Large scale examples of how community gardens projects are definitely an aspect of helping a community prepare fore a post carbon future. For instance Cuba has transition from large farms or plantations and reliance on fossil-fuel-based pesticides and fertilizers, to small organic farms and urban gardens. Cuba was undergoing a transition from a highly industrial society to a sustainable one. Cuban agriculture now consists of a diverse combination of organic farming, perma-culture, urban gardens, animal power, and biological fertilizing and pest control. On a national level, Cuba now has probably the most ecological and socially sensitive agriculture in the world.
       This information makes it coherent that reading the Community Gardening in SA Resource Kit is a voluble investment of time. Laid out in a fluent presentation it literally takes a inconsiderable  amount of time to read such a useful document. When finished reading this manual a sense of confidence is endured and the potential to actually establish a community garden is well in reach. For it covers all aspects of designing a community garden from the starting point, to the community, to financial support, to making meetings, and to basic gardening skills. The second chapter briefly explains all of the above aspects, while the rest of the document explains each category a little bit more in depth.
     
      But what about you?
      Are you interested in starting a community Garden?
     
      I know that I am. I believe it is the first handle in physically interacting with how to create sustainable change. An incredible learning experience, which builds skills on how to inspire a community to feel connected to their land, to be sustainable and improve the environment. My First step in building a community garden would be to first find the plot of land on which I would design the community garden and see weather or not I can have access to the land.

      What would your first step be in making a community garden?
      

Starting a community garden is an incredibly involved process.  I think as a resource kit, the document we read was extremely comprehensive and I wish I had had this at hand when I was involved in establishing a community garden in Footscray, a suburb of Melbourne.  As Guy mentioned, council is a major hurdle and I think the advice given in the resource kit on how to approach council was really fantastic.  I believe that Footscray now have a community garden and I think it took approximately 5 years from the initial meetings that we held as a working group and with council until it was finally established.  Unfortunately I was not involved with the group for its entirety.

Previously Guy Stewart wrote:

The key first step is to find some like minds. The community.
I discussed the topic with an experienced friend recently. They were having no end of trouble with council, (a key ally in a community garden project). The councils issue was that the group was not cohesive enough to warrant the effort and expense on their behalf towards finding some land or sharing costs. They couldn’t convince the powers that held the keys to the new garden that they could go the distance.

The on-going benefits to the wider community from even a modest open garden are well known and real. Community-based projects that never get off the ground, run out of steam, or become bogged down through mounting internal politics are also well known.
This was her biggest hurdle so far, before the commitment and investment from others in a position to help would come, they first had to be convinced that the core group could keep it together.

Time spent planning, dreaming, building rapport, getting to know, working, listening and living along side others that share the spark of potential will build invisible ties that strengthen the group and encourage unseen hands to help.

I thoroughly enjoyed reading the Community Gardens in SA Resource Kit; I found myself getting really inspired by the idea of starting or joining a community garden!  And because the Resource Kit was so comprehensive I felt that I would be well armed and prepared to do so. 

While the document  doesn't tell you everything you need to know, it gives you a really good guide as to what you need to be aware of and directs you to the appropriate information and resources. There were also many little gold nuggets in the form of clever suggestions.  Many times while reading the document of thought or even exclaimed "What a good idea!" 

A great strength that I witnessed within the resource kit was the willingness of experienced community gardens and gardeners to share their experiences, knowledge and even handouts!  This sharing freely was really refreshing, rather than hording knowledge as intellectual property or selling it for a price. This sharing of knowledge is what will make communities stronger in the long run, and more able to face the coming challenges.  That what I realised when reading this document; that forming community gardens and sharing knowledge and resources about how to live more sustainably and grow your own food is a far better way to ensure food security and secure basic necessities for a larger number of people compared to the more self-centered run-to-the-hills survivalist model. In fact, maybe if people start sharing things more in general (knowledge, skills, energy, ideas, lawnmowers, power tools, cars, refridgerators, land etc etc)  rather than horde things for their own personal use and benefit, not only will everyone be in a better place to face energy descent but maybe we could start flattening out the steep slippery slope we now find outselves on.

