Simply put, Growing Gardens teaches people how to grow their own food in their own back yards. And that’s part of why I love it, and have been donating my time to it since 2011: the simplicity of the concept. With one simple act (growing your own food in the city), you get healthier people (as they eat better and exercise tending their gardens), a healthier planet (because food doesn’t have to be transported from far away, you get less pollution and dependence on fossil-fuel), and healthier communities (independence, self-reliance, and pride in bringing food up out of the earth). That’s a lot of bang for your buck.

I started donating design and production of their annual reports but quickly expanding my role into communications and brand strategy, focusing and refining how they talk about what they do and why it matters. That effort culminated in this “seed packet” I wrote and designed (and for which I shot the cover image), built around this simple proposition:

“The more people plant seeds for food in their own back yards, the healthier they, their communities, and our planet will be.”

I couldn’t agree more.