[Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens - ecological function

Georgia Silvera gsilvera at berkeley.edu
Mon Mar 5 13:47:48 EST 2007 

I have been following the

Benefits of community gardens (Cynthia Price)

thread with much interest, particularly the on-site, local ecological 
function benefits Cynthia -

--provides the carbon dioxide fixation effects of plant growth;
--diminishes the "heat island" effect in urban areas;
--may capture and reuse stormwater runoff;

Cynthia, please let us know the results of your efforts.
Georgia Silvera




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> Today's Topics:
>
>    1. More on Manor Garden Allotments and Olympic	situation
>       (Sharon Gordon)
>    2. Re: Benefits of community gardens (Cynthia Price)
>    3. on cg benefits (lynng30)
>    4. Re: victory gardens (Lexie Stoia)
>    5. Re: victory gardens (Libby J. Goldstein)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sun, 4 Mar 2007 13:05:41 -0500
> From: "Sharon Gordon" <gordonse at one.net>
> Subject: [Community_garden] More on Manor Garden Allotments and
> 	Olympic	situation
> To: "Community GardenNational"
> 	<community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
> Message-ID: <002001c75e87$b8daee60$6401a8c0 at hsd1.md.comcast.net>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="iso-8859-1"
>
> From: Trish Shuker trish at shuker.co.uk
>
> Dear All
>
> There was a large turn out of people re Manor Garden Allotments this morning
> -
> http://www.lifeisland.org/
>
> Also, a double page article in Saturday's Daily Mail.
>
> There is a meeting this Wednesday in Tottenham - people can also email
> questions to
> peoplesquestions at london.gov.uk
>
> GLA "People's Question Time" Wednesday 7 March 2007 18:30
>
> Opportunity to quiz Ken Livingstone or Assembly members on why the
> allotments are to be sacrificed to some hastily planned, futuristic
> landscaping. Why 'regeneration' seems to mean 'destruction'. Why locally
> produced food and healthy local communities count for nothing in the face of
> glamorous big development projects like the Olympics. Whatever is important
> to you.
> Submit a question to show your concern via online form or email
> peoplesquestions at london.gov.uk
>
> Come along and support us if you can.
>
> Tickets & info
>
> Wednesday 7 March 2007
> The Freedom Hall
> Tottenham Green Leisure Centre
> Philip Lane
> Tottenham
> London N15 4JA
> Time: 7pm to 9pm
>
> Trish
>
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 09:40:25 -0500
> From: "Cynthia Price" <skyprice at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens
> To: adam36055 at aol.com
> Cc: NYC-GardensCoalition at yahoogroups.com,
> 	community_garden at list.communitygarden.org,
> 	richard at guerrillagardening.org
> Message-ID:
> 	<cc1e54b90703050640w78d7838eoe817f925c929881 at mail.gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1; format=flowed
>
> I really appreciate all the time people have taken to point me in the
> direction of further studies and to add items to the list. This list
> is intended to serve as a partial basis for a much shorter bulleted
> talking points paper to be presented to Congress (not local officials)
> for revisions in the Farm Bill. There was no intentionality in the
> order as I sent them out, since I will be boiling these points down
> greatly to make them and other information fit on one page. In
> addition, other people from the Community Food Security Coalition's
> Urban Ag Committee are helping to contribute to the paper, so I'll
> have a lot of reading and condensing to do. A first draft has to be
> written as of today.
>
> I mainly just put it out there to see if there were items omitted (or
> substantial disagreement, which there doesn't appear to be), and I
> intend to incorporate the omitted items which people sent me both on
> and off list. I also do appreciate people' suggestions on what are the
> more telling points (reflected in what they suggested as the
> "lead-offs" and "end points").
>
> So again, thank you all, and please feel free to contact me with other
> points as well which may be incorporated in later drafts. (It has to
> be complete before March 16 since Lobby Day is March 19 and there's
> the Farm to School conference in between.)
>
> Cynthia Price
> Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
>
> On 3/3/07, adam36055 at aol.com <adam36055 at aol.com> wrote:
>   
>> Some friendly suggestions and amendments:
>>
>>  The first place you need to start, Cynthia, when creating a list of this
>> sort, for the eyes of elected officials, governmental managers, the press,
>> corporate and foundation funders is how "our thing," namely community
>> gardening, best serves the municipalities and communites in which they are
>> sited.
>>
>>  It's the old negotiation mindset - you have to think, "what's in it for
>> you," before you think, "what's in it for me."
>>
>>  You know, perfectly well what you want, but you have to know where you can
>> cast your nets, with your list of "benefits of community gardens," to catch
>> the most fish.
>>
>>  The main reason why the ACGA and this listserv is valuable to our
>> coummunity of gardeners is that it helps us to think "beyond our garden
>> gates," to keep us from wasting valuable non-gardening and "people
>> organizing," time on "recreating wheels." With all due respect, there are
>> some extraodinarily good wheels available on the ACGA website that you can
>> attach to your wagon.
>>
