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In San Mateo County, abundance and deprivation are often at odds. The food space is no exception.
Neighborhoods abound with fruit trees and farmers markets border homes of hungry residents. The latest county data on food insecurity indicates a steady rise, as nearly 10% of residents in 2023 had limited or uncertain access to nutritional foods.
Each Green Corner, a local community gardening and food education nonprofit, seeks to bridge that gap.
With a long history in public service and a perception that sustainable urban agriculture is gaining traction, local lawyer and hobby gardener Sandie Nierenberg wanted to “connect the dots.”
She founded Each Green Corner in 2019 to build a more “just and sustainable” food system. The organization has grown into a thriving countywide network of school gardens, backyard harvest programs, environmental education initiatives, and free produce for low-income residents.
Powerhouse produce is strongly associated with chronic disease risk reduction, but can be far more expensive than processed foods, generally. Nierenberg said part of the price has to do with the fact that fresh food is less shelf-stable. Think spinach.
Having produce on-hand increases home cooking, which tends to mean less-processed, healthier meals. The caveat with home-cooking, though, is people are only more likely to do so with familiar food, Nierenberg said. Each Green Corner is committed to incorporating culturally relevant foods into its programming, such as poblano peppers, Chinese mustard, marjoram, and lemongrass.
At Title I public schools, which receive federal funding to support students who are low-income or at risk of not meeting state academic standards, Each Green Corner works to familiarize students as young as preschool-age with the therapeutic benefits of gardening and plant-based eating. The hand-harvested bounty goes on to fuel the school with healthful lunches and to the homes of students’ families.
“We grow rainbow chard that’s neon pink, yellow, and magenta,” Nierenberg said. “The kids love it and they all started eating it.”
Nierenberg hopes that such intriguing produce has an “amplifying effect,” in not only reaching the families of these students, but also the students’ future families for generations.
At campuses that aren’t designated as Title I sites, all of the cultivated produce is donated to neighbors in need. The curriculum at these more-resourced schools is focused on informing about local food insecurity, and germinating interest in caring for the community.
Each Green Corner converts underutilized land into sustainable, food-producing gardens for the local community, whether the site is a neglected space at a school campus, or forgotten neighborhood fruit trees. The organization’s gardens are intended to be as sustainable as possible, in creating, for example, cooling canopies to counteract hot temperatures on playgrounds, or incorporating tree vines to increase green mass, which assists with carbon sequestration.
All the organization’s gardens are managed through a low-water method, like dry farming, drip irrigation, or stormwater runoff utilization. Volunteers are taught about each of these methods and are encouraged to capitalize on water at home for planting.
Cultivating and educating seasonal and microclimate-sensitive crops are also a priority for the organization, as is native habitat restoration, which at least 10% of all Each Green Corner gardens are.
The program’s Living Campus, Backyard Harvest and farmer’s market events are comprised of volunteers of all ages, including members of the Young Men’s Service League, National Charity League, Girl Scouts of the USA, Scouting America, and National 4-H Council, as well as senior residents and other unaffiliated community members.
Besides Each Green Corner’s biological and environmental benefits, the program is proud of its contributions to community mental health too. Interacting with the Earth can help reduce stress, anxiety and depression, while increasing attention and learning outcomes. Moreover, the more one works in a garden, the more likely one is to make plant-based food choices, which has positive mental health outcomes too.
“In an age where people are spending increasing amounts of time on screens or isolated,” Nierenberg said, “this is a way where it’s real-world connection building.”
Second grade student surveys reinforce this achievement, Nierenberg said. They reveal a correlation between their desire to be outside and their participation in Each Green Corner.
The organization has hundreds of volunteers and dozens of “work days” every year, including at:
· Arundel Elementary School and Orion Alternative School on the first Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon
· Arroyo Upper Elementary School and Central Middle School on the second Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon
· Redwood High School, Portola Elementary School and the Boys & Girls Club of the Peninsula on the third Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon
· Mariposa Upper Elementary School, Tierra Linda Middle School and Henry Ford Elementary on the fourth Saturday of each month from 9 a.m. to noon
A number of other volunteer opportunities exist as well, including Backyard Harvest events on the second and fourth Saturday of every month, in which residents can donate their excess, home-grown produce. Volunteers may also contribute to Each Green Corner’s Seedling Starter Program, which involves fostering planted flats of seeds until they are seedlings ready to be planted.
At the San Carlos Farmers Market on the second and fourth Sunday of every month, Each Green Corner has a volunteer-run booth to encourage attendees to buy more produce and donate, and vendors to offer the organization their leftover produce, which they then send to the Samaritan House of San Mateo County and/or Second Harvest of Silicon Valley.
Those interested in contributing to Each Green Corner may donate to the nonprofit online, or sign up to volunteer via email.
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