Before locavorism became fashionable for those rich enough to choose their foods, it was the default position of the poor. In 1932, property owners all over Ypsilanti responded to an appeal by local social worker Inez Graves and donated vacant lots for community food gardens.

Conditions were desperate. The American Legion bought surplus Army uniforms to give to the poor for everyday clothing. The city accepted tons of government flour—several times. Ypsilanti also allowed the cutting of trees by unemployed men “who can burn wood in their home stoves,” noted the Ypsilanti Daily Press.

As city trees came down, tomatoes, peppers, and beans were coming up. Ypsilanti land owners responded to the Press’s call for tillable ground, but demand outstripped supply. “Calls for Garden Plots Exceed Number Listed,” noted an April 1, 1932 Ypsilanti Daily Press headline. The paper asked for more lots within the city limits, since many families didn’t have a car.

Five days later the Press repeated, “More Lots for Gardens Needed to Meet Demand,” though over a hundred lots were already being tilled. “Guy Comstock has listed lot 165, Ainsworth Park, and Mrs. Philip Santure, 413 Ferris St., has three lots on Miles St., next to Wolf’s which are available.”

As the new sprouts poked up on the plots, the police issued a stern warning “that owners of chickens must keep them confined, or face possible arrest and conviction on charges of maintaining a nuisance,” according to the April 7, 1932 Press. The paper quoted Officer Ernest Maddux. “Gardens and bulbs are beginning to come up, and chickens are doing damage. Several people have been warned, but if the warning is not heeded, action will follow.”

Throughout that April, property owners continued to donate lots, and demand continued to exceed available land. The sight of city plows plowing vacant lots and residents hoeing and planting them became commonplace. Need grew so great that at least one resident offered her own backyard: “Mrs. M. J. Davis, 710 W. Michigan Ave., has offered the use of the lot at the rear of her home,” said the April 11, 1932 Press. The civic spirit evident in such generosity reappeared in the fall, when groups all over town volunteered help to can produce. Church, school, and neighborhood groups canned bushels of fruits and vegetables, and crushed a large crop of sorghum for a sugar substitute. The sorghum had been grown in the schoolyard of Harriet School (now Perry Child Development Center).

Hundreds of Ypsilantians opened jars of peaches, beans, and tomatoes well into the winter. For some people, on some nights, it was the only bowl of food on the table.

Many families had shortages in Depression-era Ypsilanti. But as the gardening effort showed, one thing the town didn’t lack was generosity among neighbors.