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The Native is all about encouraging people to become active in their own localities. A community garden is a great way for people to actively create a positive change right where they live. There are numerous benefits that come along with a community garden. Not only for the local environment, but for the people there too! So treat yourself, pick a ripe tomato, and chat it up with the neighbors.
Community gardens allow for access to fresh and healthy, locally grown food. People love to know where they are getting their food from nowadays! With the whole Walmart routine down pat in our lives, we can tend to forget that those eggs didn’t always exist in that carton. Or that steak was once a cow. Or that corn-on-the-cob was once standing tall and gently swaying in the breeze under a sky soaking up the suns red glare on a farm in the mid-west. You get what I’m saying. Okay well, less cow, more corn-on-the-cob for what were talking about here! Gardens! Plants! People! Planting! Plants! Doesn’t that sound wonderful?
But wait, there’s more!
Talk about a good deal y’all.
Not only are community gardens great places to get fresh local food and a meet others in your neighborhood, but they’re also places for learning about and connecting with nature. For many people, a community garden can be the first hands-on experience they have with getting down in the dirt, digging around and getting muddy. Or perhaps it’s the first time they might ever have seen squash growing on the vine.
Nowadays a technological barrier between the people and the plants. We can binge watch nature documentaries on Netflix (which I love and do, so don’t judge me). Showcasing extravagant ecosystems all around the world. So, there exist this un-asked societal question; If I can watch the Himalayan Mountains and the Mariana Trench within the same hour, why would I waste my time walking down to the community garden for a regular old tomato?
Because it’s not all about the wow factor, all the time. Sometimes simple is best. So why would you waste your time at the community garden? To be somebody. To do something. To create, to be. Community gardens offer a place for people to cultivate a neighborhood identity. A place for local food cultures to be celebrated. From local green-thumbs to university students needing to log some community service hours, these are places people can come together and exist with mother nature. These places are especially important to have in urban areas, like Richmond and Farmville.
Farmville has a community herb garden, right alongside high bridge trail, behind the farmers market in town near. If you are a Farmville local, check it out online at https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Charity-Organization/Farmville-Community-Herb-Garden-199420110559614/.
Richmond has various gardens throughout the city. If you are a Richmond local you can search for some near you at http://www.richmondgov.com/CommunityGarden/.
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Snoop Lion has a project focused on community gardens, called "MindGardens." It offers very valuable insight into the many benefits of a community garden and why you should get involved.
From health, to education, environment, and community. Check it out!
The Native encourages you to find a community garden near you. Check it out. Walk around. Smell the roses and pick those tomatoes. Meet the people who are there, if they’re green-thumbs, then they’re probably more than happy to teach you about what grows there. Get Involved. Scuttle on down to the nearest Walmart, we all know you go there anyways, go to the garden center and get some seeds you want to try growing. Plant them in the community garden and learn through experience. Get to know mother nature. Get to know your local Natives. The people and the plants. And all the happy little forest friends as well.
If you want to know more about the benefits of community gardens feel free to check out what The Garden Activist has to say at http://gardenactivist.org/index.php/2016/03/15/benefits-of-community-gardens/.
If you want to know the best places to buy garden seeds online, check out https://porch.com/advice/the-6-best-places-to-buy-garden-seeds-online.
For pollinator seeds, for a pollinator garden, check out https://growtherainbow.com/.
If you are interested in creating your own urban garden, check out this 10-Step guide at https://www.lewisginter.org/community-gardens/.
Thank you all for your support of The Native.
It means the whole wide green and blue world to us here at The Network.
We are on this planet together.
One big community.
So, hang out in the garden for a bit.
At the end of the day, it’s all about how we get along with each other and how we all get along with mother nature.
Carry on and peace out, fellow Natives.
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