Welcome to Norwood Bronx, zip code 10467. The place where the zip code means BIPOC, at-risk youth, families, single parents, and the median household income is $42, 639. There is a supermarket,  bodegas, and a few cultural grocery stores. Our zip code10467 and the violent crime is 71.6. (The US average is 22.7) and property crime is 63.2. (The US average is 35.4) Green spaces in general, in a city, are linked with a lower risk of crime and when people feel safer, it's an opportunity for less anxiety and more time could be spent on their health physically and mentally. 

Our supermarket makes our food choices. They purchase the food they will sell and we buy the food that is available to us. Variety choices are limited. The pantry gives us foods we don't always eat. When fresh greens are given out, many of our BIPOC families don't know what it is or how to cook them for consumption. With the NeighborFood program, we teach the community about the foods grown locally but also provide them the opportunity to grow the food they are familiar with too. 

We are still #62 ranked for being the most unhealthy county.  “#Not62 – The Campaign for A Healthy Bronx” is a call to action to improve the overall health of Bronx residents. Its mission is to address the social and economic environment, health behaviors, clinical care, and the physical environment through collaboration and partnership across multiple sectors in the Bronx. That is what we're doing! We are participating! 

The Keepers House Edible Garden began in 2019 with just 3 planters. It is still needed in this community of Norwood Bronx.  Our "NeighborFood" team learned about food groups, food types, and growing methods by going back to school for food and farming education. Besides garden maintenance and growing food, the program "NeighborFood" was created to connect the public to the garden including donating it to the pantry nearby. The garden and programming came from a grant given by Mosholu Preservation Corporation. Grant finished, the creation of the garden was completed,  and no other funding came through to continue. But our hearts couldn't let it go. We were teaching so many people and school-aged children to grow food, harvest their own and eat something different. 

Our edible garden at the Keepers House is located in the middle of Norwood and behind a very well-used and loved but sometimes challenging playground- Williamsbridge Oval. We are the ONLY edible garden in Norwood that is accessible to the community and open for residents to come and learn about growing food, harvesting, preparing it, and sharing it with neighbors. 

The community has its challenges, its obstacles for offering opportunities, but people residing and working here have big hearts and this garden is needed to express the good in our neighbors. This edible garden is really an outdoor community kitchen for neighbors, and strangers, for making things right with the world. We are doing it because people should be allowed to grow the food they want to eat and share amidst the surrounding activities that keep people from having an opportunity to plant their culture and build memories around them. This garden could also be what prevents our future generation from lack of food. Once you learn how to grow some food with a seed, you are in control of your life! No one can tell you what you have to eat, when you can eat,  and when you can't eat!