One qualifier that may help; * shares the bounty: donates 10 percent of harvest to local food banks
I think most gardeners share their excess anyway, though it's easier to share with friends and neighbors than to drive somewhere. But if it's in the "rules," and if you ask for some proof that they've donated, then you're in effect getting a tangible return on your "investment" of free compost etc. Also, sharing the produce with the wider community emphasizes the "community" aspect of the enterprise. If you add this, also provide a list of where to donate (and hours?), to make it as easy as possible for them to follow through. Or put the info on a website that can be updated in t he summer. If you don't have food banks, you can set up "garden shares" or suggest other places to donate. I've been attending local garden shares for at least a couple years. People bring whatever they can, and they take what they need. It's not an exchange because it's ok to bring nothing if you have nothing to bring. Produce, plants, seeds, books, etc. A few times a year it's combined with a craft share, bike repair clinic, clothing share, and skills share. A local backyard gardener I've met claims he donates 80% of his produce to friends and around the community. He brings boxfuls to the police station, fire station, city hall, local businesses, etc. He has a downtown business and says it's an interesting way to get to know people. On Fri, Apr 5, 2013 at 11:01 AM, Margaret Shields < [email protected]> wrote: > Hi community gardeners, > > Hope all is well! As I know people are experiencing in other parts of the > country, Gardening Matters here in Minnesota is experiencing a BOOM of > community gardening--great! > > However, we're really struggling with data management with all of these > gardens. Like the ACGA, we keep a very broad definition of what a community > garden is. We say "A Community garden is any place gardened by a group of > people to meet the needs of that group of people" > > Problem is, as we work with cities, organizations and businesses to try to > expand resource availability for community gardens (compost, > seeds/seedlings, etc..) we are struggling to maintain the "integrity" of > the community gardens for which we are advocating. > > Most recently, many new "community gardens" are registering with us for > free compost, but according to their registrations, it is a privately owned > lot (i.e. someone's back yard) with at most 4 gardeners, and the only > primary contacts are the homeowners. I can't help but feel like we're being > taken advantage of, but without limiting our definition, how can I fairly > deny them access to these limited resources? > > Can you help me think of specific "qualifiers" that embody the community > garden spirit without taking away the intentional inclusiveness of our > broad definition? Some examples may be: > > - There must be x number of people beyond the property owners or primary > garden contacts involved in the garden > - x% composition of the garden must be of community members > - there must be some formal organization of the garden-whether in terms > of garden rules/regulations, regular meetings, communicatoin network, > website/blog, or toher > - the garden must be readily accessible to the public (either unsecured > and/or with clear signage in a publicly accessible place about who to > contact in order to gain access) > - there are many other possible qualifiers I can think of but i won't > list them here... > > We don't want to get into the business of policing who is and isn't a > community garden (that doesn't help our cause) but we don't want our > organization or the greater community gardening community to get a bad rap > because we're not addressing these fringe cases of people trying to take > advantage of our leniency? > > If you have any insights or references/examples that would help me grapple > with this question, I would greatly appreciate it! > > Spring tidings, > Margaret > > -- > > Margaret Shields > Education and Outreach Coordinator > Gardening Matters > 612-821-2358 > > *Shared Leadership Training (April 6 & 7) *-- tips and techniques for a new > approach for organizing community gardens. Spots still available. go to > http://www.gardeningmatters.org/events/2013-shared-leadership-training > -------------- next part -------------- > An HTML attachment was scrubbed... > URL: < > http://list.communitygarden.org/pipermail/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org/attachments/20130405/8ddc1431/attachment.html > > > _______________________________________________ > 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: > http://list.communitygarden.org/mailman/listinfo/community_garden_list.communitygarden.org > -- If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need. -- Cicero -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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