In Harris County—the county in the United States with the highest level of child hunger and home to numerous neighborhoods designated as food deserts—not everyone is allowing despair to dictate the future.
Instead, a growing number of area change agents of all ages have spent the past nine months traveling across Houston on a unique mission: Strengthening urban gardens and expanding access to fresh fruits and vegetables in Black and Brown communities.
The effort is called the Houston Garden Crawl, the brainchild of New York native and Houston transplant Ron McFarlane, affectionately known as the Pied Piper of H-Town urban gardening.
The initiative brings volunteers together to visit different community gardens across the city, where they lend their muscle, sweat, and expertise to improve the spaces and help them produce more food.
From Harlem to Houston
McFarlane’s organization, Harlem River Farms, is a nod to the place where his parents met—Harlem, New York. But while the name reflects his roots, McFarlane’s work is firmly planted in Houston soil.
Through the Garden Crawl, volunteers help urban gardens maximize their ability to produce high-quality fruits and vegetables for surrounding neighborhoods.
Though the initiative travels throughout Houston, the Defender recently caught up with participants working in Third Ward.
“We’ve got a garden crawl right here on Ennis Street,” McFarlane said. “Between the Third Ward Multiservice Center and Blackshear Elementary, people are coming out to volunteer and participate in the gardens. We’ve got gardens that need some attention.”
With spring approaching, volunteers are preparing beds and planting seasonal crops.
“We’re planting tomatoes, peppers,” McFarlane said. “But the first thing we do is get the beds ready.”
The idea for the Garden Crawl was intentionally designed to combine community service and fun.
“In June 2025, we just started going to various gardens and helping them out,” McFarlane said. “So, as opposed to a pub crawl where you’re going out drinking, we’re coming to the gardens to be able to do something very productive, and it’s working out really good.”
The work being done
Participation in the Garden Crawl has steadily grown.
“At any particular time, we might have 50 or 60 people here,” McFarlane said. “Today, I’m guessing we’re probably going to have close to 100.”
The work varies depending on each garden’s needs, but everyone finds a role.
“At the Garden Crawl, you’ll see everybody with their hands in the dirt,” McFarlane said. “From the adults, we’re rebuilding a raised bed that has fallen down. The kids; they’ll be planting seeds. We let everybody get in where they fit in.”
The gardens also offer opportunities to address food insecurity directly in the neighborhoods where it is most prevalent.
At Blackshear Elementary, plans are underway to expand the effort even further.
“That whole backside is going to be a farm that services the students from Cuney Homes,” McFarlane said. “We’ll be able to give them some food, some recipes, take it home to their parents, and who knows where it goes from there.”
Growing food—and community
The most immediate benefit of the Garden Crawl is simple but powerful – food.
“We’re growing vegetables—collards, mustard, spinach—that’s what we do in the fall,” McFarlane said. “Right now, we’re about to put the spring stuff in the ground: peppers, squash, tomatoes, sugar cane.”
But the initiative also builds something equally important: community.
Many volunteers participate through corporate service groups, community organizations, or faith institutions.
Tiye Selby, a volunteer participating through Dow’s Global African Affinity Network, said the effort provides a meaningful way to give back.
“We’re out here just to give back to the community and help out in any way that we can,” Selby said. “Especially in gardens and places like Third Ward, where there’s a food shortage, and we need to have as much healthy food and vegetables for the community as possible.”
For Terrence Hunter, another volunteer, the experience connects directly to the support systems that helped shape his own life.
“This was an activity for the Global African-American Network at my company, Dow Chemicals,” Hunter said. “And I actually do garden work at my church, as well. I understand the value of a community garden in underserved neighborhoods.”
Hunter added that the volunteer work represents an opportunity to repay the generosity he once received.
“I was a recipient of a lot of people in my life in a community that helped raise me,” he said. “So, this is an opportunity to give back.”
Young participants are also learning lessons about environmental stewardship.
“We’re here to help the biosphere and just make a better world,” said Irene, one of the youth volunteers. “The biosphere is like life—helping the animals, people, and plants so they can be healthy.”
Mirna, another youth volunteer, kept her goal simple: “To help out the people in the country and to not litter.”
For McFarlane, the Garden Crawl is not merely about planting vegetables, but also planting possibilities.
“Just come on in and get your hands in the dirt,” he said. “There’s always a good thing going on when you put your hands in the dirt. You never know what your hands will bring back.”
For more information about Harlem River Farms or the Houston Garden Crawl, visit HarlemRiverFarms.org, follow Harlem River Farms on Instagram and Facebook, or call 713-269-7726.
