what is a community garden?

By textbook standards a community garden is “a single piece of land gardened collectively by a group of people”. However, since I’ve exposed myself to the many facets of community gardening, throughout the duration of this project, I learned that community gardening is so much more than that brief definition.

 

A community garden connects people. Whether they are total strangers, families, or friends. A community garden brings people together as they work for the same goal; to bring about natural and nurtured fruits, vegetables and flowers. Bringing about this sense of community makes all the hard work and effort that gardeners put in pay off. Their pay off is seeing fresh produce and buds grow from the soil up while taking themselves away from the hustle and bustle of life and reconnecting them to their roots, the earth.

 

Community gardens are not all alike. There are two main types of community gardens; ones that are grown for and by the community as a whole and ones that are an established plot of land with individual beds. However as these two types differ in fundamentals many community gardens find their stake in between, providing individual beds, communal beds, and educational teaching centers for seminars on gardening.

 

A key ingredient of a community garden is that the sole of the garden labor is done by volunteers and the gardeners themselves. Community gardens rarely called upon hired help for maintaining the grounds.

 

One can find community gardens all across the world. For the most part they are seen in the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. However it makes sense, as fads with cupcake shops and stores that sell solely soaps fade the phenomenon of fresh fruits and vegetables that you grow and nurture will always stay strong because of the fact that community gardening, and all gardening for that matter, reconnects you to your roots, the earth, where you came from, and makes you appreciate your food more; providing for a better quality diet and life, that is not just a trend of the month.

interview with lisa wern of walnut creek community gardens

INTERVIEW: MAY 14, 2009

 

Like all great actions in life, they usually come out of just a simple idea perused into reality. For Joan Morris and her team of colleagues at the San Mateo Times the idea of building a community through a garden with purpose of giving back to the community at the same time became a reality.

 

Joan Morris overlooking her industrialized scene at the office sought refuge in the idea of reconnecting herself to the earth as well as giving back to her community. Joan Morris is now the founder of the Walnut Creek Community Garden. Although her garden is still in the developing stages, all of her work fell into place, as she was able to easily obtain extra land adjacent to her work office. Her idea fell though in three months and led to a beautiful and recreational sanctuary for people and plants alike.

 

Lisa Wern is the features editor of the San Mateo Times as well as the Contra Costal Times. She was generous enough to provide some free time in her busy schedule to allow me to interview her on the community gardener and the founder, Joan Morris, who was not able to be interviewed, as she was on vacation in Europe at the time.

E: Who is the founder?

L: Joan Morris is a Master Gardener who has her own garden at home and is very dedicated to the beauty of the earth and what is does and offers us. She obtained her Master gardening license from the State and has volunteered her knowledge in many seminars and lessons about the tips, tricks, and general knowledge of gardening.

E: Where did the idea come from?

L: A spark in Joan’s mind three months ago. Joan had the vision for the garden. Luckily we were able to go through the process of development in less than three months.

E: Really? How so fast?

L: Our building had extra land adjacent to the office building so we did not have to go to the city and ask for land. It really helped the idea come into reality.

E: What is your goal for the developing community garden?

L: The garden is going to be very communal. It is going to be a vegetable based garden for the purpose of providing fresh vegetable to the homeless and food shelters in the area. As well as providing a biodynamic approach to the idea of being as natural as possible.

E: So, what’s exactly in your garden right now? (Being that it is in the early stages)?

L: There are four plots; there are vegetable seeds in those four plots and a lot of volunteers willing to provide time into this effort of reconnecting to the earth and giving back the community. Also every Friday we have a class. They are educational experiences that allow people to get a feeling of what a community garden is, the fundamentals of gardening as well as species specific seminars.

E: What role do you play in the Walnut Creek Community Garden?

L: For the most part I am the coordinator. I do the backbone work of insurance coverage, support for the garden. We have had some really great sponsors from around the community come out and support our cause. We have had nurseries provide seeds, a local tree service help clear the land, and of course the support and time of the volunteers.

E: Have you always had a passion for gardening?

L: Not always, I’ve gotten into gardening later and life and fell in love with it!

E: What are your personal believes on the benefits of gardening?

L: It connects us to the earth, makes us realize that we belong to something greater than ourselves, as we learn to respect the earth more, knowing what it does for us. As well as the social aspect of gardening as a community rather than individually and of course the health benefits of all the hard work that one puts into the garden.

E: What about the cultural angle behind community gardening? Do you believe it is for all ages?

L: Oh yes, most definitely.

E: How much interest do you get from the community?

L: We have had so much support, it has been amazing.. our first meeting brought in seventy people!

E: Thank you so much for your time and input!

tour of charles street community gardens

On Saturday May 16^th I got the opportunity to meet up and interview the founder of Charles Street Gardens, which is a lovely community garden just off of the central downtown area of Sunnyvale. Charles Street Garden is about two acres of opportunity for kids and adults alike. Charles Street Garden is such a wonderful garden because it incorporates individual beds, beds for the handicapped, a seminar section (where classes are taught), as well as a communal section called the food forests, where volunteers from anywhere can participate in giving back to the community by providing produce to the food shelters in the bay area.

 

My interview with Josh Salnas was an informal tour around the 

beautiful garden that he made a reality.

