Help Yourself! Planting the commons, growing community:
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Help Yourself! is a non profit that plants orchards and gardens in public places in the Pioneer Valley of western MA. Maintained by volunteers from the community, all the food is free for anyone to harvest. We work to inspire interest and excitement about perennial agriculture, food access and land use, while forging connections between our communities and the land we are a part of.
Wealth means health and strength of the land and community. We transform ignored and abused spaces into delicious, nutritious, and abundant forest gardens! Hardy, native fruit and nut trees and bushes replace grass and gravel - as old neighbors returning to our shared human habitat. Our projects create opportunities to interact meaningfully with the commons we share, our workshops empower folks with practical knowledge, and volunteering brings the community together to restore abundance to the land. |
If you're reading this, you probably own a computer, which means you can probably afford to donate 10-20$, right now, to plant a public fruit tree that will outlive your grandchildren!
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Public access gardens & orchards:
All plantings are public-access, and free for all to harvest from. Our projects focus on Northampton, Holyoke and Greenfield and other communities around the Pioneer Valley. We plant at public schools,
community gardens, community centers and organizations, parking lots, bike paths, businesses' and home-owners lawns,
parks and conservation land.
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Getting involved:
HYS is entirely volunteer and donation powered. There are many
ways to support our work and to volunteer: Donate funds, help during
work days, design work, finding new places to plant, fund-raising, do tree maintenance, starting seeds, and leading plant walks.
- Join our mailing list for monthly updates and announcements, the list-serve for discussion and visit the volunteer and donating pages
Featured projects:
The Manhan Rail Trail and Nagle Walkway, Northampton:
In 2013, we began a planting project to transform the Manhan Rail Trail connecter in Northampton with edibles, free for bike commuters and pedestrians to harvest from. To date we've planted 175 Concord grapes, roses, a dozen berry bushes, 6 raised veggie beds, and a dozen fruit trees, from Pleasant st. to Veteran's Field. In the Maplewood shops parking lot, we carved out 'Frogtown', changing a bare grass and gravel traffic island into a 'no-mow' area for pollinator habitat and PYO herb gardens, 3 potted fig trees and a bench, as well as a mural under the Rt. 10 bridge. Now we're working to extend to the Brewery parking lot, Union Station, and towards Easthampton.
In 2013, we began a planting project to transform the Manhan Rail Trail connecter in Northampton with edibles, free for bike commuters and pedestrians to harvest from. To date we've planted 175 Concord grapes, roses, a dozen berry bushes, 6 raised veggie beds, and a dozen fruit trees, from Pleasant st. to Veteran's Field. In the Maplewood shops parking lot, we carved out 'Frogtown', changing a bare grass and gravel traffic island into a 'no-mow' area for pollinator habitat and PYO herb gardens, 3 potted fig trees and a bench, as well as a mural under the Rt. 10 bridge. Now we're working to extend to the Brewery parking lot, Union Station, and towards Easthampton.
Hampshire Council of Governments - Courthouse lawn, Northampton
With encouragement and support from Todd Ford, executive directory of the HCG, we've planted the first phase of a 3 year planting project at the courthouse lawn in downtown Northampton: A perimeter hedgerow of native berry bushes and fruit trees, forest floor wildflowers and herbs sprawling beneath existing shade trees and around the building itself, and a few fruit trees staking out the sunnier parts of the lawn for good measure.
Mini-orchards at Public K-12 Schools:
To date Help Yourself has planted 88 fruit trees and 180+ fruiting bushes and vines with students at 20 different public K-12 schools across the Valley. We hope to expand plantings of herbs and flowers beneath them to form small forest gardens. These plantings offer hands on, outdoors educational opportunities for students, create conditions where teachers and volunteers are supported in their ability to bring permaculture, and community lessons to the classroom, and create connections between school communities and the land.
To date Help Yourself has planted 88 fruit trees and 180+ fruiting bushes and vines with students at 20 different public K-12 schools across the Valley. We hope to expand plantings of herbs and flowers beneath them to form small forest gardens. These plantings offer hands on, outdoors educational opportunities for students, create conditions where teachers and volunteers are supported in their ability to bring permaculture, and community lessons to the classroom, and create connections between school communities and the land.
Free food in public spaces! Imagine:
- Free to use and harvest raised vegetable beds and planters around town
- Beans, grapes, roses and kiwis climbing along fences and railings
- Edible hedges of plums, currants, blueberries and hazels along sidewalks
- Fruit and nut trees that shower communities with real wealth for generations
- Mini wildflower and cover crop meadows that attract pollinating insects, reduce garden pests, and eliminate the need to mow!
- Community herb and medicine gardens with informative signs, volunteer led walks, and visiting school groups...
- What if the plantings were accompanied by informative signage, attracting attention to the project and informing folks about what types of plants are now growing and how they can be used?
- What if the whole community got behind this effort, and began to tackle issues of food accessibility and security in a serious way?
- How would this change the landscapes we live in, and transform our human habitat, and our relationship to it? How would this change our communities, and ourselves?
