By: Samantha Weideman
Amazon Prime? Out. Ethical consumerism is in. Fast fashion? Out. Thrifting is in. Single-use plastics? Out. Reusable items are in.
It’s not a trend. As people become more socially responsible, they’re making more environmentally and ethically conscious decisions. However, people aren’t always socially responsible (see this essay on advocacy burnout), nor will they change the course of the world on their own. It takes communities to drive change.
One of the best ways to drive change in a community is by participating in community gardens.
These gardens provide healthy food for families, encourage well-functioning ecosystems and help cultivate close-knit neighborhoods.
The dirty
People are less likely to take on community gardening because their daily lives are filled with seemingly endless to-dos, which include answering emails, taking care of pets and attending appointments. The last thing on anyone’s mind—especially in a city—is tending to plants. To be fair, it takes extended periods of physical labor, patience, and intent to get this done.
However, just like waking up early or exercising, working in a garden can become a habit. Very few community gardens have minimum requirements for volunteering. For individuals or groups taking on their own local plots, a minimum of an hour a month seems to be the general requirement. At that point, it’s no longer a hassle to determine a workable schedule to maintain the community garden. Most people can afford to forfeit an hour spent on Facebook or Instagram per day to roll up their sleeves and get dirty.
That said, it’s more helpful to present incentives for participation than to point out the reasons it’d be easy to say no.
The sow and the harvest
Perhaps the most obvious incentive for getting down and dirty with a local garden is the healthy goodies it would produce, and for a low price.
City Sprouts, a not-for-profit organization with plots in North and South Omaha, offers plots at anywhere between $10 and $30. Similarly, an annual membership with the Dundee Community Garden (which now has a two-year-long waitlist) is $40.
Tipping the scales
Community gardens can lessen the impact of food deserts by providing an accessible garden plot with trained professionals to help individuals through the gardening experience.
In a study published in the Journal of Community Health, researchers found families that had struggled with food insecurity reported their community garden helped the health of their family, and made them more food-secure. Participants reported worrying less about their food running out before their next paycheck after gardening for a two-year period, and receiving the support needed to maintain the gardens.
City Sprouts has individuals—and community support—at each of their locations to assist with each step of the cultivation process.
In bloom
Community building is the most underrated incentive to cultivate a garden. Think back to your earliest days on the playground. Some of your strongest friendships were built playing in the dirt. Participating in a community garden can pull you out of your bubble and plug you into your community.
“[A garden] helps to build a community by getting people out of their houses and off their sofas and devices, and outside to meet their neighbors,” said Roxanne Williams, executive director of City Sprouts.
Once you begin building connections with your neighbors, you will break through previously built barriers and become more attuned with their needs, and vice-versa, which ultimately leads to changes in your community.
“A community garden is a great addition to any community,” Williams said. “It also helps to unify the neighborhood and provide an outlet for people to gather together.”
In case of future cultivation
Think about something you worked hardest to build or create and reflect on what it felt like to enjoy that very thing once it was finished. You probably felt accomplished, fulfilled and took pride in what you’d taken the time to craft. In the same way, it’s so rewarding to eat meals made from ingredients you have planted, watered and maintained, and to relish in relationships you’ve cultivated along the way. Get involved in one of your local community gardens and see the benefits for yourself.
