What do you think it takes to start a community garden?
A Shovel?… Your Best Friend?…. A Brilliant Mind?
It’s been a busy few weeks for us so far! Saturdays at the Riley Park Community Garden usually consist of produce educational events, work parties, Farmer’s Markets, and even garden theater. Since our main task right now is to get the produce library built, we’ve been digging holes, painting wood pieces, and working on bringing the structure together. While there have been moments of uncertainty, it has been a great learning experience, and we are happy to have participated in events that don’t just involve the produce library
Our achievements so far:
- Attended the Apple Festival on September 23rd and helped measure the garden for reconstruction and irrigation installation
- Attended the Garlic Growing Workshop on September 30th, and began painting selves and digging holes
- Attended the Salmon Caravan Celebration on October 7th and helped harvest cover crops
- Built and painted the shelves and the roof for the library on October 7th
- Engaged with many of the community members, such as the volunteers who help manage the the Riley Park Garden
- Developed an understanding of how the garden is operated, its significance to the people living in this community, and expectations of the produce library
- Decided the location of the produce library, finished digging holes, and preparing the shelves
Finally, we finished our formal proposal, which can be found here:
Riley Park Community Garden Proposal
Our objectives for the coming weeks:
- Assembling every pieces of the produce library
- Putting the structure in the ground and stabilizing its position
- Connecting with community members to best decide how to animate the produce library
- Designing survey questions and sampling quotas for surveys regarding the food literacy of the community
- Distributing the survey to gain a clearer understanding of the community’s needs based on our interviews and survey responses the residents of that area
A Moment of Significance
What…
Our game plan has been based around our commitment to build an inclusive environment that targeted the issues of food insecurity within the community, specifically the vulnerable low-income population, to the best of our abilities. This lead to a moment of significance, which came when we had concerns that the food in the produce library would be taken by people who are not food insecure, which might decrease the library’s ability to help its target population.
So what…
While we had these concerns, Ron Finley’s TED talk (2013) helped us remind us of the social stigma associated with food insecurity and poverty in general. Finley shares a story of seeing a mother and daughter picking through the vegetables he planted on the parkway. When he approached them, they appeared ashamed, but Finley reassured them that there is a reason the garden is on public property: it was intended to be shared. If people who genuinely need the food experience shame when accepting help, then it is less likely that people who do not need the food would endure those feelings for small personal gain.
Now what…
This moment of significance helped us realize that in creating the produce library, we will not only have to make people in need aware of its existence, but encourage them to take advantage of what is offered, which may not be easy. Our North American food systems are geared towards serving those who have the financial ability to purchase food. Some people in society have received the longer end of the stick in terms of the Ottawa’s Charter’s Social Determinants of Health including race, gender, income, and housing; these healthy individuals are able to maintain a job to have income, purchase food and contribute to our food system (Ottawa Charter, 2012). However, these people are not our targets of this community project. As we begin to animate the produce library, we must remember that if we want it to be successful, we will need to view it through the eyes of the people who need it most.
References:
Government of Canada. (2012). Ottawa Charter for Health Promotion: An International Conference on Health Promotion. Retrieved from https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/health-promotion/population-health/ottawa-charter-health-promotion-international-conference-on-health-promotion.html
TED. (2013, February). Ron Finley: A guerilla gardener in South Central LA! [Video file]. Retrieved from: https://www.ted.com/talks/ron_finley_a_guerilla_gardener_in_south_central_la