Community Gardens

[Aubree Taylor]

Let's get Community Gardens planted in every Neighborhood! Let us know if you have a plot of land available or would like to be involved in getting a garden started in your Community.

Benefits of Community Gardens:

* Improves the quality of life for people in the garden
* Provides a catalyst for neighborhood and community development
* Stimulates Social Interaction
* Encourages Self-Reliance
* Beautifies Neighborhoods
* Produces Nutritious Food
* Reduces Family Food Budgets
* Conserves Resources
* Creates opportunity for recreation, exercise, therapy, and education
* Reduces Crime
* Preserves Green Space
* Creates income opportunities and economic development
* Reduces city heat from streets and parking lots
* Provides opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections

[shelley vaugine]

Aubree we need to go to the feb Grant beach neighbor hood meeting and see how they are faring on a community garden

[Aubree Taylor]

Yes...we need to do that for sure!

[Leesa Johnson]

so, my name is leesa johson, and I live in springfield :).
I just now signed up today, but I've known about this for months, and through those months, I have been thinking very actively about this whole community garden concept. One being the notion of going to schools and broadcasting the posibility of it as a after school (or even during school activity for credits) activity. I know there are many homeschooling networks in the area as well that would likely be interested in giving their children the oprotunity to both learn, and network. Or setting up a co-operative system between stream/forest cleaning and garden growing/production. the concept being that group A would be part of the conservation and wild-life restoration projects, and group B would be producing food through ought gardens in the prospectively set up garden networks through springfield, and out. I would love to speak more with like minded people about this, but Im not sure who they are yet :)! so hopefully with the help of this organization and the many others that I am trying to contact we can all come to a even more productive, and growing gardening community! wow. that was a mouth full :). bear with me, I am an eager mind that sees the future and is unsure. I am among the generation who wonders, should I bring a child into this madness? and I am vigilant in my search for answers...again, that was a mouth full, so, I'll leave this post to be responded to :)

[Master Gardeners ofGreene County]

Welcome Leesa,

You may want to inform those home school networks of some educational opportunities being offered in Springfield this year for two different age groups of children. The dates and location have been arranged, and programs per session are to be announced. You can watch for the details here.

Speaking of homeschooling, there are actually Growing Up Duck classes being offered by the City of Springfield for two different age groups of homeschoolers.

Leesa Johnson said:

so, my name is leesa johson, and I live in springfield :).
I just now signed up today, but I've known about this for months, and through those months, I have been thinking very actively about this whole community garden concept. One being the notion of going to schools and broadcasting the posibility of it as a after school (or even during school activity for credits) activity. I know there are many homeschooling networks in the area as well that would likely be interested in giving their children the oprotunity to both learn, and network. Or setting up a co-operative system between stream/forest cleaning and garden growing/production. the concept being that group A would be part of the conservation and wild-life restoration projects, and group B would be producing food through ought gardens in the prospectively set up garden networks through springfield, and out. I would love to speak more with like minded people about this, but Im not sure who they are yet :)! so hopefully with the help of this organization and the many others that I am trying to contact we can all come to a even more productive, and growing gardening community! wow. that was a mouth full :). bear with me, I am an eager mind that sees the future and is unsure. I am among the generation who wonders, should I bring a child into this madness? and I am vigilant in my search for answers...again, that was a mouth full, so, I'll leave this post to be responded to :)

[Sara Kali Sabine Stern]

I've been coordinating a community garden in Austria for the last two years - so if somebody wants to ask me about our expierences I'm looking forward to answer questions.

Sabine

[abdo soliman]

lessa i like community gardens and participated in gardening communally and helped start some. I will be at farmers gastro on March 6 or you can mail; [e-mail]

abdo soliman said:

Leesa Johnson said:

so, my name is leesa johson, and I live in springfield :).
I just now signed up today, but I've known about this for months, and through those months, I have been thinking very actively about this whole community garden concept. One being the notion of going to schools and broadcasting the posibility of it as a after school (or even during school activity for credits) activity. I know there are many homeschooling networks in the area as well that would likely be interested in giving their children the oprotunity to both learn, and network. Or setting up a co-operative system between stream/forest cleaning and garden growing/production. the concept being that group A would be part of the conservation and wild-life restoration projects, and group B would be producing food through ought gardens in the prospectively set up garden networks through springfield, and out. I would love to speak more with like minded people about this, but Im not sure who they are yet :)! so hopefully with the help of this organization and the many others that I am trying to contact we can all come to a even more productive, and growing gardening community! wow. that was a mouth full :). bear with me, I am an eager mind that sees the future and is unsure. I am among the generation who wonders, should I bring a child into this madness? and I am vigilant in my search for answers...again, that was a mouth full, so, I'll leave this post to be responded to :)

[Leesa Johnson]

gosh I would love to talk to you about your community garden in austria! most of all, how the heck did you get the ball rolling? what were the some of the things you ran into that you wish you would have known when you started? anything helps :)

Sabine Jakosch said:

I've been coordinating a community garden in Austria for the last two years - so if somebody wants to ask me about our expierences I'm looking forward to answer questions.

