A regretful gardening decision, a lesson learned many years ago as I participated in the beginnings of a Community Garden in my neighborhood. It was the year I began attending university studying food systems and I knew I had to be apart of this new project. Little did I know how important that experience would be and how much I learned in the process that I can use in my A Rocha role suporting the development of Community Gardens.
Cedar Cottage Community Garden Initial Garden Boxes under the Skytrain Line. Photo Credit: http://www.helladelicious.com/
Aside from the blessings of this experience, where we as the interested community members went through the motions of forming the Garden – What, Who, How, decision making process, garden names, forming a society for insurance, getting permission from the Municipal Transit Company and planning events in the garden, I never rented a garden plot. I thought I was being kind, and have land elsewhere to grow food ( “I have a sunny yard at my parents’ home I can grow food at, and I can give my spot to someone who ‘needs’ it). This was almost 8 years ago, and back then, there was a huge waiting list of people wanting a garden plot of their own all over the city.
What I should have done – rented a Garden Plot and have a greater part in the development of the Community Garden! (The Garden Society had ‘General Memberships’ and also Plot renters). The Garden Plot was not just a piece of land, it also wasn’t comparable to the sunny yard I had access to, it was connected to a team of people devoted to making the site flourish. This was also my chance to deepen connections in my community and work together to make a great Community Garden. In hindsight, I didn’t realize all this as I made my ‘considerate’ decision.
Even though I had my own growing space to use, I wasn’t able to get it ready for growing all by myself. The yard had lots of work to be done – amending the soil, getting more soil, building a raised bed, and managing weeds. So that year and subsequent years to follow I wasn’t able to produce the amount of food that I could have! In later years as the Community Garden flourished, and I dropped off my involvement due to academic priorities. However, nonetheless, I hope in writing this it will encourage you consider the bigger picture when joining a Community Garden the greater impact you’ll have serving your community – something you can’t do alone growing food on your own property.
Expansion of the Cedar Cottage Community Garden. Photo credit: http://www.helladelicious.com/
