A community farm that began on a vacant lot
In Kitakagaya, a town that thrived on shipbuilding, vacant lots and vacant houses increased as industry changed. In 2011, as part of the Kitakagaya Creative Village concept, three parties began planning a community farm: Chishima Tochi Co., Ltd., the landowner; studio-L, a community design firm; and the nonprofit Co.to.hana. In July 2012, "Minna no Uen Kitakagaya" opened on about 150 m² of former housing land with about 15 members. In 2013, a second farm of about 500 m² was born on a former public bathhouse site, and in 2014 it shifted to self-run operation by its participants.
The person who has led this farm since its founding is our Representative Director, Yasutaka Kaneda. He established Good Luck (General Incorporated Association) in 2018 and took over the program in 2019.
A farm grows more than vegetables
Plots are 2 to 8 m². We use no pesticides or chemical fertilizers. Most users are beginners, and they start growing with tips from their neighbors on the next plot. People bring their harvest and gather around the table in a kitchen renovated from an old house. They bake pizza in a stone oven. From age 5 to 80, people of different generations and occupations find that they are calling one another by name.
A vacant lot changes from "something missing in the city" into "open space we grow together." For 14 years in Kitakagaya, we have watched that change happen.
Food and learning programs
These are experiences from seed to dinner table, made possible because we have both a farm and a kitchen.
- Homemade soy sauce (since 2016): We start the soybeans in spring and press them the following year. Together we make about 120 large bottles (1.8 L) of soy sauce a year.
- Kids' cooking class that starts from seeds (since 2012): Harvest in the field, cook with your own hands, and eat together.
- Children's cafeteria: "Niko Niko Shokudo" (since 2016) and "Minna no Midoricho Children's Cafeteria" (since 2022).
- Stone oven and shared growing area: A shared growing area that is free and needs no registration, plus a monthly event.
Public-benefit work using the farm
A farm is a place to grow vegetables, and also a place where people find their roles. Good Luck carries out public-benefit activities that use the farm as a setting.
- Places for children: Kodomo Publica, the children's cafeteria, the Kids' Field Club
- Places for older adults: A place where people can become "the ones who teach" after retirement
- Work, employment, and employment support for people with disabilities: Creating opportunities to work through farming, processing, and selling
- Projects in partnership with government and public bodies: Turning disaster-prevention open spaces and city-owned land into farms, promoting urban agriculture, creating places in the welfare field
These activities cannot be sustained by business income alone. They are supported by your donations and by collaboration with government and companies.
Making the field city infrastructure
An urban field is more than a place to grow and enjoy vegetables. Welfare, education, health care, disaster preparedness, community building, real estate. Through both soft and hard sides, it can become a hub that connects society. Good Luck aims to put this into practice in society. We map the areas where an urban farm can serve as a medium and a place for practice as the "Urban Farm Mandala."
New sites that open up vacant lots
In July 2026, "Minna no Uen Higashisumiyoshi," about 3,000 m², opened in Higashisumiyoshi Ward, Osaka City. In Tarumi Ward, Kobe, we run "Marutto Garden Asobiba!" on city-owned land under an agreement with Kobe City. Each time we open idle urban land, we work with government, landowners, and residents to find a way of running it that suits that place.
Awards
- Ministry of the Environment Good Life Award, Environment and Food and Agriculture Special Award (Executive Committee Special Award)
- CSO Award 2016, 20th Anniversary Special Award and Osaka Junior Chamber Award
- Osaka Landscape Award 2018, Award of the Chairman of the Commemorative Association for the Japan International Flower and Greenery Exposition
If you want to rent a plot
For plot use at each site of the community farm "Minna no Uen," please see the Minna no Uen website. Good Luck carries out public-benefit activities that use the farm as a setting (children, food and learning, experiments in opening vacant lots, research and recommendations), and these activities are supported by your donations.
