Community Gardens Growing Community

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Bob Ewing - The freshest food you can eat is food that you have harvested yourself. The closer the food is located to your kitchen, the fresher it is. A front or back yard food garden is the
best guarantee that the food consumed is as fresh as it gets.

However, not everyone has a yard in which to grow the fruits, herbs and vegetables they enjoy. Fortunately, space of your own is not required to grow you own. A community garden provides the opportunity to obtain that freshest of food, the food you harvest from a plot you tended, and then transported a few short blocks to home.

When I help start a community garden in Thunder Bay, my first thoughts were on the extra food I could grow. As the summer days passed I began to understand there was much more growing in that garden than food.

First, the site was located on the edge of a green space and was surrounded by trees, as well as serviceberry and raspberry bushes. There were fruits to eat that we did not even have to grow. The free food and the view added value to the time spent walking to and from the garden. A small bench was built at the back of the plots, and I often found myself sitting there just listening and watching the birds, and a myriad of creatures scurrying about the garden, all helping it grow.

Second and perhaps, the most important benefit the gardeners derived from the site was the friendships that grew along with the plants. On the first day, we all gathered to prepare the garden and clear the site, as well as divide it into the 12 plots. The second weekend we held a seed swap and a short lesson on organic gardening which I offered. The expertise of the gardeners varied from novice to seasoned pro and the exchange was lively. Halfway through the season we met again to have a picnic and talk about our plots.

In addition to these formal gatherings, we met each other in the garden and always had time to chat, usually about the garden but now and then about other issues. Our conversations spread beyond the garden, and on walks through the neighborhood, we would stop and have a short chat on the sidewalk and or wave from the car as we passed by. The neighbourhood became friendlier and felt safer as people who were once strangers, and who we may have passed without so much as a nod, now either stopped to talk or waved.

Over the three years we were a part of the Regent Street Community Garden we experienced the growth of a community, a community of interest, based in the community garden, but one that stretched into the neighbouring streets as well.

Community gardens properly tended not only provide fresh foods but good neighbours and even friends.

The Community Garden

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Bob Ewing - It is not necessary to have a back or front yard and be able to grow your own food. Apartment dwellers and others who live where they have no direct access to a yard can grow fruit, herbs, flowers and vegetables. Space is necessary but that space does not have to be private property. It can be communally owned, shared or rented space. If you are curious about how this can be done, well, it involves cooperation and sharing.

A community garden is a shared space where a group of gardeners, how many depends upon the size of the land, come together to grow what they want. The group decides how the garden will operate, will it be an organic site, for example; it also develops a contract that each gardener signs. The contract lists the responsibilities the gardeners agree to and the terms each plot must follow, such as not letting your plot get overrun with weeds as this impacts other gardeners.

Land, suitable for a community garden site,may be available from the municipality or a vacant lot could be rented for at least a five year term from the property owner.

When I was in Thunder Bay, the city made land available for community gardens for a small yearly fee.

Some things to consider when planning a community garden, one, water, where will the water you need come from? Is there a source on site, can you set up a rainwater catchment system? What do you do during dry spells and droughts?

Gardeners need tools; will they bring their own; can they store them on site ? In Saint John, the community garden I belonged to had a storage shed on site and each gardener had a key and could use the tools there. We also took turns cutting the lawn and in general site maintenance. These chores can be set out in the contract.

If possible, a community garden coordinator can be employed to lend assistance to new gardeners. In Thunder Bay, I held this position for two summers. At the beginning of each gardening session, we all got together to prepare the site for planting and at the end of the season we did the same for fall cleanup. I offered organic gardening classes three times through the season, for no charge.

The community gardens provides an opportunity for people who otherwise may not be able tog row their own to do so, but it also provides another benefit, one worth just as much as the food grown.

Community gardens grow neighbours. They bring people together, people who may never have met or had a conversation, come together over a garden bed. They now have something in common; the garden becomes a common ground where gardening stories and seeds are exchanged. People cooperate out of a mutual interest and when they see each other on the street, no longer walk by, but stop and say hello.

Community gardens grow community and good food.

If you want to garden in community first find out if there is one near you, the public library, community centre or city hall may be able to provide this information. If you want to start one read next week’s column, until then happy gardening.