Detroit gardens: from the Three Sisters to 3,277 plots
DETROIT. Keep Growing Detroit counted 3,277 farms and gardens across the city as of September, continuing a food tradition older than the city itself. Anishinaabe growers planted corn, beans, and squash together, the Three Sisters, long before Detroit existed. About 70% of Detroit households still lack reliable access to healthy food.
The city has leaned on growing through hard times before. Mayor Hazen Pingree put unemployed families on roughly 430 acres of potato patches after the Panic of 1893, feeding up to 1,700 households. Mayor Coleman Young put $50,000 into Farm-A-Lot in 1975, aiming to turn 3,000 vacant lots into gardens.
Keep Growing Detroit, founded in 2013, now runs the modern network. Tepfirah Rushdan became the city's first director of urban agriculture in September 2023. The city legalized backyard chickens, ducks, and honeybees in 2025.
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