Community Garden proposal

The Mount Airy Community Garden
By Tim Richards, Haverford College ‘09

Description

On average, food in the United States travels 1,300 miles from place of origin to location of consumption. America produces 25% of the world’s greenhouse gases with only five percent of the world population. The majority of American food is produced by large agribusinesses, which use pesticides, chemical fertilizers, irradiation, and genetically modified foods, all of which are extremely deleterious to human health yet located in almost everything that the majority of Americans eat, unbeknownst to them. Given the looming threat of global warming and the high rates of cancer and obesity in the United States, food production and distribution are serious issues that need to be addressed. Americans buy unhealthy food from supermarkets, a highly inefficient, unsustainable, and unreliable process. If oil were to run out or come into scarcity, there would be no way for food to be shipped to the supermarkets, and people would literally be in danger of starving. If the majority of America is reliant on this shipping system to receive some commodity so basic and essential to survival as food, then the population is in a tenuous position, particularly considering the volatility of the oil commodity and facing no good alternative, renewable, sustainable sources of energy.

Fortunately, there is a solution to both the environmental and health aspects of the food dilemma – local organic agriculture. Growing local food ensures a reliable source of food for communities that will remain constant even if there were to be an energy crisis. Residents of the community are guaranteed access to cheap, clean, healthy and nutritious organic food. The community is connected to the source from which their food comes, fostering a sense of trust and collaboration among the residents. The food is organic, meaning that it was farmed in a sustainable way, ensuring a healthy local ecosystem that yields healthier, more nutritious, and safer foods. Also, traveling only a few miles to be sold rather than thousands of miles means significantly lower carbon emissions.

I had the idea of initiating a community garden in my hometown of Mount Airy, Maryland that would grow local, fresh, organic food in order to promote health, community synergy, and withdrawal from systems of structural violence perpetuated by mass food production in the United States. The garden would have a communally worked section for output vegetables to be sold at the local farmer’s market, an event that is just now being organized by a downtown business association. I have been in contact with the association, who has responded favorably to having the community garden provide goods to be sold at the market. We will also provide some of the food output from the communal section to be donated to the Mount Airy NET, a charity organization that provides food to the needy and hungry in our community. The donations would ensure that those most affected by the structural violence of the food system, the poor, would have just access to their basic human right of clean, healthy food. The garden could provide free fresh local food to the needy families so that they get optimal nutrition for their bodies, minds, and souls on a regular basis during the harvest season. The garden will also have individual plots that can be rented by interested individuals, families, or organizations that are interested in gardening and growing their own food but do not have the space or resources to do so. In this way, the community garden serves as an educational and outreach tool to the community to learn about the benefits of local agriculture, organic food, and community collaboration for common ends. I envision offering fieldtrips to local elementary, middle, and high schools to learn about gardening and agricultural issues as well as offering workshops available to the community at large to teach the methods and benefits of local agriculture and organically grown food.

I am forming a community gardening cooperative that will be responsible for the planning, design, planting, upkeep, and harvest of the garden. The revenue generated from the farmer’s market sales and rental plots, along with any excess funds from the grant, will become part of a collective fund that will be used for the upkeep of the garden and for future projects to be initiated by the cooperative, including community bio-diesel manufacture, purchasing solar panels for town buildings, starting a local organic restaurant cooperative, or possibly establishing a small community farm. The idea is to use the community garden as a starting point for progressive environmental and social activities in Mount Airy. The garden will serve as a centerpiece around which other projects will blossom.

I am working with several groups on the project, including the Mount Airy Beautification Commission, the Mount Airy Parks and Recreation Commission, the Mount Airy Town Council, Mount Airy Garden Club, Mount Airy NET, and the Downtown Business Association. I am also coordinating with the Washington, D.C. based NGO Friends of Animals who will be writing about the project in their magazine and publishing information about the project on their website, and who have been providing logistical and moral support as well as encouragement for the project.

The community garden cooperative will begin planning and developing the design and logistics of the garden plot in February. The garden will be sized at 40ft by 40ft. It will definitely be located on publicly owned land, possibly even parkland. A fence to keep out animals and possible vandals will enclose it. There will be a meeting area with picnic tables and benches, as well as a message board with information about plot assignments, crop rotation, harvest schedules, techniques and general educational material. The tilling, planting, and fence construction will be commenced in the early spring. Soil testing will determine what organic fertilizers or nutrients will be needed, if any. We will be consulting many community gardening manuals for careful planning, implementation, and maintenance of the garden.

Ultimately, the community garden project is about planting the power of peace at the grassroots level, allowing it to sprout and flourish throughout the community, providing a model to germinate in other communities as well. With enough cross-pollination, we have a bottom-up solution to a massive systemic problem that is not being and cannot wait to be addressed by those at the top in power. A community garden represents a practical hands-on apparatus for social and environmental justice that normal citizens can access without devoting their lives to becoming activists. We can participate in conscious efforts for peace, but these can be undermined if something as fundamental to our lifestyles as our eating habits promotes social, economic, and environmental violence. Combating the effects of a deleterious system would be incomplete without addressing the source of the problems that create the harmful effects to begin with. A community garden addresses the roots of the problem of U.S. food production and distribution, supplanting the invasive species with a sustainable, local, and healthy solution crop.

Budget

Tentative costs:
-Topsoil: $30/cubic yard, 40 cubic yards = $1,200
-Soil testing kits: $50
-Outdoor water holding tank (706 gal, 2 ft deep by 8 Ft. circumference): $249.50
-Irrigation system (drip hoses and accessories): $75
-Outdoor tool shed (12X12 ft., installation included): $1,100
-Shovels: $20 each, 10 total = $200
-Rakes: $15 each, 10 total = $150
-Hoes: $15 each, 10 total = $150
-Garden gloves: $15/pair, 10 pairs = $150
-Roto-tiller: $2,200
-Liability insurance: $876
-150 LF of 72'' height all black vinyl coated chain link fence and one 10' wide double swing gate + installation: $2,700.00
-Sign materials: 8 pressure-treated 8-ft 2x4’s - $3.47 each, 3 pressure-treated sheets 1⁄2 inch plywood - $21.59 each, 1 pack shingles, $11.48, 1 lb. 16-penny sinkers $2.25, 1 3x2 ft. sheet plexiglass 1⁄4 thick $33.12, 2 brass hinges $3.60 each, 1 small weather-proof padlock $7.88, 2 bags ready-mix concrete, $4.88 each, 2 lbs. roofing nails $1.65/lb, 2 2x4 ft. roofing felt pieces $18.23/roll, 1 lb. 2in. galvanized woodscrews $5.28, stain for sign: $20.94 = total: $211.97
-Picnic tables: 3 tables, $150 each = $450
-Fertilizers, soil enhancers, peat moss, lime, manure, compost to be purchased on an as-needed basis
Total: $9762.47

Note: I will seek out donations and discounts from local businesses wherever possible, however the above is meant to represent costs assuming no outside aid.

-Also, the roto-tiller is included only if needed to prepare and maintain the land. If it is deemed unnecessary or can be borrowed temporarily, the excess funds will be used to go into the collective fund and directed into future projects as mentioned in the description. All materials such as tools and gloves will be communal and stored in the shed for use by the cooperative gardening group as well as those who rent individual plots.