About

The Og-woi project is about empowerment to enhance our communities by providing access to healthy food. Building community resilience means “feeding” our community in many ways. The Og-woi project concentrates on ensuring that community members not only have access to food but also have opportunities for learning through educational opportunities. The Og-woi has been lovingly maintained by volunteers, and the infrastructure that is supporting the project was created with community resources.

The Og-woi Collective is composed of more than 20 individuals who manage the operation of the Og-woi and is committed to the mission of providing free and accessible food to the community as well as education on urban gardening and food resilience. The volunteers represent a variety of backgrounds and cultures, with decades of expertise, who contribute to the robust planning experience of the Collective. The long-term vision and plan for the Og-woi contains community assets such as raised vegetable garden beds (including wheelchair accessible beds), an outdoor classroom for experiential learning, self-guided educational tours of the orchard, and local artwork.

The Og-woi project aligns well with various aspects of SLC’s food equity recommendations for future success. Those recommendations include exactly some of the dynamics that the Og-woi has been providing to the community since 2020. Of particular note is the inclusion of cultivating food and medicine plants that are culturally relevant to the Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) communities.

Read more at The Og-woi FAQ page.

Sponsor

The Og-woi is a project of Dirt2Table, a program of Blue Sky Institute (BSI). BSI has been an established 501(c)(3) and Utah Corporation since 2001, and its programs directly benefit the residents of the Fairpark Community in Salt Lake City, as well as residents from from other city neighborhoods.

The Dirt2Table program has been in existence for more than 10 years and has a collective of volunteers that plant close to 10,000 vegetable seeds each year that grow into plants which are given away from within the Fairpark Community to individuals (including some of you in this room), families, daycares, and schools, for their gardens, at no cost. This Community Plant Share is partially funded by the Salt Lake City Arts, Culture and Events (ACE) fund.

Memorials

There are two memorials which have captured the hearts of people near and far which the Collective intends to continue maintaining.

Read more about the memorial art and gardens here.

Art in the Garden

Read about the artwork in the garden and the artists behind the murals.

Origins

The Arm in Arm 4 Climate movement called for a nation-wide action of creating gardening in open space owned by the people. Thanks to Arm in Arm 4 Climate issuing this call to action, the collective vision became a reality with many community partners collaborating to make it happen.

The original collective includes:

Arm in Arm 4 Climate Change – www.arminarm4climate.org

Dirt 2 Table (Blue Sky Institute) – www.dirt2table.org

Neighborhood Resiliency Initiative

SLC Revolutionary Collective

Utah Tar Sands Resistance – www.tarsandsresist.org

The project has grown exponentially and is now managed by a wider diverse collective of people representing numerous communities.

#forthepeople #foralllife #disruptivehumanitarianism #climateaction #communityresilience