What is Food Not Blight

Mount Rainier, Maryland is a beautiful, diverse little town full of wonderful people. We share a border with Washington, DC and our main drag, Rhode Island Ave, is one of the gateways to DC. In fact, the Rhode Island Ave corridor is known as the Gateway Arts District and is home to a number of art galleries, art studios, and artists themselves. We have a terrific food co-op called Glut and the best ice cream shop around, Island Style.

But we have our problems too. Like many older suburbs, Mt. Rainier took a bit of a downturn a few years back and there are some lingering issues. One pervasive problem is landowners sitting on blighted property that they don't take care of, won't redevelop, and won't sell either. Sadly a good hunk of our main street in the arts district is tied up by landowners sitting on blighted properties. To add insult to injury, our tax dollars pay for the maintenance and upkeep of these properties - Mt. Rainier public works even has to mow the lawn!

As concerned citizens we said, this must stop. Our first project is Food Not Blight, sponsored by the Mount Rainier Community Garden Association. Our goal is to turn blighted empty lots into beautiful gardens where we can grow food and native plants to share with our neighbors. Food Not Blight aims to unite the community by turning a community eyesore into a community resource. By coming together to make these gardens, we unite as neighbors and stand as a community to tell these absent landlords - no more!

Our first garden is at the corner of 33rd and Perry St. and anyone who wants to plant a plot is welcome. We have some space available right now in raised beds, and more space is on the way as we plan to build more raised beds by reusing waste lumber from a construction site. You are welcome to build your own bed, or contact us and let us know and we can try and get you some wood for a new bed or give you some space in an existing bed.

If you are interested in starting a community garden in your own corner of Mt. Rainier, let us know because we would love to help.

Together we can take back Mt. Rainier!