It snowed on us today. In April. In Michigan. And nobody went home.

Thirteen people showed up to the South Warren Community Garden this Sunday to plant the beds. The weather was doing its thing, flurries and all, and the coffee from Tim Hortons didn’t stay hot for long. But every raised bed got planted. Every person got their hands in the dirt. And for a few hours on a Sunday afternoon, in a stretch of Warren that’s spent the last couple of weeks wondering what its future looks like, things felt exactly the way a garden is supposed to feel.

Here’s what happened.

A Full House on a Cold Sunday

I got to the garden shortly after noon with coffee from Tim Hortons for everybody. Jeff and Chloe had beaten me there with donuts from The Daily Dozen at Nine Mile and Schoenherr. By the time I pulled in, there were already no fewer than ten people working the beds. We topped out at 13 for the day.

Thirteen people. In this snowish-rain mix. On a Sunday. I keep coming back to that number because it says something about this neighborhood that’s hard to say any other way.

Lisa and our neighbor, Annie were first on site. Annie had made a sign for the fence – you’ll see it below – and Jeff helped her hang it before the rest of us started showing up. Then the beds got cleared, the sowing plan got drawn up, and everybody found their spot.

Who Did What

Chloe ran point on the sowing master plan with Sam, Annie, Katie, and Lisa. If you’ve ever wondered how a group of people with different gardening backgrounds ends up with a coordinated planting layout in a couple of hours, it’s because somebody like Chloe is quietly making it happen.

Jeff got on the mower. Here’s the thing about our mower: it doesn’t live at the garden. Jeff has to haul it in from home in his pickup truck every single time we need the lawn cut. Every time. He did it anyway, because that’s Jeff. Nick and Tim jumped in on mowing too, and also handled the native beds, which are quietly turning into something special.

Kat was there, lending a hand wherever she could and keeping everyone’s spirits up even while she’s nursing an injury. Pete planted parsley and cauliflower and made a few new friends in the process. Zach came with a seedling tray that looked like it had a small forest in it. By the time we called it, every raised bed was planted with spring crops and ready to go.

All of this in weather that had a high of 51° for the day.

Why the South Warren Community Garden’s Future Is in Limbo

Here’s what you need to know, because you’re going to hear about it more in the coming weeks.

On April 1, 2026, the City of Warren disclosed that the property our garden sits on is in the process of being rezoned. Once that rezoning is complete, the land becomes attractive for redevelopment – specifically, for tri-plex or quadplex housing. Our lease ends in the middle of June. That’s roughly eight weeks from today.

Urban Seed has formally expressed interest in purchasing the property ourselves. That conversation is ongoing. In the meantime, the neighborhood has been organizing, and the response from people who actually live around here has been pretty much unanimous: they don’t want more development. They want the garden.

If you want to weigh in, we’ve set up a feedback form that goes directly to the mayor, city council, and local media. It takes a couple of minutes. The link is urbanseed.info/save-warren.

The Macomb Daily Stopped By

Susan Smiley from the Macomb Daily came out to interview volunteers and neighbors for an upcoming piece. She talked to a lot of us, and to some of the neighbors who walked over when they saw what was happening. No telling yet when the article runs, but we’ll share it on Facebook when it does.

This is the thing about a garden in limbo. The people who love it show up harder. The stories get more specific. Susan picked a good day to visit.

Macomb Community College Was Filming Too

Yosy Marquez from Macomb Community College was also on site, capturing b-roll for a video project her students have been developing about the garden and what it means to the community. The timing wasn’t planned – the project has been in the works for a while – but it landed on one of the most meaningful days we’ve had here.

Whatever they produce, it’s going to be a record of a community showing up for itself in the middle of real uncertainty. I’m grateful they were here for it.

Warren TV’s Going Green also did a spot on the garden last year.

The Neighbors Who Showed Up (and the Ones Walking By)

A group of kids from the neighborhood cut through the property while we were working, did some joking around, and asked if they could help finish mowing the lawn. I love that. They weren’t there for any reason other than the garden was a thing happening on their block and it looked interesting.

A neighbor walked by carrying a bag of laundry he’d just washed. I waved, he waved back, and we ended up having one of those sidewalk conversations that last longer than either person planned. He told me he cuts through the garden property all the time on his way home, and that he’d be happy to come help us plant sometime – even mentioned, with the kind of quiet honesty that stops you in your tracks, that he only has one hand. He also shared that he lives with another veteran who has a harder time getting out of the house, and that he was on laundry duty for both of them.

I offered to let him cut through the property right then, which saves him about a block of walking with that laundry bag. He said yes. Enthusiastically.

This is the part of a community garden that nobody writes into the grant applications. A garden gives kids something to do outside. It lets veterans be seen. It gives neighbors somewhere to meet each other for the first time without any friction. This is the neighborhood I grew up in, and watching it happen organically on a Sunday afternoon is something I’m still processing.

And then there’s Annie’s sign.

100 Doors, 100 Conversations

After we finished planting, a group of volunteers went out with flyers and knocked on 100 doors in the surrounding blocks. The goal was simple: let neighbors know what’s happening, hand them a flyer, and point them toward the feedback form.

Not a single neighbor they spoke with was in favor of losing the garden to development. Not one. Even the folks who’ve never set foot on the property, who don’t garden, who don’t have a personal stake beyond living in the area – they want the garden to stay. A few disabled seniors in the neighborhood were especially concerned, and honestly confused about why a city would want to shut down something that’s working this well.

By the end of the day, three new submissions had come in through the feedback form.

One of them – from a resident who bought her house almost exactly a year ago – told the story of taking her dog for a walk on her first Sunday in the neighborhood, happening to cut one block over, and discovering the garden. She said it’s been welcoming from day one, that it forms a sense of community around here, and that if Warren wants to be looked at differently, we should be making more of these, not fewer.

That’s not a talking point. That’s a neighbor.

Why We Planted Anyway

The lease ends in mid-June. That’s the truth. We have roughly eight weeks of certainty left on the ground we’re standing on.

We planted anyway. Every bed. Spring crops. Like the garden has a decade ahead of it.

Partly that’s stubbornness, and I’ll own that. But mostly it’s because the garden isn’t really about the vegetables. It’s about the kids who walked over to ask if they could help. It’s about the veteran on the sidewalk who got waved at and ended up with a shortcut home. It’s about the new homeowner who found her people on a Sunday dog walk. It’s about Pete making new friends while planting parsley, and Chloe making a plan, and Jeff hauling his own lawnmower across town because the garden doesn’t have one.

The city is asking whether this property is worth more as a garden than as a development.

The Pickle Boys receive cucumbers so they can learn how to make pickles (2025)

How You Can Help Save the South Warren Community Garden

If you want to be part of what happens next, here’s where to start:

• Fill out the feedback form at urbanseed.info/save-warren. It goes to the mayor, city council, and local media. It takes two minutes.
• Come to a Sunday garden party. We’re at 13690 Toepfer Rd. in Warren, every Sunday from 10am to 2pm. No experience required. No sign-up. Just show up. We’ll hand you a shovel or a seed packet, whichever you’re in the mood for.
• Share this post. The more people who know what’s going on, the better.

We don’t know how this story ends. What I can tell you is that on a cold Sunday in April, with snow coming down, 13 people planted a garden like it wasn’t going anywhere. That has to count for something.

Come be part of it.