Community gardening, and our gardens do not exist in a vacuum - there is a greater society surrounding them, and many competing interests vying for the land under our tomatoes and perennials. Gardening, as I do, in a third of an acre garden in Midtown Manhattan which would be worth between 20 - 50 million dollars to a developer, according to different estimates, I am very aware that the relationships fostered between this mapped, NYC parks garden and the surrounding city are crucial to its survival. A similar process was necessary to keep the Liz Christy Garden from being co-opted by a huge, multi-national developer. And we can only expect this process to become more and more political as more and more Americans get born, and fill up the land....400 Million is the number projected in 20 years. We will have to justify the existence of our community gardens on a regular basis - we cannot hide behind our garden gates...they too can be bulldozed. So in order to community garden, we need to relate that gardening to the greater world of people who don't give a damn that we exist. Land use is always a political process, we have to work very, very hard to justify our existence - someone always wants land to make money on, to build housing on, to park cars on. Gardening is a "dirt under the fingernails," business of course, but more-and-more we will have to use a nail brush to scrub under those nails to deal with the flesh and blood under the fingernails business of the political land use game - a blood sport. Soon to be 400 Million Americans vying for space, some of it our gardens - will we be ready to advocate for our gardens, explain how what we do helps folks who never set food in our gardens? If we can't we're going to lose many of our gardens. Remember, community gardening is 50% gardening and 100% political advocacy. Best wishes, Adam Honigman -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To: dboekelheide at yahoo.com; community_garden at list.communitygarden.org Sent: Sat, 3 Mar 2007 3:57 PM Subject: [Community_garden] (no subject)
Regarding Don's "dirt under the fingernails..." comment. I just read the first of the articles Keith Tidball promoted earlier on this thread. That was some pretty dense reading for somebody who has been out of academia as long as I have. That being said, I think Keith and his co-author come down solidly on the side of gardening and greening that are undertaken for their own sake because people are interested in them. I can't quote directly right now, but my sense was that they see more benefit in (for instance) social capital from real grass roots efforts than from efforts that are initiated by "greening professionals" or government. People spend more time and energy figuring out together how to make things work and how to overcome problems. I hope the second article tells us how folks like us can encourage the process without killing it. I'd just as soon not be out of a job right away. Regardless, it sounds like gardening for its own sake is the best kind of community gardening, but those of us who want to sell it to people who don't get gardening at all have some pretty good ways to put it across. Excellent! By the way, lots of stuff about community gardening in the latest Organic Gardening Magazine. Don is mentioned on every other page, I think. JH Jack N. Hale Executive Director Knox Parks Foundation 75 Laurel Street Hartford, CT 06106 860/951-7694 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org] On Behalf Of Don Boekelheide Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 2:33 PM To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org Subject: [Community_garden] Community gardening benefits Hi, all, This is an important thread, I think. As Adam rightly points out, our lists of community garden benefits depend to some extent on who will be reading them - certainly, it makes sense to ask 'what's in it for my negotiating partner'. All the same, it makes sense to me to hash out our lists, and our visions and mission statements, from time to time. Strangely, business has largely expropriated this process of late, in service of 'success' or 'greater profits'. I stray... I remember how affirming it was ages ago to stumble across the IFOAM definition of 'sustainable agriculture', back in a grad seminar at ag school. I think I still remember it: Ecologically sound, economically viable, socially/culturally/politically just, and humane. It gave me, and still gives me, a sense of solidarity and common cause with sisters and brothers seeking a to make this world a better, fairer and greener place. No doubt the big picture is important, and I appreciate what Keith and Adam suggest - their leads are valuable and thought-provoking. That said, let me put in two bits on behalf of plain ol' gardening, as opposed to 'greening' or 'civic ecology'. Not that either of these broadly defined areas aren't of great value - they are, absolutely! And certainly the Witmore Study appears to be uncovering some very interesting and plausible correlations between community gardens and dropping neighborhood crime rates. But I feel these are secondary considerations in community gardening. For me, community gardening at its roots is about something simpler, deeper, and more direct than any derivative effects it might have. Community gardens provide a place for everyone to garden, a place for all to get outside, dig in the soil, and grow stuff. That dirt-under-the-fingernails fundamental transcends the vast superstructure of appealing visions and grant-worthy outcomes that the community garden movement supports. Does this change the axiom that 'in community gardening, community comes first'? Not at all. However, I've observed that the most enduring and satisfying garden-inspired changes in communities come from rough hewn progress made from the grassroots up, by gardeners growing things and working together side-by-side. So, by all means, do urban ecology! Be a community greener! Come up with a creative new sobriquet to name what it is we do, to better inform ourselves, funders and foundations that community gardening is not "simply" community gardening, but countless other valuable things as well. At the same time, let's never forget the simple gardens at the heart of what we do. Don Boekelheide Charlotte, NC _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. 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