Growing Food And Teaching too
Growing Food And Teaching too
Our Mission
Growing Orlando is a non-profit urban farm initiative. We’re addressing access to food in Orlando in 3 main ways - where we grow for you, teach you to grow for yourself, and equip you to grow for others.
We are establishing multiple urban farm sites to increase production and distribution of food grown in proximity of downtown, to teach you how to grow food for yourself, and incubate future farmers. We will start and maintain multiple urban farm sites in and around downtown Orlando. Everywhere from a quarter acre lot, to a roof top hydroponic system.
We host and coordinate courses and workshops to teach Orlandoans how to grow food for themselves. From backyard raised beds to apartment balcony container gardens, we know each model of growth looks different and requires education and community to succeed. Our farm sites will act as tangible locations for workshops so people can take a look at and get their hands dirty. For some, growing for yourself is a gateway into growing food for others. For some it looks like a for profit business and for others an act of community service to donate excess produce. We will train and incubate new farmers who are exploring urban and rural farming.
We donated 905lbs of vegetables to The Coalition for the Homeless of Central Florida in 2017
Projects
Projects
Projects
In our pursuit of greater food accessibility we invest into a few different projects. All stemming from our vision for a more robust and accessible food landscape.
SOUTH ST URBAN GARDEN
Our first garden is a quarter acre property on W South St between Parramore Ave and Amway Center. We intensively grow vegetables in an urban style production model. Shortening the distance from grower to eater and providing a location for people to get involved and participate with their food system. The long term vision is to replicate this style into neighborhoods across Orlando in order to localize production and education.
JACKSON CENTER KIDS GARDEN
The students at the Jackson Center set up, run, and maintain a garden together. They maintain their garden every day they’re at the center. The goal of this program is to teach gardening and life skills to the students.
Workshops
We feel that by teaching valuable information and building growing skills in our city, more people will grow food for themselves and for others. All of our workshops are open to the public.
Team
Team
TEAM
Executive Director, Farmer
Brent Buffington
Knowing the importance and impact good food has on the lives of others, Brent is passionate about creating a path for others to gain access to locally grown produce and teach them how to grow for themselves.
Board of Directors
Kathleen Blake
Kathleen is the award winning chef and owner/operator of The Rusty Spoon on Church Street. She is passionate about sustainable agriculture and the impact that good food has on the city.
Board of Directors
Josh Brown
Josh is the owner and founder of PowerDMS. He cares deeply about Orlando and knows that a robust food landscape is essential for the success of Orlando’s continued growth.
Board of Directors
Aaron Gray
Aaron is the Vice President of JLL Brokerage. He is excited about the direction food is heading in Orlando and is eager to see food access and education tackled head on.
Donate
Donate
DONATE
Plant the financial seeds we need to grow.
People ask us how they can help when they're unable to come out and work in the garden with us - it comes down to having the capital needed to invest back into the community with projects that don't return anything monetarily, but leaves a lasting imprint on those impacted by the project. Projects like our kids garden at the Jackson Community Center, which we invest time and resources into, ensuring that kids have the opportunity to participate in a project where they can put their hands in soil, cultivate, and grow food.
Any contribution helps - and if you're interested in going further and becoming a corporate sponsor please send us an email so we can meet up and share the opportunities for your company to impact Orlando forever.