>>  1) Please start with David Malakoff's great article, "What Good is
>> Community Greening? Research Supports All Those Common Sense Answers You've
>> Been Using for Years - But There is Still More to Learn:
>>  (http://www.communitygarden.org/whatgood.php). And then think of how you
>> would best edit your list, and "pitch," thinking about "what's in it for
>> you/what's in it for me?).
>>
>>  2) Currently, Gateway Greening's "Whitmire Study,"
>> (http://www.gatewaygreening.org/WhitmireStudy.asp )
>>  is the first, and best study we have of community garden "quantifiables."
>> ACGA Board member, and St. Louis Gateway Greening Director, Ms. Gwenne
>> Hayes-Stewart has been the guiding force behind the creation of this
>> invaluable and rigorous study of the effects of community gardens on their
>> surrounding communities and it would be extremely useful for you, Cynthia,
>> to reach out to Ms. Hayes-Stewart after you have read whatever you can find
>> on-line about the study.
>>
>>  Then you should re-edit your list, again....
>>
>>
>>  My thoughts:
>>
>>  While, I believe that while the food harvested in our urban community
>> gardens is both useful and helpful in augmenting the diets of some urgan
>> gardeners, their families and a few local food pantires, it is not of
>> significant quantity at present to have made a substantial enough
>> contribution in our national fight against hunger to be "lead-off" on your
>> list.
>>
>>  In future years, especially when transportation of fresh foods with fossil
>> fueled tractor trailers becomes prohibitive for agricultural corporations,
>> urban agriculure, and our gardens will become a more important "lead off."
>>
>>  Now, I think, that:
>>  1) stabilizing communities through community gardening,
>>
>>  2)the promotion of block safety through community gardening,
>>
>>  3) the recruitment of urban greening and park volunteers and leaders
>> through community gardening
>>
>>  4) community education in healthy eating, diet, education, and the life
>> sciences (i.e., food grows and you can grow it in this garden), and
>>
>>  5) the creation and nuturing of healthy, self-sustaining, urban greening
>> communities through community gardening, with minimal a minimal outlay of
>> public and private funding
>>
>>  are better "lead offs".
>>
>>
>>  And, with the use of the quantifiables listed in the studies above, would
>> be more use in explaining to elected officials, governmental managers, the
>> media, corprorate and foundation funders, how "our thing," namely community
>> gardening, best serves the municipalities and communities in which they are
>> sited.
>>
>>  And using the "what's in it for you/what's in it for me," strategy getting
>> the seed money, water, and zoning our gardens need to serve our communities.
>>
>>  Best wishes,
>>  Adam Honigman
>>  Hell's Kitchen, NYC
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>  -----Original Message-----
>>  From: skyprice at gmail.com
>>  To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
>>  Sent: Thu, 1 Mar 2007 6:06 PM
>>  Subject: [Community_garden] Benefits of community gardens
>>
>>   On behalf of the Urban Ag Committee of the Community Food Security
>> Coalition (which many ACGA folks like Betsy Johnson, James Kuhns and
>> Rodger Cooley serve on), I would like to ask people to please comment
>> on this list of CG benefits. Greater GR Food Systems Council developed
>> it over the years for a variety of purposes, but obviously there are
>> things that could be added.  I'm also wondering if people think there
>> are items that are wrong or should be stated differently.
>>
>> Please feel free to reply just to me if you'd like. Also, sorry for
>> duplicate postings.
>>
>> Thanks for looking at this!
>>
>> Cynthia Price
>> Chair, Greater Grand Rapids Food Systems Council
>>
>> Benefits of community gardening:
>> --fresh fruits and vegetables taste better, making healthy eating easier;
>> --there is more nutritional value in food that has not come a long
>> distance causing nutrient deterioration;
>> --the short distance of consumer to food eliminates long-distance
>> shipping, with its negative consequences such as global warming gas
>> emissions and continual replacement of road (and other)
>> infrastructure;
>> --generally uses little or no pesticides and builds the soil organically;
>> --provides the carbon dioxide fixation effects of plant growth;
>> --diminishes the "heat island" effect in urban areas;
>> --may capture and reuse stormwater runoff;
>> --is generally more intensive in yield per acre and therefore
>> "consumes" less land;
>> --gives people more control over what goes into their food;
>> --provides an opportunity for exercise and fresh air;
>> --brings people together and builds relationships;
>> --improves mental health thru a variety of factors, including social
>> contact and the sense of accomplishment in growing good food;
>> --provides youth a constructive outlet for their energies;
>> --provides opportunity for small-scale entrepreneurial activity;
>> --promotes local economies, including the non-monetized economy;
>> --creates beauty and tranquility;
>> --may reclaim abandoned spaces;
>> --connects people with nature and the seasons;
>> --connects people with their communities;
>> --is a great education tool for both youth and adults on how nature works;
>> --teaches people how to provide for themselves, increasing homeland
>> security (as well as being less vulnerable to disruption than other
>> aspects of the current food system);
