Hi, Folks! I'm sorry -- I've been in community gardening for almost 20 years and I've NEVER heard the question:
"what happens if someone gets sick from the vegetables - who's liable?" Mike, you HAVE to have a good quip for this one! This is such a red herring that I'd say that you need to marshal your political resources and go over this idiot's head. Who wants this garden to happen on campus? Whose idea was it? What type of support do you have on campus? It's no big deal for the college to add the community gardens to their own liability policy -- it probably won't add to their insurance bill at all, especially when they are underwriting insurance concerns for high-impact athletics like football, basketball and volleyball (the 3 sports with the highest numbers of concussion injuries, which I learned the hard way by playing intramural volleyball -- I had an awesome serve in my youth!) So, when liability issues come up, it's always something else. Find out what that something else is. There are other community gardens on campuses, so other folks on the listserv may be able to give you some more "nuts and bolts" advice. My own alma mater, Ursinus College, started such a garden in 2006. Here is the article: http://www.collegenews.org/x4344.xml Go to the website and make some calls -- it's a small college and they will be happy to find you the right person to get the "nuts and bolts" advice that you need. Dorene Pasekoff, Coordinator St. John's United Church of Christ Organic Community Garden and Labyrinth A mission of St. John's United Church of Christ, 315 Gay Street, Phoenixville, PA 19460 -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Lizie, Arthur Sent: Thursday, September 11, 2008 10:17 AM To: [email protected] Subject: [Community_garden] Liability Issues on Public Land Hi, I am planning on starting two community gardens on campus (we're a public college). I am working on this through our Sustainability center and, honestly, have no experience in this arena. So, I have two concerns/questions that I'd like to throw out to the group for public or off-list discussion. First, if you've started a garden on public land, how have you dealt with liability issues? A person in the school paid to say no has given me a laundry list of concerns, including "what happens if someone gets sick from the vegetables - who's liable?" While we can control for that to a degree through gardening techniques, the concern, or at least the perception of concern is there. Any ideas? Second, I have an opportunity to get five acres of farm land for a community garden / sustainability display center. I'm in the midst of writing the proposal for the land, but if anyone else has had a similar situation or has some innovative ideas about how this land can be used for education purposes, including civic engagement, I'd love to hear them. I realize these questions are shots-in-the-dark, but I'm scrambling. Forgive a newbie. Arthur Arthur Lizie, Ph.D. Associate Professor Communication Studies Maxwell 215J Bridgewater State College Bridgewater, MA 02325 508-531-2170 :: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygar den.org/attachments/20080911/cc98e9c2/attachment.html _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.commu nitygarden.org _______________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [email protected] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
