Overview:

Kitchen Gardeners International (KGI) is a new non-profit network whose mission is to celebrate home-grown, home-prepared foods in their many international forms and to promote their role in building a healthier, tastier, and more sustainable food system.  In doing so, KGI seeks to connect, serve, and expand the global community of people who grow some of their own food.  

History and status:

The idea for Kitchen Gardeners International was planted this spring by Roger Doiron in consultation with an international group of kitchen gardeners who believe that food is central to human well-being and one of the best ways of uniting people of different countries and cultures around a common, positive agenda.  It is registered as a 501(c)(3) public charity and governed by a volunteer board of directors with representatives from the United States and Europe.

What is Kitchen Gardeners International?

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world.  Indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."

-Margaret Mead (1901 - 1978) US anthropologist

Goals:

-To provide a structure, virtual and real, for kitchen gardeners worldwide to: meet up with each other; share their passion for food, cooking, and organic gardening; and further their skills and knowledge in these areas;

-To introduce new generations to the joys and benefits of actively participating in one's food production and preparation;

-To inform KGI's supporters and the general public about the many ways of participating in and contributing to a sustainable food system and planet;

-To help individuals and communities, especially disadvantaged populations, to achieve higher levels of food self-reliance;

-To promote cultural exchange and international understanding via a shared love of kitchen gardening.

Activities:

-Coordination of "International Kitchen Garden Day", an annual decentralized celebration of kitchen gardening, local food, home cooking, and intercultural exchange around these issues.

-Monthly e-mail newsletter with infomation about food policy, recipes, gardening tips and lessons, ideas for promoting organic kitchen gardens and sharing the harvest with others, etc;

-"Real Food for Real People" public awareness campaign designed to get children, youth, and their parents thinking about healthy food choices. This internet-based campaign features a 60-second animated video viewable with Quicktime.

-On-line educational resources concerning organic gardening, composting, cooking, food storage/preservation, seed exchanges, etc;

-Charitable micro-grant program to help communities (especially those in the developing world) achieve greater levels of food self-reliance (starting 2005-2006, contingent on fundraising).

-International educational and networking gatherings where kitchen gardeners could meet up, learn new skills, and share ideas for growing the kitchen garden movement; (starting 2006)

Financing:

-donations, contributions, and grants from individual and institutional donors