Sabine

[Kristi Foster]

Hey all! I'm a family medicine resident working up at Cox N (FMCC). I'm hoping to start up a community garden at Cox North Hospital. I believe that food is health. Myself and a few other docs are wanting to increase awareness and access to locally grown, healthy food especially for our patients, but also for the rest of the community in that area. What a message that would send if a hospital/clinic had a garden with healthy food! I think this is a particularly important area in that many of our patients have minimal resources. They would benefit in so many ways. The more I thought about this, the more I felt compelled to do this. This will be my first community garden, so any resources/advice/assistance would be so much appreciated.

[Shirah Miriam "Mimi" Aumann]

Judi Gerber is a writer I really enjoy and from whom I truly gain a lot of information, links, etc. She is a University of California Master Gardener and writes about sustainable farming, local foods, and organic gardening for multiple magazines. I would like to paste in a recent article that pertains to the subject of community gardens - Peoples's Gardens. And, as we have mentioned before on this site, it would seem that this grass-roots movement that is really taking off all over the country - and the world - is appealing enough that government wants to get involved as well... So there are some initiatives and agencies who are following our lead...

"Many sustainable food advocates might not be sure what to make of the Obama Administration’s food and agriculture decisions and appointments, but some of the strategies underway are clearly focused on locally and organically grown produce and less focused on traditional, production agriculture.

For example, organic expert Kathleen Merrigan was appointed as USDA Deputy Secretary and created the “Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food” initiative.

Also, the USDA introduced more organic gardens through the People’s Garden initiative, an effort encouraging employees to establish People’s Gardens at USDA facilities worldwide.

Why the term People’s Garden? When Abraham Lincoln founded the USDA in 1862, he referred to it as “The People’s Department.” Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack broke ground on the People’s Garden at USDA Headquarters on February 12, 2009, the bicentennial of Lincoln’s birthday as a way of demonstrating that the USDA still sees itself in that role.

Now, the USDA is hoping to expand this effort and is encouraging all Americans to join in the initiative, The People’s Garden: Growing Healthy Food, People and Communities, and plant a garden in their own community.

As the USDA points out, a People’s Garden benefits the community, is sustainable and is a community-based effort.

Growing a community garden promotes health and wellness, provides a place for leisure, provides food for those in need, creates wildlife habitats, storm water control or water quality improvement, and provides teaching opportunities.

The garden should incorporate sustainable practices that maintain and protect the environment. Ideally, it should include native plants, composting and mulching, a rainwater harvesting system, and beneficial insects.

Finally, a People’s Garden should be community based–a collaboration between volunteers, neighbors or organizations within your community. The initiative encourages gardens in any vacant lot, schools, churches and other community areas.

To find out more information on how to start a People’s Garden visit the web site www.usda.gov/peoplesgarden or follow them on Twitter at www.twitter.com/peoplesgarden, where they have been tweeting the past month about creating more People’s Gardens."

You can access Google for the "Know your Farmer, Know your Food" initiative... Mimi

[abdo soliman]

i live not far from you on loren and kimbrue. have farm and garden exp. like gardening with other gardener, [e-mail]

Kristi Foster said:

Hey all! I'm a family medicine resident working up at Cox N (FMCC). I'm hoping to start up a community garden at Cox North Hospital. I believe that food is health. Myself and a few other docs are wanting to increase awareness and access to locally grown, healthy food especially for our patients, but also for the rest of the community in that area. What a message that would send if a hospital/clinic had a garden with healthy food! I think this is a particularly important area in that many of our patients have minimal resources. They would benefit in so many ways. The more I thought about this, the more I felt compelled to do this. This will be my first community garden, so any resources/advice/assistance would be so much appreciated.

[Aubree Taylor]

Hi Kristi, I'm right down the street from you as well. The 1000 Gardens Project is working with the Grant Beach Neighborhood and surrounding Neighborhoods to encourage the community to grow their own food for the health of their community, themselves and for the children. WE would love to help you get started and to find the resources to put in a Community Garden at Cox North. Let us know when and how we can help you get started.

Kristi Foster said:

Hey all! I'm a family medicine resident working up at Cox N (FMCC). I'm hoping to start up a community garden at Cox North Hospital. I believe that food is health. Myself and a few other docs are wanting to increase awareness and access to locally grown, healthy food especially for our patients, but also for the rest of the community in that area. What a message that would send if a hospital/clinic had a garden with healthy food! I think this is a particularly important area in that many of our patients have minimal resources. They would benefit in so many ways. The more I thought about this, the more I felt compelled to do this. This will be my first community garden, so any resources/advice/assistance would be so much appreciated.

[abdo soliman]

Odery
I found the cattel panel. They cost $ 19. 8x 8 green house will cost about $ 60 .