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Community Gardens, Two

© Bob Ewing

There had been no rain for six days, a season first. Fortunately before it got too dry we had rain, and lots of it, last night. Several severe thunderstorms with lightning broke across the region. There is a major forest fire burning north of Geraldton, Ontario, called Nipigon 20. The heavy rain helped a bit. The lightning strikes may yet become fires. It can take a few days for a fire to start from a strike.

The size and scope of this fire will have an economic impact on the region; no trees to cut for some time. This is an opportune time to consider other enterprises which could inject new funds into the local economy. We will continue exploring this cash infusion over the next few weeks.

The rainfall in town has been sufficient to keep the two rain barrels at the Regent Street garden full. The barrels are our only source of water and when they run dry we have to depend upon the kindness of the gardeners whose homes are backing onto the garden to share. This is no good during a long drought. So we learn together how to be water-wise.

Community gardens bring people together and transform them from strangers to neighbours. "Community gardens have been shown to revitalize areas from fearful places where neglect of the park fostered vandalism and illegal activities into places for community programs and celebration. This transformation takes place when community gardens engage sustained community involvement by youth, families, seniors, intergenerational, ethnic and multicultural groups."

Reference

http://www.city.toronto.on.ca/parks/prog...

What does right livelihood have to do with community gardening? While the gardeners are not making any money, if they are gardening organically, they are not doing any harm. Many community gardeners share the surplus that a properly cared for garden will produce.

Last year at the Regent Street Garden, the Dew Drop Inn, a daily meal program, combined two lots under the guidance of a Masters Social Work student and grew a variety of vegetables for their program. The food was grown by the people who eat at the Dew Drop Inn. This is the essence of permaculture--growing your own food and sharing the surplus. Livelihood is not only about earning an income, it is about cooperation and inclusion. More next week.

Resources: "Food comes to most of us now through a global food system which is destructive of both natural and social communities. In this article we explore a variety of routes for the conceptual and practical elaboration of the foodshed."

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