Improving community garden longevity

There is a great disconnect in how people interact with their food. Agriculture and human evolution have developed alongside each other. Within the last three generations the majority of people do not grow their own food nor have direct connection to someone that does. Our food industry has become unsustainable as it has become industrialized. The agricultural knowledge of our recent ancestors is being lost at an alarming rate. Agricultural industries are aging out for better paying, less risky and physically less tasking for technology driven careers. Community Gardens are a way to connect to that knowledge.

It is increasingly clear that providing for populations gravitating to more urban settings is becoming a challenge. 90% of Arizona's population is living in the 5.3% urban developed land. 62% of that is in Maricopa county (2010 census). Compared to just a hundred years prior where 31% of the population lived in cities (1910 census) and 79% on farmland. One must also take into account climate changes affecting the viable farmland and water resources. In Maricopa county less than 122 square miles are for food production, meaning that most of our food is imported. Community gardens are a key to connecting people to the needed skills but often fail to thrive after two years, as they do not have the foundational organizational structures to be successful beyond a hobby for the elite. We need to look at innovative ways to connect urbanscapes to sustainable agriculture outlets. Creating a business like frameworks creates a pathway to be self-sufficient and thus resilient, especially in low income neighborhoods that are short on resources and time.

I needed to find community gardens at different stages of development. I found a garden with land but the community had no understanding on how to start beyond ambition. Another had lost their land to urban development and were looking for alternative ways to support other gardens. The third, an established garden in transition, seeking a new governing organization for growth and trying to becoming a vital establishment of the neighborhood. They were also under the threat of being lost to urban growth and burn out of the founding members and fighting for survival. Could these three gardens become assets for their neighbors and become resilient?

We are creating pathways for individuals to make deep emotional connections to nature that are being lost in the urban setting. Creating healthier lifestyle changes for individuals and the community for food security. It impacts the environment by creating more shade by minimizing the heat island effect and creating more habitats for nature. It is connecting necessary skills and creating new job opportunities in underserved communities and for a business that needs a new generation and innovation to survive.