 

The first part of our tour was under the trellis located in the central area of the entry to the community garden. Under the vine covered trellis Josh explained the history of the garden. He explained how the reality of Charles Street Garden came from a meeting just across the land in the parking lot where a man of the last name Satterburg was willing to give the city $40,000 to start a community garden in Sunnyvale. From there Josh, already a gardening guru took on the job of finding the location, rallying the volunteers and building Charles Street Gardens ground up. It took two and a half years, from the idea in the parking lot to the official opening of Charles Street Garden. Most of the time was spent on fighting the city council for the land that he so desired, but it was well paid off. In total it only took six weekends (twelve days) to actually build the garden. A non-profit base manages everything in the garden, which keep land costs low. The price to have a bed for a year is a mere $50!

 

To the left of the trellis were the handicapped beds, which are perfectly accessible to anyone in a wheelchair. I was shocked to see that the garden was that communal, to the point where everyone, literally everyone could have the opportunity to garden there.

 

After we stopped by and visited the educational beds where master gardeners come in once a week to better off the gardeners on how to grow, what to grow, when to grow and so on..

 

The next part of our tour was visiting the rows of individual beds in the garden. They are all beautiful and blooming with flowers, fruits and vegetables. Each row is assigned a produce name, for example there is Artichoke Ally shown in the picture.

 

Next came time for seeing what the food forests were. The food forests, as previously mentioned, are beds of land dedicated to provide produce to the food shelters of the bay area. The goal of the beds is to try and fill it with as many plants as it can hold in order to maximize their give back to the community.

 

Later we approached the composting piles where excess leaves and rotten fruit go into making enriched soil for years to come! Talk about renewal!

 

After that we stopped by the green houses in the back of the community farm. The three petite green houses house budding plants that go on say in April for profit to aid the garden.

 

Overall the garden was such a boost in my day. Experiencing time in that garden made me so proud of all the work they had done, from the accessibility of the handicapped to the renewable soil of the compost bins, Charles Street Gardens was truly the highlight of my year. By far my favorite part was seeing an edge of the garden dedicated to mint plants as well as the opportunity to be so close to nature while still in the center of the city. My experience of visiting Charles Street Garden really inspired me to one day start a community garden of my own. The following blog post is a brief letter that I will send to Los Altos City Council in order to give them an idea of what a community garden can do for our city!

preliminary letter to the city

To the planning committee of Los Altos City:

 

May 13, 2009

 

My name is Erika Roy.

I am a sophomore at Los Altos High School.

I am currently working on a project to spread awareness on the benefits and joys of community gardening.

Gardening has always been an interest of mine, my grandmother has a garden that spans at least a quarter acre, and my aunts also participate in growing their own fruits, vegetables, and flowers.

 

So that got me thinking..

Why in the world would Los Altos not have a community garden added into their "Project of the Future Los Altos Planning" (the future developments of the city property near North Los Altos Public Library) space to create a TRUE community, a TRUE mix of people with a TRUE bond over the love of gardening, the environment, saving money when buying produce, living more naturally and most of all becoming a part of THEIR community.

 

I was reading Los Altos’ City website;

 

"The Community Development Department works to promote the orderly development of the community while preserving and enhancing the City's appearance and its distinct character. The Department also ensures that all projects within the City, both public and private, are constructed and maintained in a safe and legal environment."

 

What better way to create a community while preserving (and enhancing) the city's heritage and character then to create a center where families, friends, and total strangers can meet up and create this so called pristine community Los Altos is set as being.

 

Having community garden just minutes away from my house would allow me to expand my horizons on whom I meet, what I do, and how beneficial it really is.

 

 

 

If the person reading this letter 

has any questions, concerns or comments

about my pervious typed words.

 

I urge you to reply back to me...

I want to here the feedback of the city I live in and what they can do for me, and better yet for MY, YOUR, OUR community.

 

 

Thank you,

Erika Roy

project mint bracelets

As I asked my self, “What can I do?” I looked down at the bracelet I had just made for myself out of mere red string and a lovely native American bead I had bought in Arizona and thought, “That’s what.. make bracelets!”

 

That same day I rode my orange bike all the way to the crafts store to stock up on bracelet making materials.

 

I literally spent about three hours at that store trying to find the perfect beads that would fit in the theme of my project, Project MINT, finally after about two hours in I found the perfect beads.. the one’s that are now strung up in the bracelets of the pictures.

 

The leaf is indeed a mint leaf, which I found so necessary as well as beautiful, as it is paired up with “mint pearl” colored Czech glass dot beads as well as accenting “white pearl ones”. Going on with the theme of good for the earth gardening I bought hemp string as well as an off white yarn made in Paris.

 

Making the bracelets was so fun. I believe I got carried away.. I made 10 different bracelets. They are all for sale to benefit Walnut Creek Community garden, which gives 100% of its produce to food banks.

 

The bracelets in the first picture are all four dollars. They are made from hemp string (both white and harvest colored) accented with mint pearl and white pearl beads. The bracelet in the second picture is five dollars. It is a great representative of my mint theme. And is also made with hemp, as shown here with white hemp and both mint and white pearl beads. These bracelets are tie on.

 

I am currently working on the detachable bracelet shown also in the second picture, but it is still in progress. All are hand made with care and purpose.

community gardens near by

Volunteering, supporting and connecting with community gardens around the bay area not only reconnects yourself down to the earth but also give of benefits a day in front of the television or computer could never do.  Here are some close community gardens for you to contact if you are interested in volunteering, supporting, or connecting with. Trust me, take a day to tour one of the following and you’ll want to be a part of it!

 

Charles Street Gardens, Sunnyvale

Full Circle Farm, Sunnyvale

Fremont Journey of Faith Community Garden, Fremont

Los Gatos Community Gardens, Los Gatos

Crow Canyon Gardens, San Ramon

Walnut Creek Community Garden, Walnut Creek