Justin Booz '10 focuses on getting local government involved in supporting urban garden project

In the words of its members, the Cooperation Operation is a "network of friends" who have dedicated themselves to the total transformation of this one plot of land, from vacant lot into sustainable agricultural center for the Pullman neighborhood. At the center of this network is Pullman native Justin Booz. After graduating from Grinnell College and living for several months in Zuccotti Park during the height of the Occupy Wall Street movement, Booz pursued "guerilla gardening" tactics—i.e., moving without permission into unused spaces and setting up sustainable agricultural spaces—in Missouri, New Mexico and California.

Now, having returned to Pullman, Booz has focused on getting the local government actively involved in supporting his urban garden project. Second Ward Alderman Robert Fioretti has already voiced his support, as has the Illinois non-profit organization Friends of Pullman, who donated the two boat frame planters. Co-op Op is currently registered as a local non-profit and hopes to receive tax-exempt status as a 501(c) organization. While the group is waiting to receive large-scale donations, the project is primarily being funded out-of-pocket by Booz and the other Co-op members who have raised money through concerts and art galleries exhibiting their own work. As the group starts its Kickstarter campaign this week, they hope to expand their small, fourteen-member community into a neighborhood-wide garden project which will allow anyone able to put in an hour's worth of work to receive free, fresh produce.