Nutrition Garden Rx
Optimizing urban gardens for climate and health benefits
Social Benefits
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Improve awareness of health and climate benefits of gardens
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Increase food access, nutrition, and health prevention
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Improve access to desirable plants gardens, physical and mental health benefits of gardens
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Exchange food and garden stories and learning across cultures, levels of income, generations, and disciplines during garden design and implementation
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Facilitate community collaboration to help maintain gardens
Ecological Benefits
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Decrease food system carbon footprint by localizing food sources and investing in plant-based foods
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Lower healthcare system’s carbon footprint by preventing chronic health conditions that require a lot of healthcare resources
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Increase biodiversity
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Regenerate soil health
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Drawdown carbon
Economic Benefits
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Decrease healthcare and household food cost
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Generate workforce development opportunities for underemployed people in frontline nonprofits, regenerative agriculture, land restoration, landscape services, gardeners, farmers, nurseries, horticulture, farming, farming supplies, seed production, local food system operations, horticultural therapists, nutrition professionals, climate professionals, designers, etc.
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Leverage additional resources for Nutrition Garden Rx efforts from medical sources
Long-Term Benefits
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Create Nutrition Garden Rxs for specific medical conditions and nutrient deficiencies
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Produce modular Nutrition Garden Rxs for disaster relief and food security
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Use a similar design process to support locally-based international development organizations’ missions
Next Step
Implement medically fundable, therapeutic food forest and programs to support adolescents living with high levels of trauma and/or diversabilities bridge into more vibrantly healthy adulthood. We are currently implementing this project in Oregon in East Multnomah County (outer East Portland and Gresham) and inner NE Portland, Oregon.