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Community Gardening, Community Building

© Bob Ewing

Win-win, it has a nice sound don't you think? Win-win is a phrase I use when thinking about cooperatives. People working together to achieve a goal that benefits everyone. This is also how I feel about community gardens. The Regent Street Garden, where I am the volunteer coordinator, gives people the opportunity to grow some of their own food and it provides a space to meet and get to know their neighbours. Actually, the community garden enables people to become neighbours, not just people who live on the same street or nearby but people who stop and say hi, share a few minutes with one another. To be a neighbour requires more than just living side by side or across the street, it involves interaction and not just a quick nod ,because you don't know what else to do, and would rather avoid doing anything. You are making a connection with another person and developing a relationship.

Gardening can teach us a lot about being good neighbours. A successful garden relies on the interactions of all the elements that make up a garden. Plants, insects, soil, sun, water, birds, butterflies and of course the gardener all working together to create a thriving plot. A plot that produces food for all the members of the garden's community, not just the humans.

I remember as a kid being given carrots, lettuce and tomatoes from the people who lived on the north side of my family home. My parents would talk over the fence with the people there (the Sandfords) and share stories and say thanks. On the south side we exchanged friendly greetings and talk of the weather mingled in with comments about how the gardens were doing that year. It felt safe and warm.

The Regent Street Community Garden feels similar. There are nine plots in all and while this year we are just getting started you already get the sense of a community coming to life after a long winter. The garden is located in a park which overlooks McVicar's Creek and in the distance you can see the Harbour and the Sleeping Giant, aka, Sibley Peninsula. The community garden is a place I look forward to visiting, even if I am just looking. When other gardeners are there, we talk about many things, cabbage and sealing wax, carrots and kings. When I am alone, I am not actually alone, the work of others is all around me and the birds and butterflies keep me company. It is a great spot to just sit and watch Nature be.

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