive on the Southeast side of Madison.
Madison MAN Coop values direct engagement as its primary method of community support. We will create more access points of community contact by expanding our regular offerings of activities and education with regularly scheduled and trans-local learning sessions at rotating locations around the community.
Want to invite friends or neighbors to participate with you? Here are some outreach materials you can take door to door, or give to select people, or email the link to folks who might be interested.
Ongoing opportunities include:
- Weekly Planning sessions open to anyone
- Dream Time - the weekly opportunity for anyone to seek advice on their projects from a variety of MAN Coop members
- Monthly swap meets - accessible, open opportunities to bring food or any other items people would like to exchange. These will be held in conjunction with other MAN Coop activities to broaden their appeal and encourage cross-exposure for participants
- Monthly Builders’ Workshops offering trans-local learning sessions focused on a different relevant topic each month i.e Food distribution, medicinal plant growing, mycology, remediation, soil and water health, peacebuilding and right relationship, and cooperative stewardship and governance. These will be open to the public, accessible, and recorded to be available as open archives
- Mutual Aid Share-Fest - featuring booths of services and knowledge shares from our many networks which gives participants an opportunity to share our work and to grow connections
Fill in this survey to let us know you're interested.
