Community Garden:

Malcolm X and 117^th Street

 Harlem, New York

For the past month, I have volunteered at the Carrie McCracken garden on Sunday afternoons.  Last summer I made a giant mistake:  there was not a garden plot for me, so I didn’t return to volunteer.  This year, I have no plot, but I go just the same.  And there is plenty for me to do!  Because of gardening’s unpredicatibilty, its transcient nature, its abundance and scarcity, and its dependence on external forces, the idea of everyone taking care of their own plot and only their own is simply impractical. 

Example:  Charleen plants collard greens.  She sprinkles thousands of small seeds, and because of the luck of good weather, way more than she expected take root.  There are way too many for her own garden plot; they will compete with each other for sunlight and none will be successful, so she has to rid her bed of some.  But they are all alive and well and three weeks into their life…it would be such a shame to trash such potential!  So instead, I help her distribute them in other people’s garden beds.  A little guerilla planting of a few along the edges; they won’t mind!  They will either be thrilled that they benefit from the work that someone did for them three weeks ago and now they get to reap the benefits, or they will uproot them and replant them someplace else.  Charleen was simply lucky that her greens were so fruitful:  someone else in the garden this summer is going to put in the same amount of work and nothing will take root because of bad luck and bad weather.  Or it could happen to Charleen next year, so it only makes sense to help each other out when you are the one in the position of abundance. 

Some people live closer to the garden, others further; some people work all week or travel for work while others are retired.  Alexis comes all day on Saturday and Sunday and does extra organizing for the compost and a seedling market, but she cannot come during the week.  For another gardener to water a few extra dry plots it take seconds, but for Alexis without the help of other gardeners to water, all of her work on the weekend would be worthless if it is a dry and sunny week!   Everyone has to put in their time in different ways, and that is part of every community (there is the baker, the shoemaker, the law enforcer…)

Community gardening promotes a communal mentality of sharing.  When I go to a grocery store, I pay for everything that I buy in the exact amount that I want.  No trading, no making, just buying.  If I buy the food that our government supports financially and encourages us to buy (i.e chemical food will not go bad) it will last until I eat it.  This does not promote sharing at all.  What encouragement is there to spend more of my money to feed others?  However, gardening yields unpredictable amounts of food, and if it is a season of abundance, it will yield more than we can eat, and what is beautiful and nutritious today will be inedible and rotting tomorrow.  It will go bad, a shameful waste of our work.  So it only makes sense to share:  it feels better to know we haven’t wasted, and there is the added incentive of knowing that what goes around comes around, and tomatoes shared with your neighbor today may mean potatoes shared with you in the future. 

Community Space:  A community garden is a healthy community space.  Parents, kids, grandparents alike can all enjoy.  Kids can play together in a safe environment, and people can either work or sit and relax.  They bring food to share, music or instruments to play, other work to do, they enjoy the sun and the fresh air, and most notably they enjoy the company in a community space that is not dangerous and does not require they interact in any capitalist exchange (as in a coffee shop or bar).  

A playing and learning environment for kids:  Children come while their parents work their plots of land and play in the designated “kids’ box”.  They can play in the water and the dirt and play with the children of the other gardeners.  There are plenty of adults around to keep a collective eye on them.  They also can “help” their parents do tasks that have a clear reward (you can plant or water and immediately see the successful result of your “work”).  They also can see the results as the summer progresses:  look what our work has brought us!  Not only do they learn the importance of food production and self-sufficiency, they learn the value of work and the satisfaction of accomplishment. 

Today, one woman had made corn bread and plantain bread.  She didn’t seem to have her own garden plot; she just partook in the collective community in her own way.  Another had loud R&B music playing, making the atmosphere inviting and upbeat;  one had brought his guitar; another couple walking by stopped in with their two kids when they felt the positive vibes.  Pierre, who had stopped in, helped digging up some old rubble (unfortunately, most New York community gardens are on plots of land where there were once buildings and the land was never properly cleared).  He had to do pry something free from the earth and after he was successful and he cheered himself on with his little boy, he said, “I don’t think he’s ever gotten to see his daddy do manual labor before!”  (remember:  this is inner-city, not the Midwest).  Next weekend they are having a Memorial Day BBQ party, as they have parties for every holiday during the summer.  They spend a great day with doors open to the garden, open to anyone who wants to partake in their community.  I feel so empowered just thinking about it!!