A Network for Ecology campaign
Growing Eden
Grow food. Nurture life. Share abundance.
Imagine nourishing food growing throughout the places we live: edible gardens around homes and schools, fruit and nut trees in neighborhoods, and food forests cared for by communities.
Explore food forests, permaculture, organic gardening, perennial food plants, and the people bringing this world to life. Find your place in a more abundant future.
Explore the possibilitiesMeet the initiativesHelp it growIllustrative garden photograph; not a documented NFE project or a photograph of a featured initiative.
Our vision
Food is sacred.
We believe food deserves care in how it is grown, shared, and received. Our dream is a world where more people can take part in the earth’s abundance, with the knowledge, opportunity, and support to help it flourish.
Growing Eden is an invitation to explore that possibility together. We want to encourage ecological care, thoughtful alternatives to pesticide-dependent growing, and stronger connections between people and the places their food comes from.
Our image of Eden is a garden of nourishment, beauty, and belonging. People of every background and belief are welcome. This is a direction to grow toward, not a promise that one method or project can solve every food-system challenge.
A world to discover
Many ways to grow. Many ways to begin.
Food forests & permaculture
Explore ideas, growing places, and lessons from people working toward living landscapes that nourish their communities.
Begin exploring →Organic gardens & perennial foods
Follow our developing coverage of gardens, soil care, fruit and nut trees, perennial vegetables, and practical ways to grow food where you live.
Follow the learning journey →People & community initiatives
Discover the growers, educators, organizations, and neighbors behind this work. Learn from their experience and find appropriate ways to help.
Meet the initiatives →A starting collection
You should not have to begin from scratch.
Start with the resources below. Our collection will grow as we research further topics, organizations, and learning opportunities.
Explore food forests.
Browse the Community Food Forests resource collection. Check dates and local relevance before relying on older listings.
Explore food-forest resources →Learn about orchard care.
Explore Philadelphia Orchard Project’s resource library and education pages, and seek advice suited to your region and site.
Browse POP’s resources →Explore orchard assistance.
Read the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation’s application information. Confirm current eligibility, location, responsibilities, and availability directly.
Review FTPF’s information →These are independent resources, not a comprehensive library or a promise of assistance. Inclusion does not imply partnership or endorsement of every recommendation. Use qualified local advice for site assessment, plant selection, food safety, and regulatory questions.
Help existing work flourish
Meet the people bringing the vision to life.
Learning is one part of this campaign. The other is helping worthwhile initiatives become better known and better supported. We begin with these organizations and invite suggestions for future coverage.
Fruit Tree Planting Foundation
Explore its fruit-tree planting mission and official programs, learning opportunities, and ways to support its work.
Discover FTPF →Philadelphia Orchard Project
Explore its Philadelphia community-orchard work, educational resources, and published stories. Consider what others can learn without assuming the same services are available everywhere.
Discover POP →Who should we feature next?
Introduce a food forest, organic garden, educator, grower, or community initiative. Tell us who is involved, what others could learn, and what support would help.
Suggest a story or initiative →Featured organizations remain independent. These listings are not announcements of formal partnerships, endorsements, or NFE field reporting.
Find your place in a more nourishing world.
Learn something new.
Start with an idea, a growing place, or a resource that interests you. You do not need to begin with land or a project.
Find a starting resource →Grow where you are.
Explore a manageable next step for your home, school, congregation, or neighborhood. For shared spaces, begin with the people involved, land permission, local advice, and a plan for continuing care.
Consider the first questions →Strengthen what exists.
Visit an initiative’s official channels to learn whether it needs volunteers, donations, skills, or another kind of help. Ask before offering supplies or arranging a group visit.
Explore featured initiatives →Let the dream take root in care.
If you are considering a shared growing place, use these questions to begin a conversation—not as a substitute for a site-specific plan.
People, purpose, and permission
Who wants this project? Who should shape it? Who controls the land, what permissions are needed, and how long could it remain available?
A place and a plan that fit
Who can assess the soil, water, site history, and growing conditions? What scope can your group realistically support, with locally appropriate advice?
Care beyond planting day
Who will coordinate ongoing care? What will it cost? Who provides backup, and how will new people learn to take part?
Sharing and learning together
How will harvest and access decisions be made? How will you review workload, participation, and what needs to change?
Stories with roots
Learn from the work behind the harvest.
Our aim is to feature the possibilities and the continuing care: what people tried, what proved difficult, what they learned, and how others can help.
Begin with POP’s published Learning Orchard season story and its volunteer profile of Eldredge Ragsdale. These are dated accounts from POP, not NFE interviews.
Introduce a storyHelp this world grow.
Support an initiative directly.
If you want to support a featured organization’s practical work, use its official donation or participation channels.
Meet the initiativesSupport Growing Eden.
Help NFE develop research, stories, learning resources, and outreach. Gifts to NFE support NFE’s work; they are not automatically passed to featured organizations or spent on planting.
Support NFEBring your knowledge or connections.
Share a resource, introduce an initiative, offer a relevant skill, or discuss supporting the campaign as an individual or business. A donation is not required to participate.
Get in touchA more abundant world begins with participation.
Learn. Grow. Share. Support the people doing the work. There is more than one way to help a garden of nourishment and belonging take root.
Follow Growing EdenOur role and transparency
Growing Eden is an independent Network for Ecology campaign in development, previously called Growing a Shared Harvest. We bring together stories, education, resources, and outreach. Formal partnerships will be identified only when agreed.
This campaign does not announce NFE planting services, technical consultancy, grantmaking, or completed growing projects. We do not claim planting, harvest, funding, or ecological results that have not been documented. Donations to NFE and direct gifts to featured organizations are separate choices.
Our coverage and resource collection are developing. A listing is not a guarantee of current services, acceptance, or suitability. We seek permission before publishing private details, interviews, or original photographs.