>> --helps create a community presence which may deter crime;
>> --reduces cost of obtaining food;
>> --often reduces hunger due to location in low-income communities;
>> --promotes less dependence on the global/corporate food system with
>> all of its environmental and social harms.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> 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:  community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
>>
>> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:
>> http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org
>>
>> ________________________________________________________________________
>> AOL now offers free email to everyone.  Find out more about what's free from
>> AOL at AOL.com.
>>
>>     
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 06:54:04 -0800 (PST)
> From: lynng30 <lynng30 at yahoo.com>
> Subject: [Community_garden] on cg benefits
> To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Message-ID: <160676.97105.qm at web56114.mail.re3.yahoo.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1
>
> On the economics...
> One benefit that I don't think was mentioned but that
> applies perhaps only to certain cities is the cost of
> maintaining the land.   If gardeners are using
> city-owned land to garden on, city services doesn't
> have to come around to mow, pick up trash or whatever
> they do as regular maintenance. 
>
> In Cleveland - a city suffering from problems of many
> vacant lots - a good number of gardens are on
> city-owned land.  It's useful to quantify how much
> money gardeners are saving city services by
> maintaining lots - there could even be an hourly rate
> applied.  The cost of maintaining vacant lots came up
> at a council hearing some time last year.
>
> -lynn gregor
>
>
>  
> ____________________________________________________________________________________
> TV dinner still cooling? 
> Check out "Tonight's Picks" on Yahoo! TV.
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>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 4
> Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 11:09:23 -0500
> From: "Lexie Stoia" <lstoia at fpconservatory.org>
> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] victory gardens
> To: "lynng30" <lynng30 at yahoo.com>,
> 	<community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
> Message-ID: <KDEFLBIEDCCPGDBDGIODGEOMCFAA.lstoia at fpconservatory.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="us-ascii"
>
> Hi Lynn and others,
> Here in the Grandview Heights suburb (Columbus, Ohio), the Wallace Gardens
> community garden goes back to Victory Garden days and has been gardened
> continuously since then. It is quite popular and has a waiting list.
> There will be a feature on this garden and Victory Gardens in general in the
> May/June issue of "Touch the Soil" magazine.
> Any others out there?
>
> Lexie
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org
> [mailto:community_garden-bounces at list.communitygarden.org]On Behalf Of
> lynng30
> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 5:46 PM
> To: community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Subject: [Community_garden] victory gardens
>
>
> Hello,
>
> Just do a search on-line to get lots of info on
> Victory Gardens.  Liberty Gardens were during WWI.
>
> In response to Tonya in St. Paul:
> I have a hard time believing there are only 2 Victory
> gardens left. Unless, you mean gardened consecutively
> every year since the war/the beginning of the garden?
>
> In Cleveland, I've heard of 2, maybe 3 that were used
> as Victory Gardens.  I don't have official
> documentation on these but, I know at one site, the
> gardeners have collected any history they know about
> the site and say it was used as a V-garden and
> earlier.  Though, I don't think this site was gardened
> consecutively from WWII until today.  The other 2
> gardens have not been recorded officially, really it's
> just be word of mouth, but doesn't mean that it isn't
> the truth because the research just hasn't been done.
>
> Other former-Victory Gardens out there??
>
> Lynn Gregor
>
>
>
> ____________________________________________________________________________
> ________
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> _______________________________________________
> 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:  community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
>
> To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription:
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> nitygarden.org
>
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 5
> Date: Mon, 5 Mar 2007 11:17:36 -0500
> From: Libby J. Goldstein <libby at igc.org>
> Subject: Re: [Community_garden] victory gardens
> To: "Lexie Stoia" <lstoia at fpconservatory.org>
> Cc: lynng30 <lynng30 at yahoo.com>,
> 	community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
> Message-ID: <54f0a1c7f280196fc735a24a4db24cfd at igc.org>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed
>
> If it's still there, there is/was a garden in Boston's fens that began 
> as a Victory Garden in WWII.
>
> Libby
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> 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
>
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> End of Community_garden Digest, Vol 117, Issue 1
> ************************************************
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