Despite all these idealistic ideas about the wonders of community gardens and all the merits of the community garden and city farm movement, I do have a sense that it's not always so easy when you're bringing a group of people together.  It's hard work trying to meet the different needs within of a group of people, or get people to meet their commitment, especially in busy city lifestyles.  It's hard to get a group of people to agree on how things should be done, it's hard to get council to support you, it's hard to keep a group of people committed to a space long enough to achieve goals when we live such nomadic lifestyles of low commitment to place.  I saw a really clear example of this during the summer when I dropped by the community garden at Bondi Junction to have a look around.  It was an aesthetically beautiful little garden, with two sweet older ladies running around madly trying to get all the work done that needed doing, keeping up with the weeds, all the time telling me that the garden was on the verge of being re-claimed by council due to a lack of strong united leadership for the garden.  The sad thing was that the whole four years that I had lived in Bondi, working in one of the major health food stores there, not once did I hear about the community garden.  Obviously there wasn't enough community awareness of the garden which would lead to a lack of community support.  I couldn't help but wonder while reading the resource kit whether the folks at Bondi Junction had a copy....

Social Determinants in Food Justice, SA Don Dunstan Foundation Talk

By chance on my first evening back in Adelaide there was a public talk on Community Gardens, Farmers Markets, Food Co-ops and more.

Having read the community gardening resource prior to this I was able to identify 2 things that I don't think were addressed in the text.

Firstly, are community gardens predominantly run by women for women??

Prevocative question I hope I am yet to come to a conclusion on this but someone attending the talk may be forgiven for thinking this given that 85% of the audience were women and that ALL 7 speakers were women.

I would love to hear thought on this. It could indeed be something unique to Adelaide or, more to do with the talk rather than the community gardens themselves??.

I have heard of examples of farmers markets being held at community gardens AND of bulk food being stored for use by co-ops on site at community gardens. I am wary of the old "putting all ones eggs in the same basket" scenario but I think that there might be something it linking these... ??? I don't think the text really explored this.

Love to hear your thoughts

xx Bec

As I read through the community garden resource document, I started to think about the time I worked part time for Cultivating Communities, which was under the auspice of the Bedford Street Housing Commission in Collingwood, Melbourne.  I worked in three separate community gardens, located on the grounds of the housing commission flats. Some of the issues we had to deal with in the garden were complicated and not easily resolvable.  Some of these were:

-         Rubbish in the compost system

-         Appropriate signage for multiple language group users

-         Sharps in the community garden

Because we set up multiple compost bays for people’s green waste, we came up against the problem of rubbish being dumped into the bays.  The main offender was polystyrene, another contender was used seedling pots and then there was the ever present plastic bag.  The issue of rubbish ties into the problem of appropriate signage.  With gardeners from divergent cultural and linguistic backgrounds, a sign in English indicating not to dispose of rubbish was not relevant or suitable.  We worked extensively on creating pictorial signage that crossed linguistic boundaries and had them laminated to withstand inclement weather.  We also created similar signage for winding up and replacing the hose and keeping the gate shut.

We also had access to interpreting services if necessary and many of our documents were available in multiple languages.

Finding used hypodermic needles in the gardens, broken glass and other sharp objects was quite a serious occupational health and safety risk and one I have to say is not readily resolvable.  Whilst you can recommend precaution be taken by wearing gloves, as all gardeners are aware, gloves just get in the way at times.  It was a health risk that I took during my time in the garden.  If we found used syringes, we had access to ‘fit bins’ (plastic containers for hypodermic needles) to safely dispose of them.

The amazing thing about working in the gardens was being exposed to new varieties of vegetables and herbs.  Although, not very kosher, many community gardeners smuggle in seed from the ‘homeland’.  The Hmong gardeners grew different varieties of coriander and chillies for example.

The other issue that I want to raise is that the reality of 'cross cultural diversity' isn't always rosey.  It often gets romanticised by community workers and councils when we think of creating community spaces as we see it as an opportunity for people from many different countries to come together and ‘mix’.  The truth however, is that there are many prejudices within cultural groups which does not always make for harmonious community gardening and I experienced some instances of this in the gardens. 

Despite these problems, I believe community gardens are an amazingly important community resource and space for people to grow their own food, come together to garden, or share a yarn; especially for those living in high-rise commission flats.

