It’s spring time. Perfect time to plant some vegetables. Valley Verde in San Jose not only sells multi-ethnic, hard to find seedlings, like bitter melons and okra, they also offer food justice programs for the community. The Food Justice Movement improves access to healthy, nutritious food in food insecure areas and recognizes the structural barriers communities of color face reaching food sovereignty.
I remember when the pandemic started I saw some news report that Valley Verde had to cancel their annual seedling fair. Instead they gave away seedlings to underserved members of the community, encouraging them to grow their own healthy food. They managed to deliver seedlings to 400 families. To make this generous idea even more sustainable they partnered with the Silicon Valley Bike Coalition to deliver the seedlings by bike.
If you don’t have your own garden (yet) but feel like you should contribute you can of course donate time or money and spread the word. In fact their event calendar makes it real easy for people to sign up to volunteer.
Now in a location that allows them to sell every day you can find Valley Verde’s seedlings at 59 S Autumn St, San Jose. Valley Verde is open from 9 am – 4 pm.
Are you a supporter of food justice?
Other food programs you might consider volunteering for are Village Harvest or the Forge Garden.