The Million Gardens Movement (MGM) is a philanthropic and educational initiative to combat food insecurity and malnutrition by putting a garden in every household —whether that’s in a window box, on a fire escape, or as part of a community garden —and fresh fruit and veggies on every plate. MGM hopes to build the biggest gardener community in the world.
MGM was created by Modern Farmer magazine’s owner and publisher Frank Giustra and Kimbal Musk (Elon Musk’s brother), Executive Director of the non-profit Big Green and founder of Square roots.
For every $10 donation, MGM puts Little Green Garden units in homes and classrooms. So far, more than 5,000 Little Green Gardens (which are at their core ready-to-use veg and fruit garden beds) have already been distributed. “Each garden bed comes with a customized growing plan and online lessons and activities to support the growth of culturally relevant at-home veggie gardens,” explained Musk.
Musk said:
Planting a seed is an act of hope for a brighter tomorrow. We hope millions will join us to grow their own garden and give a garden to a family.
The MGM platform is simple. These are the steps:
- Sign up to join the gardener community;
- Donate $10 to give a garden to a low-income family or one that lives in a food desert,
- Read and contribute to the online blog, and then spread the word to other gardeners.
Musk explained:
Ten years ago, I co-founded Big Green to focus on under-resourced communities to increase access to fresh food and improve food literacy. Today it’s a national non-profit working with schools in several major cities with almost 640 outdoor Learning Garden classrooms.
Thousands of gardeners have already joined the movement, including celebrities like Nicole Scherzinger, Harrison Ford, Zooey Deschanel, Maye Musk (Kimbal’s mother), and Elon Musk.
Frank Giustra added:
We’ve been so humbled by the overwhelmingly positive response and the passion surrounding our mission.
The #milliongardensmovement already has more than 300 posts on Instagram. Today, 7,531 new gardens in total have started, while 632 have gone to schools to teach students about gardening.
Giustra explained:
The most successful aspect of the Million Gardens Movement has been the continued growth of an online gardening community. Our Movement, just like gardening, is about developing our best aspects slowly and steadily as we grow in numbers towards one million gardeners. Seeing people donate is wonderful because they are helping others garden, and those who donate might also take up gardening.
So far, they have delivered garden kits to Detroit, Memphis, Indianapolis, and Denver. “We’re working to deliver 5,000 kits in Denver alone in April for Earth Month, and we’re working on delivery plans for cities after that drop,” he added.
Food insecurity was a problem in the U.S long before the pandemic. A 2017 study found that 5.6% of Americans don’t have convenient access to fresh food. These impacts can be reduced with home gardens. According to Extension, the average home garden can produce up to $677 worth of vegetables and fruits each year.
Musk said:
Our hope is to quickly expand to Canada this year with sights on Vancouver and Toronto. We hope to expand to Mexico and beyond to make this a worldwide movement to encourage millions of people to grow their own food.
In 2016, Kimbal Musk started an indoor urban farming company based in Brooklyn called Square Roots. The company’s mission is to empower younger generations to begin making urban farms too. Since its launch in 2016, Square Roots has grown over 120 different crops, including strawberries, greens, and vegetables.
