Hi, James, In addition to Adam's very helpful suggestions, I'd add a couple more.
My only minor quibble with Adam's list is that it reminds me of those 'maps of the world according to New Yorkers' that hawkers sell to tourists in Times Square, just a few blocks from Adam's garden on Clinton St. You know, the ones that show the Bronx and Brooklyn as huge and leave out most of the rest of the US and the world. Not that that perspective is totally distorted - New York has thousands of community gardens. By comparison, smaller cities, even those with wonderful programs such as Seattle, Portland, Oregon and Minneapolis, are lucky if they have more than 100 each. Anyway, to Adam's list, I'd suggest: 25 Years of Community Gardening (ACGA, 2005), ISBN-13 978-1-59975-411-6. It's a collection of 'best' articles on a veriety of community gardening topics from the American Community Gardening Association magazine between 1980 and 2004. You can get it from ACGA or Amazon (US). The collection is OK, though space limitations meant leaving out some very good articles (including a couple of excellent essays by Adam), so looking for copies of ACGA's Journal of Community Gardening and Community Greening Review are well worth the effort. Of the Jobb book vintage is Mary Lee Coe's Growing With Community Gardening (Countryman Press, Vermont, 1978) ISBN 0-914378-36-8. Her book is less of a 'how to' than Jobb or Larry Sommer's The Community Garden Book (Gardens For All/National Gardening Association, Vermont, 1984), and has better historical notes. I like Patchwork, stories of gardens and community, by Jim Flint and Beret Halverson (Friends of Burlington Gardens, Vermont, 2005) ISBN 0-9713583-3-8, and A Patch of Eden, American's inner-city gardeners, by Patricia Hynes (Chelsea Green, Vermont, 1996) ISBN 0-930031-80-6 for stories from the garden. Good luck! Rumor has it that the upcoming edition of the Community Greening Review will be on community garden research, so you may want to watch for that later this year. Don Boekelheide Charlotte, NC > Message: 1 > Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2007 13:51:05 -0500 > From: adam36055 at aol.com > Subject: [Community_garden] Scholar Inqury > To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org, > NYC-GardensCoalition at yahoogroups.com > Cc: jrconstable44 at yahoo.co.uk > Message-ID: > <8C90ADB131EC417-10A4-764C at mblk-d44.sysops.aol.com> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii" > > Hello, > I am a student at Edinburgh University, Scotland and > am writting my dissertation at the > moment. I am researching community gardens in NYC > and the function that they have within > the community. I was wondering if anyone would mind > me asking them questions about the > topic? > > Thank you in advance, > > James > ******************************************************************** > > Dear James, > > About thirty years ago, there was a visiting scholar > from Edinburgh University, named Jack ( I never > learned his surname) who helped us move rubble in a > few Lower East Side garden sites, and tutored kids > in Math at a local church. If I recall, he was > studying something like macroeconomics at NYU. Who > knows, he might be an academic, a billionaire or a > multi-national arms trader today. > > > However, when we knew him, Jack was a great guy. > Consider this, please, as payback. > > > Best regards, > Adam Honigman > VP DeWitt Clinton Park Conservancy, > Gardener, Clinton Community Garden & Liz Christy > Gardens > > For your dissertation: > > 1) For starters, please feel free to contact Richard > Reynolds of the UK Guerrilla gardeners > -http://www.guerrillagardening.org/. > He did a number of interviews with NYC gardeners, > and while he might be using the stuff for a project > of his, I have no problem with you using the > transcript of the interview I gave him for his > archives - please ask him nicely, and give him > "props" as we say in NYC , in your dissertation. > > > 2) I would strongly suggest that you go to the > website of the American Community Gardening > Association (http://communitygarden.org/) and read > it with care. Please make yourself a strong pot of > tea (or other favorite caffeinated beverage) and > take the trouble to read every single page, to give > you a sense of how community gardening in Canada and > the United States is similar to, but differs, in > subtle ways from the European Allotment programmes. > > For the serious researcher: > > The community garden studies on this link page are > required reading: > > http://communitygarden.org/links.php#Studies > > > 3) Probably the best early book on Boston's > Community Gardens in the early years is by Boston > University's Sam Bass Warner, Jr's. "To Dwell is To > Garden", Boston, Northwestern University Press, > 1987, (ISBN: 1-55553-007-9) > > 4) The best written, one volume treatment of > community gardening remains, > Jobb, J. (1979). The Complete Book of Community > Gardening. New York: > William Morrow and Co. Every time I get the bug to > write one, I just pick > Jobb's book and realize that even after 23 years, > it's hard to beat for > historical context and down to earth, practical > advice. Because this book is > so good, it's usually missing from most public > libraries (i.e., "Steal this > Book!" ) I obtained my copy from Amazon. > > 5) Another fine cg book > > A Handbook of Community Gardening > By Boston Urban Gardeners - Edited By Susan Naimark > Charles Scribner's Sons - New York 1982 > SB457.3.H26 635 81-23302 > > ISBN 0-684-17466-9 AACR2 > > 6) This is the Amazon link to "Grace from the Garden > : Changing the World One Garden at a Time" by Debra > Landwehr Engle which you must read, as it has > in-depth pieces on community gardens and the people > who make them happen from all over the USA. A Rodale > Publication, is in print. > > (http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/1579546854/102-9894196-7707321?v=glance > ) > > 7) Malve von Hassel's "The Struggle for Eden: > Community Gardens in New York" by Malve von Hassell, > Bergin & Garvey; Greenwood Publishing Group. 2002" > which was reviewed in a 2004 issue of "HortIdeas." > Von Hassell's other book, , "Homesteading in NYC, > 1978-1993: The Divided Heart of Loisaida" Bergin & > Garvey 1999 ISBN: 0-89789-651-3 provides a good > cultural background on the lower east side > neighborhood. > > > .You should be able to find both books at a good > University library or the Greenwood Publications > website http://www.greenwood.com , searching under > author. > > 8) Laura Lawson's "City Bountiful: A Century of > Community Gardening in America," University of > California Press, 2005, is an extraordinary overview > of community gardens in North America, and is > available through Amazon: > > http://www.amazon.com/City-Bountiful-Century-Community-Gardening/dp/0520243439/sr=1-4/qid=1169318712/ref=sr_1_4/102-9754614-9756132?ie=UTF8&s=books > > > 9) Some homework for anyone who wants to understand > how we can have 550 community gardens in NYC, on > some of the most overvalued real-estate in the > world. > > a) Here is the website of the NYC Dept of City > Planning ("NYDCP") which has a number of highly > valuable links. You may have to download Adobe > Acrobat to print sections that you want, but that > program is usually available free of charge ( > http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/home.html) > > > b) Here is the Web version of the Zoning Resolution > of the City of New York which includes all text > amendments approved by the City Council up to > September 25, 2002. Please note that there is an > interim period between the date when the City > Council adopts a text or mapping amendment to the > Zoning Resolution and the date that this web site is > updated. These are the "rules of baseball" and it's > best to make yourself a pot of tea and read. If it > makes your eyes glaze over, not to worry, it does > that to $500 an hour real estate attorneys. Low > rent volunteer > http://www.ci.nyc.ny.us/html/dcp/html/subcats/zoning.html > > c) This is Article IX: Special Purpose Districts, > Chapter === message truncated ===
