Growing communities
------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- DANIEL BEN-TAL, IJ Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST Jan. 23, 2005 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- On a blustery winter afternoon, Nurit Zik is teaching her 2 1/2-year-old son, Yotam, how to plant lettuce. "It's great to be able to tend an organic vegetable garden in the city. My children will grow up familiar with nature," she exclaims as she wipes the mud of her son's hands. Zik and her husband Aviad are among some 30 families who regularly take care of the 'Bustania' community garden, a permaculture project in a formerly desolate valley between the Ir Ganim and Kiryat Hayovel neighborhoods. Bustania exists because of the determination and perseverance of Slovakian-born artist Hanalisa Omer. Moving to Ir Ganim from the rustic artists' village Ein Hod in 1999, she was appalled at the state of the wasteland beneath her house. "The valley was a garbage dump. Instead of keeping my anger inside, I wrote letters to the municipality and local community center. My vision was to bring the neighborhoods together in a communal project," she told In Jerusalem. Omer mustered a core group of environmentally aware neighbors. "I'd never been involved in such a community activity before," she recalls. "We arranged meetings with three community center directors - they saw that we are nudniks who don't give up." The activists also approached the elite school of Sciences and Arts, located further down the valley, and seven school students were among the original volunteers who began to clear the junk during Hanukkah 2001. Over in Baka'a, Jared Goldfarb and his friend James Murray-White have been busy planting vegetables in the plot just behind their house on Rehov Shimshon. "I wanted the experience of getting my hands dirty," says Goldfarb, who has been renting the community plot for about nine months now. "I grew up in New Hampshire surrounded by lots of forests and gardens but since the age of six I hadn't really done any gardening. James, who has more experience than I do, showed me how to prepare the land and plan out the plot." So far the pair have had luck with leafy greens and lettuce, though they are hoping that once the cold snap passes they'll branch out. "It's an odd experience to eat the things I've planted, but it's really yummy. People are into organic vegetables, but it can be an expensive habit. Here, there's nothing easier or cheaper, you just drop a few seeds, don't touch it and keep watering." The Bustania Garden was once an asbestos-shack ma'abara (transit camp), built in the valley in the 1950's as temporary housing for the mass influx of new immigrants. Today, only the 'Gates of Heaven' synagogue remains standing. Says Omer: "We started by planting lemon, olive, pomegranate and fig trees near the synagogue, with the blessing of its rabbi. We have good relations with the synagogue community although we are not religious." But the beginning was not very auspicious. Soon after the trees were planted, a contractor clearing weeds around the synagogue bulldozed all but seven of them. The volunteers were not stopped. To popularize the project, Omer voluntarily guided walking workshops for two years, teaching local residents about the wild plants and herbs. Then, the following Tu B'Shvat, the activists organized a second plot. This time, about 50 families turned up to plant saplings provided by the municipality and JNF. The first organic vegetable plot began about two years ago. More trees and organic gardens were planted last Tu B'Shvat. The fledgling 'family tree' grove is irrigated by the gray water runoff from a large residence on the Ir Ganim hillside. The municipality has helped introduce a drip irrigation system for the organic garden, and mulch (leaf mold compost) is now produced on-site. "The garden is becoming viable as more people get involved. My conclusion is that you have to work for at least half a year and create facts on the ground in order to get financial backing," says Omer. She figures that it will take several more years before the valley will turn into a flourishing food source. About 10 families spend a few hours weeding, pruning and planting every Wednesday afternoon. But not all of the locals appreciate their efforts. Residents in the high-rises on Stern Street in Kiryat Hayovel continue to throw their garbage along the slopes overlooking Bustania. Occasionally, vandals uproot the plants. "Vandalism is a relatively minor problem. If they take a shrub out of the ground, we replant it," shrugs Sharabi. But theft is a more serious problem, and the municipality has had to fence off part of the plot. "We didn't want a fence - but it's inevitable. Many of the fruit trees and vegetables have been uprooted and stolen," says Omer. ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