The Community Gardening in SA resource
kit does addressed the very important issue of what type of community
gardening is most appropriate or most effective at addressing some of
the key needs that exist in a community. Identifying and working
within the context of your community is crucial for success. There
may not be enough interest, energy, resources or council support to
get a 'community garden' going but there are other forms of community
gardening that do not require the acquisition of new resources etc
and work with existing structures and gardens that are already there
whether they are within peoples own properties or public spaces/
schools etc. An example of this could be as simple as gardening in
each others back yards or working on integrating neighbors backyards
and resources to be more efficient and productive. In many cases this
type of community gardening can also serve as a starting point before
a 'community garden' is started or while you are waiting for council
approval, funding, searching for a suitable site etc.

This resource also demonstrates the
sharing of information and ideas in that it is the combination of
information from many different community gardens and includes links
and contact information and emphasis forming networks and
relationships with other community garden groups. I like Bec's
comment about extending these links to Farmers Markets and Co- ops
and other community orientated groups.

As both Guy and Amanda pointed out
'community gardens' can be very difficult to run with most of the
problems occurring due to a lack of strength community and
a lack of personable responsibility and accountability. Organizing activities that are specifically for building and
strengthening community and the relationships between people would be useful
initial activities once a group of people interested in doing
something is formed. Activities that help people get to know each
other and make people more comfortable working together are very
useful in helping promote smooth operation of the gardening
activities. Some of the less intensive forms of community gardening I mentioned in reply to Naomies entry could serve this purpose as well as specifically designed activities.  The Resource kit may benefit by adding some more emphasis
on this type of community building.

The Effictiveness of a Community Garden resource

I'll take the formal approach for this analysis. My take on the
assignment is to consider the garden itself as a resource, rather
than the resource kit.

Strengths

• A community garden can be making use of otherwise unused
  resources – in other words, it can turn waste into benefit. The
  areas of waste include poorly used public land, bored gardeners,
  local green wastes as stock for compost.

  
  

• Great platform for connecting people in the community with a
  meaningful activity.

  
  

• Creates educational resource for a post carbon world.

  
  

• Can run at very low cost – likely that donations or nominal
  membership fees could cover costs.

  
  

• Change for people to eat local produce and experience healthy
  food, in season.

  
  

• Can completely change the character of an area.

  
  

Weaknesses

• Absolutely dependant on available, suiteable land.

  
  

• Land's suitablilty hinges on geography, soil type, sunlight
  and water availability.
  

  
  

• Likely to be dependant on Local Council regulations.

  
  

• Cannot run entirely for free – at very least, some
  insurances will be required.

  
  

• Need for structure and planning ahead of garden
  establishment.

  
  

• Only possible with energetic volunteers.

  
  

Opportunities

• School student involvement, especially for kids who struggle
  with traditional academia.

  
  

• Build a local skill base to assist with other community
  gardens – can grow as grass roots movements.

  
  

• Can build local knowledge base of soil types and suiteable
  crops.

  
  

• Can motivate retired gardeners to share skills.

  
  

• Opportunitity to have older people teaching young children –
  these age groups are ideally suited to spending time together (ask a
  grandparent!)

  
  

• Reason for many community events – sharing food,
  celebrating seasons etc.

  
  

Threats

• Increased traffic and noise could upset neighbours

  
  

• Potential for unpleasant smells from compost making could
  cause complaints

  
  

• Without unsightly fencing, the garden could be a target of
  thieves or vandals

  
  

• Burn out of the most active volunteers – anyone who has
  participated in a community project will have seen that 5% of
  volunteers going 95% iof the work is commonplace.

  
  

• The consensus model can become permanently stuck by divided
  opnion

  
  

• Safety concerns. Need for an active OH&S policy. One
  accident could spoil plenty of enthusiasm.

  
  

• Handling of community money is tricky - can lead to
  disagreements

  
  

Generrally is in Nimbin a Community Garden Project running for years. That Project needs urgent help. And it is a good training field.

Care for the earth

Wolfgang

Previously Wolfgang Stemmer wrote:

Generrally is in Nimbin a Community Garden Project running for years. That Project needs urgent help. And it is a good training field.

Care for the earth

Wolfgang