Community Highlights: Meet Barbara Masoner of Grow Local Colorado

Today we’d like to introduce you to Barbara Masoner.

Hi Barbara, so excited to have you on the platform. So before we get into questions about your work life, maybe you can bring our readers up to speed on your story and how you got to where you are today.
During the great recession, a group of local activists and community organizers met regularly to come up with solutions to the growing problems in our community, including food inequality, environmental sustainability, and social disconnect caused by too much screen time.

A vegetable garden was an ideal solution. It would demonstrate how to grow food and share the harvest with neighbors in need. It would bring people together to create a community. And it would reduce our carbon footprint by providing food grown locally, with sustainable methods.

Then Mayor Hickenlooper provided us with a garden in Civic Center Park. Denver Parks and Recreation was happy with that first year’s results and the great PR it provided. So the second year they provided us with more sites.

Fourteen years later we have 19 sites at churches, parks, food pantries, schools, addiction recovery facilities, and even a few backyards.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
Our first few years were a struggle. We tried several ways to attract enough volunteers and funding. Denver Parks gave us eight garden sites in our third year. Nearly tripling our garden sites in just two years was a real challenge. We had to figure out how to get enough seedlings for all those sites as well as inspire enough volunteers to tend the gardens. Thankfully once we had a few years to prove we were committed to our mission more people heard about Grow Local. They wanted to be a part of our fun and vibrant community.

Just as difficult was finding donations and funding for our gardens. We often paid out of our own pockets. But just like attracting enough volunteers, we have been able to find enough funding to keep us going for 14 years. We run a lean operation which donors value. By engaging more volunteers we have in turn garnished enough attention to bring in new funding sources. Often times our volunteers not only give their time and knowledge but many also provide financial support. Recently Denver voters approved Healthy Food For Denver Kids, a tax that supports organizations that ensure all Denver children have access to nutritious food. Grow Local has been a recipient of those funds, providing thousands of pounds of produce to organizations serving our youngest residents.

Great, so let’s talk business. Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Grow Local Colorado’s mission is to build community, create sustainability, and reduce food inequality. We have been able to do that by growing food in public spaces, including city parks, churches, schools, state addiction recovery facilities, and even a few backyards. In the past four years, we have also started to glean fruit trees in people’s yards. All the food we grow and the fruit we harvest goes to communities in need. That includes shelters, food pantries, and soup kitchens.

By providing such a fresh harvest we are ensuring much more nutritious and delicious food for those lacking access to healthy options. Growing food locally significantly reduces its carbon footprint as on average our food travels 1,500 miles to get to our tables. We also use sustainable practices to ensure a sustainable future. Last, by engaging over 400 volunteers each year we are creating a community. We share gardening tips, and recipes and just enjoy each other’s company. We all have a sense of bettering our community by sharing the harvest, helping each other, and building relationships.

We welcome all levels of gardeners to tend our gardens and glean fruit trees. If someone isn’t into gardening we can always use drivers to deliver the produce to food pantries and shelters.

Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Throughout the pandemic, those images of long lines at food pantries across the country drove home the fact that many Americans are struggling to make ends meet. That spurred many of us into action. We had many new volunteers contact us, asking what they could do to help. During the lockdown, we were in the fortunate position of providing outdoor activities that allowed our volunteers to stay at least 6 feet apart while weeding and harvesting our gardens. People were looking for a way to safely reconnect and make a positive difference. Our many garden sites afforded those opportunities. So we had enough volunteers to get the job done. And that was so important as the number of food pantry clients doubled and in some cases tripled during the pandemic.

The fact that we were able to maintain our gardens throughout the pandemic is testament to the fact that our community is compassionate and willing to rise to the occasion. That in turn motivated us to up our game and increase our harvests. During the first year of the pandemic, we provided 9,000 pounds of produce for over a dozen pantries and shelters. We also shared nearly 10,000 pounds of locally picked fruit with those same organizations. Though we are moving on from Covid we have all become aware that many in our community still lack access to healthy food. We welcome all ages and interests to join us and grow a healthier and happier future for everyone.

Contact Info:

• Website: GrowLocalColorado.org
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/growlocalcolorado/?hl=en
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Grow-Local-Colorado-114638408601569