Harvesting Our Rows for the Hungry

Animal's Garden, in the University Area, brought a bounty of fresh food to Clintonville Resource Center this past week. (Note: the above picture is of people harvesting in the Weinland Park Community Garden, not Animal's Garden.)

Here's the report from our Community Plot, Laura Anglim:

"I was able to harvest a really nice donation this morning which was gratefully accepted at the Clintonville Community Resource Center! I brought in radishes, lettuce, mustard greens, spinach, and turnip greens.

Trish was awesome to remind me that the food in the community plots is also meant to help feed us the gardeners so please don't be shy and when you stop by harvest a helping for yourself, family & friends."

I hope many of you are also having success in feeding yourselves and others as the harvesting season is unfolding ;)

Peace,
Lauren

Did you hear our Open Line PowerHour?

I just listened to the Open Line about "community gardening in Central Ohio…and access to locally grown food, with Franklin Park Conservatory “Growing to Green” Coordinator Bill Dawson, Local Matters Senior Manager Trisha Dehnbostel, and New Harvest Café owner Kwodo Ababio."

Did you want to hear it to?
Check it out. http://www.wosu.org/radio/radio-local-programs/radio-open-line/

The Good, the bad and the beauty in Community Gardening

Wow, I want to give a shout out to Amy P, my co-blogger and give her praise for her other blog, http://sycamorehillscommunitygarden.blogspot.com/. I asked her about it the other day and she said, "I wanted to make the blog so that people would know how to start a garden and learn about the entire process. I want for the process to be transparent." On her blog it also says, "My goal with the blog: to show the good, the bad, and the beautiful about my experience with starting and participating in a community garden." I think the blog (along with this one of course!) are invaluable. I love the brochure!
When you are creating a community garden....It is OH SO MUCH MORE THAN GARDENING! I have never seen community gardening as primarily growing plants and flowers. It is about planning and working within a group of other people. I believe it is a microcosm of our family life, community and world. There have been times that I have said, "I hate community gardening." The same issues that are a part of our larger society play out in the garden too: Not knowing how to be part of a team, controlling others, perfectionism, lack of delegation, not knowing how to trust others, sexism, racism, classism...all of the ism's, fear of failure, over committing....the list goes on. I have considered not having it be a part of my life a few times over the years, but something always brings me back. Connection with people in my neighborhood. Working with a raw piece of urban land. Planning a project from nothing and watching it grow...with our without me or all of us, community gardens once sustainable have a life of their own. They become what we all put into them and there are moments that have been powerful, trans formative and insightful...not only about myself, but nature, people in groups, our city and how we all connect. It has truly been beautiful. You can't get there without planning, amending the soil, writing grants, making a plan for water...creating a sustainable foundation for the garden to flourish into something magical.
Amy is very organized and that is something I truly admire about her. Her blog addresses the planning, community resources, her feelings about not getting a grant and all of the steps to make your garden sustainable. These aspects are often over looked and many gardens die, due to lack of sustainability.
Community Gardening is not simple. It requires a great deal of planning, but even more than that, it requires that you trust others and become part of a larger whole.

"The People's Garden" breaking ground in D.C.

Last week, Secretary Vilsack offered a small and symbolic, yet potentially important, first initiative. He put on a hard hat, took a jackhammer in hand, and broke through the pavement on a small patch of land adjacent to the headquarters of the Department of Agriculture, in Washington, D.C., and announced the creation of the first USDA “People’s Garden.”

“President Obama has expressed his commitment to responsible stewardship of our land, water, and other natural resources.” Vilsack announced in a press statement. “And one way of restoring the land to its natural condition is what we are doing here today—‘breaking pavement for the People’s Garden.” ....read more by clicking on the title

"Incredible Edible Todmorden"

What happens when two women in a small town realise that vegetables could be planted in the flowerbeds of the local parks and along the edges of the town's cemetery. A revolution, of a planting kind, is born. That's what happened in Todmorden, in Yorkshire. The women started planting rhubarb and chard and other vegetables in municipal tubs by the bus stop, on the railway platform, at the school, in the cemetery, outside the doctors' office. Their goal was to inspire others to start growing vegetables wherever they could: in their own back gardens, on balconies, outside their offices... read more

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2009/01/incredible-edible--todmorden.php