Our Talisay Gardeners Grow Hope

January 22, 2022

Our First Garden of Hope

As early as 2019, NVC was helping small farming communities work towards food security. We called these farmers our Farmers of Hope. We provided them with new farm tools, seeds and simple training. This helped them improve their internal food supply. Much of their food was grown right in the community and they became more self-sufficient.

When the Covid-19 crisis hit, many people in the city lost their jobs and had no way to feed their families. We decided to replicate the Famers of Hope project on a smaller scale in the urban setting. And thus, the Gardens of Hope Project was born. Click here to read more about this.

With the permission of lot owners, our Gardeners of Hope grow vegetables in empty lots. As with our Farmers of Hope, we provide seeds, tools and basic training. The gardeners can grow most of their own food. And they can earn an income by selling the excess produce. We currently have two Gardens of Hope communities.

A Harvest of Hope

Our flagship Garden of Hope is located in Talisay, Negros Occidental. The gardeners grow a variety of vegetables and have already harvested some of their crops. Now, it is much easier for the gardeners to get a nutritious meal on a regular basis. The gardeners have also successfully sold some of their excess produce around the neighborhood.

And they now have an extra source of income: vermicast soil.

Our Second Garden of Hope

And now hope rises anew in another part of town. Growing on the fringes of Helvetia Subdivision, Bacolod City is another Garden of Hope.

Typhoon Odette Aftermath

Typhoon Odette which struck the country at the end of 2021 was not very kind to our Talisay Gardeners of Hope. The storm destroyed an upcoming crop and damaged the mushroom shed. But our gardeners remain hopeful that the future will be bright.