ommunity gardens have been gaining momentum in the past decade. Many have been developed to combat undesirable trends in food production and processing because industrialization, mass production, and globalization are responsible for shrinking diversity in food choices.
Large corporations that are focused on profit will limit food choices in favor of increased profit margins. Residents working in a community garden can grow fresh, healthy food varieties that supermarkets no longer have the capacity to provide.
Not only are community gardens helping to improve food security for many communities, but they are also receiving attention as a possible catalyst for social change. When neighbors and friends come together to organize, build, and grow a community garden, it becomes something bigger than the sum of its parts.
Here are just a few of the benefits community gardens can deliver to communities.
Many of us are living next door to strangers. Community gardens draw people from all walks of life together and shatter cross-generational and cultural divides. It's inevitable that new friendships will be forged, sometimes with people who live on the same street whom they would otherwise never meet.
Community gardeners are all at different levels of skills and experience. The more knowledgeable gardeners find community gardens to be educational institutions, of a sort, where they can pass on their knowledge to those who may have just discovered the joy of gardening.
There is a growing body of evidence pointing to the physical activity of gardening delivering health benefits equal to aerobic, spin, or Pilates classes. Gardening is also being studied for its potential benefits for people with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and other mental health issues such as depression and attention deficit disorder in children.
Cityscapes and suburban sprawl can deny the opportunity for many residents to connect with nature, especially if they don't have the means for transport. A thriving community garden provides a green space for children and adults to connect with nature. Growing plants create a thriving ecosystem where children and adults will find lizards, birds, and insects. It's a melting pot of educational opportunities for all ages to learn about healthy food options, and the scientific concepts of compost, and other natural cycles. A city sprinkled with community gardens also provides habitat corridors for native species to navigate the environment safely.
We live in a society where disparities and inequalities exist between race and gender. The community garden creates a safe place for residents of all races, gender, sexual orientation, skill level, and incomes to unite in the pursuit of learning how to create something enjoyable and worthwhile.
In high-density areas, residents are often short on space. There are many options for gardening in small spaces but improving food diversity and community choices will always need more real estate than the average apartment can provide. For people who would like to create traditional dishes with food they grew themselves. A community garden can empower them to do so and improve the overall quality of life.
A community garden isn't just about gardening. A variety of trades are required to make it all work. Fences need to be erected, tool sheds need to be built, and plumbing needs installation and maintenance. The community garden provides opportunities for learning and practicing new skills, and local businesses can find new ways to give back to the communities that support them.
An increasing interest in healthy foods has led to more public involvement with social movement organizations that support alternative agriculture.
Slow Food is one such organization with more than 1,000,000 million members in 160 countries. Slow Food adopts many strategies to improve access to good clean food, but they are all based on the concept of communities coming together to promote the organization's ideals actively, be it an educational program, organized events, or community gardens.
While Slow Food organizes change on a global scale, there are movements local to Arizona that create awareness about food inequality in local communities and are doing something about it through community gardens (including Urban Farming Education!).
Thomas Bleasdale, in his dissertation "Food-Based Social Movements in Underserved, Minority Communities" explores how residents of the U.S. have been increasing their support for organic and local food systems that rise above social class. He also discusses geographers revealing how communities across the U.S. face challenges created by reduced access to healthy fruits and vegetables.
These areas have been justifiably labeled as 'food deserts,' with local groups labeling the inequitable distribution of healthy food as social injustices. Thomas records a conversation he had with a resident named Carmella, in an unnamed location of Phoenix, Arizona. Carmella discusses how residents only have access to convenience stores because there is no market serving the area. She complains that the vegetables aren't fresh.
The community garden where this conversation takes place is responsible for providing fresh cut collards and mustard, baskets of carrots, eggplants, and plums. The community garden raises funds by selling some of its products to the residents, who otherwise would not have access to fresh fruits and vegetables.
In another study created by Thomas Bleasdale in collaboration with Carolyn Crouch from the School of Sustainability, Arizona State University, and Sharon L. Harlan, from the School of Human Evolution and Social Change, Arizona State University, the aim was to examine a struggling community garden in a low-income minority community in Phoenix, Arizona. The study was published in the Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development in 2011. [* Bleasdale, Crouch, Harlan 1]
The community chosen for the study showed a population of 10,000 people living in 3,200 dwellings. Sixty-six percent were renter-occupied, 26% owner-occupied, and 7% were vacant. The average median household income was $14,500, and the highest was $23,500.
The study results were a mixed bag, with some plots going abandoned, occasional use of others, and a few that were extensively used. However, after interviewing participants, there were indications that, in hot arid regions, access to nutritious food, more food choices, and exercise are important benefits. Many non-gardeners stated they were now more aware of the broader issues, but it was not enough motivation for them to start gardening.
Between 2010 and 2014, graduate students set up community workshops in several Phoenix communities. The goal was to bring community leaders together to discover what was working in their communities and what more could be done. The communities involved included Maryvale, South Phoenix, and the Gateway, Eastlake/Garfield, Midtown, Solano, and Uptown neighborhoods from the Reinvent Phoenix project.
Many good things are happening, with people coming together to support community gardens, as well as support for educational and economic venues and youth job skills training. The importance of the need for safe, accessible outdoor areas for public transport and recreation cannot be understated.
Almost all residents involved with a project stated the need for access to healthy foods, and the importance of cohesive and resilient neighborhoods.
Community gardens around the Phoenix area deliver a range of benefits depending on how they have been set up. Many are subdivided plots tended to by families or individuals. Others are associated with places of worship, and quite a few have been designed for a specific purpose, such as job training or stocking a pantry.
The Payson Community Garden in Payson, Arizona delivers education on gardening and individual gardens for residents to grow organic produce for self-consumption or donation to food banks.
The Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona offers free hands-on garden workshops at various locations, teaching everything from gardening basics to more advanced topics like keeping backyard chickens and vegan cooking.
The organization also has programs to help struggling communities, including supplying free after school snacks to food-insecure children, delivering backpacks of healthy food to children who are reliant on school meal programs, and offering daily meals to those in need.
Sustainable food activists and urban policymakers have come to understand the beneficial role that gardening can have on a community. From creating accessible healthy food options, teaching trades to youths, and developing leadership and teamwork skills, community gardens can create positive social change in disadvantaged urban communities.
References:
Bleasdale, Tommy; Crouch, Carolyn; Harlan, L, Sharon, Community gardening in disadvantaged neighborhoods in Phoenix, Arizona, https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/43
Bleasdale, Thomas, 2015, Food-Based Social Movements in Underserved, Minority Communities, Degree Doctor of Philosophy, Dissertation, Arizona State University, https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/7116/765c87ca924c9ac9a19961675c0080565ba9.pdf
Arizona Department of Health Services, Arizona Sustainable Community Garden Resource Guide, https://www.azdhs.gov/documents/preparedness/epidemiology-disease-control/environmental-health/brownfields/community-gardens-resource-guide.pdf
