Kansas City Gardening for Africa

Grant and Paige Shadden - 2005

Grant and Paige Shadden are a sweet, young Kansas City couple who want to grow their own, healthy vegetables, in their own back yard. It sounds unremarkable.

But Grant and Paige know the value and power of organic vegetable gardening and they are doing something unusual. They are gardening in Kansas City for Africa.

Brookside, Kansas City, MO, 2010

I met with Grant and Paige Shadden at their modest Kansas City home, in the area known as Brookside, a part of Kansas City where residents are already known to be supportive of local businesses and organic eating ideals. It’s an area of smaller, less-groomed lawns, and good-sized, if slightly unkempt back yards. And Grant and Paige seem to fit there naturally, except that part of them doesn’t.

Square Foot Gardeners in an Urban Eden

Grant and Paige Shadden with Mel Bartholomew and Square Foot Gardening, 2009

Grant and Paige are Square Foot Gardeners. They didn’t just read the book, they trained at the Square Foot Gardening Foundation in Utah under the tutelage of Mel Bartholomew. And they are full of enthusiasm for fresh food, and growing it.

Grant and Paige are the owners of Urban Eden KC, an eco-focused local Kansas City gardening business. They’re ready to spread the knowledge of square foot gardening through coaching, and they’re also offering eco-friendly lawn care, with a push reel mower and an energy star, electric trimmer and blower. But that’s not all.

Vegetable Gardening For Africa

Grant and Paige have left part of their hearts in Africa, where they were house-parents at a Sierra Leone orphanage during the winter of 2006/2007. As Paige shared with me about one boy, John Sesay, who walked 3 miles to school on a crippled leg with no discernible muscle, her eyes filled with tears. She told me how John was smiling all the way home, because he  had been at school and he loved learning so much.

I heard how aid sent to Africa often doesn’t reach the people it’s for. What good is food for undernourished children when it’s siphoned off before it gets to the kids? Yet there is soil in Africa, space around schools and communities where food can be grown, when basic tools, seeds, and know-how are available.

A Vegetable Gardening Mission

Grant and Paige Shadden in Fall

Grant and Paige have made it their mission to take vegetable gardening to Africa. They are planting tomatoes and squash in Kansas City to earn the money to return to Africa.

They are teaching Square Foot Gardening on two continents. And they are changing the world for the people they touch, one raised bed garden at at time.

I leave you with a quote from the blog of Grant and Paige Shadden, “This is what we wish we could do full-time… empower neighborhoods and whole communities to grow their own sustainable gardens and set them up for success!”

How do you share your gardening? Is there something you’d like to do that you’ve not managed yet?

Square Foot Gardening, written by Mel Bartholomew, an engineer turned gardener, is currently (April 2010) ranked #67 in Amazon.com Best Selling Books list. Get all the inspiration you need for your own garden adventures, subscribe to Loving Nature’s Garden by e-mail – don’t miss a thing.

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2. Best Raised Bed Gardening Books at Amazon.com
3. What do people eat in Kansas?