[Community_garden] (no subject)

[Jack Hale]

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: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
[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

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