Community Gardens

Source: julianmeade cc photograph of Tricycle Community Garden

I apologize for the delay, community gardens are so varied, I wasn't sure if what I was writing was a fair portrayal of the subject. But this is the world wide web, and what's so unusual about that?

So what's up with community Gardens? The concept is simple, a piece of open space in an urban area is used by community members as a place to garden. Generally people get their own plots from less than the size of a sheet of plywood to more than the size of a Ford Expedition. Some gardens have membership fees, some have volunteer work to remain in good standing, many have both.

When you join a community garden, you can plant fruits vegetables and flowers in your plot and must tend it to see your plants thrive. There isn't enough space to get all of your produce from your plot, but in high summer you may be able to get a lot.

The American Community Gardening Association has an incomplete list of gardens that can be searched by garden name or zip code. There aren't any gardens listed for where my parents live, but there are a whole lot listed in New York, as well as near Beverly Hills 90210. So you can try your luck with that database, or just look around in your neighborhood.

Hungry?

In the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle Barbara Kingsolver calls February "the hungry month." While you are contemplating your hunger, why not think to this summer when foods will be growing in your garden and can be easily harvested.

What? You don't have a garden? Not enough room? You live in an apartment! I do too. Katie and I have tried to grow some plants in our windows, but they all face north and plants never thrive. But we do want to eat foods fresh from our garden or farm anyway. If only there were a way to have some direct stake in the land and the bounty that came from it without owning land.

Actually there are two ways. Community Supported Agriculture(CSA)/farm shares are one and another is the community garden. Both allow you to enjoy the bounty of the harvest at a more personal level, but each has its own strengths.

CSAs are a way for you and me to connect directly to a farm where our produce is grown and directly support the farmers that grow it. There are three reasons that this is important. Financially: food you buy in the supermarket gives very little of every dollar you spend to the farmers who grew it. See the USDA infographic below.
Source: www.prairiepublic.org USDA infographic

Your money can go farther too. You pay for part or all of your share before the food comes to the market so the farmer has money to pay expenses without relying on credit or loans. For your part, the food is often but not always cheaper than if you bought the equivalent food at a supermarket. The Environmental benefits are even better. Many farms that participate in CSAs use organic or Integrated Pest Managaement practices. And by the very nature of a CSA, the farm that supplies your food has to be a close drive to your pickup location. The final reason that CSAs are good is, for lack of a better word, spiritually. You know where your food was grown. You know the farmer who grew it. And you are sharing in the bounty of the harvest, a tradition as old as agriculture itself.

You can find a local CSA by going to www.localharvest.org and entering your zip code.

Tomorrow I will tell you about community gardens.