TAMPA, Fla. — If gardening in a desert sounds like an oxymoron, it is. But luckily, East Tampa is not a barren wasteland. It just lacks access to healthy fruits and vegetables, but not anymore.
Garden boxes started popping up in front yards across East Tampa for the past three years.
"It started with ten individuals with their front yard garden. There are about 30 front yards in East Tampa where people have been growing their own vegetables like Swiss chard and collard greens," Kitty Wallace said.
Wallace is a co-founder of the nonprofit Coalition of Community Gardens.
"And friends and family have been the consistent ripple effects from this," she added.
The community is rallying to raise awareness about food insecurity and their health.
"We do it because we need to survive," Regina Polite said.
Polite is a member of the Healthy 22nd Street Community Garden, part of the coalition.
Their goal is simple: if fresh food isn't available at a convenient location, they'll have to bring the store to them and grow their food.
East Tampa is a historically Black community in a low-income area, making residents more susceptible to preventable diseases.
"Because you're talking about diabetes, you're talking about heart diseases in this community," Polite said. "We are interested in doing things that will save our lives. I have family members who are on dialysis and have had transplants, but the thing is, I want to start another generation by learning how to eat better and not relying on our doctors to give us meds. We can start at the table."
Members of the coalition are already noticing positive changes.
"Since Dec. 2022, when I started doing all this, I've lost 32 pounds. And my cholesterol was 210. Now it's 160. I was on two blood pressure pills. I'm only on one. So I'm on the journey to getting off of that. And it all started with the gardening and learning about food," Joy Watkins said. "And so it's just been this whole circle of health and goodness to make us all better. So we can be here longer, be healthy, be able to travel, do whatever we want to do."
