Join the GardenSwap
By Vanessa Richins
Do you have land, but no time to do any gardening?
Or do you love to garden, but don’t have a space to use?
A new service would match landowners with urban gardeners.
Cultivating Sustainable Communities (CSC) is starting a new program called GardenSwap. Participants could sign up, noting whether they have garden space, or are looking for a yard to use. They would then be matched together and share in the produce harvest.
As their website GardenSwap explains, “Urban food gardens are not only fun; they support low-carbon food production, create economic development, inspire healthful eating, build community, create opportunities for education, address watershed health concerns, create productive green open space, and beautify communities.
As the national and global economy currently illustrates, there is a need to be more self-sufficient in our community when it comes to basic necessities such as food. Establishing urban gardens is vitally important for the well-being of our communities and needs to be recaptured in today’s society.
These gardens can supplement our household food needs, function as hands-on learning laboratories, create productive green space, and in some cases produce surplus that can contribute to a local low-carbon food economy. ”
CSC will work to arrange the matches, provide training, and be available to answer any questions that may come up. They will also check in with the participants from time to time to make sure that the garden experience is going well.
There will be a small yearly fee charged to belong to the GardenSwap program. They will be able to receive free garden instructions from CSC.
Currently, this program is based in Los Angeles, where CSC is located. They say that perhaps other local groups could be formed if interest is there.
I love programs like this. I am going to look into starting one here in Utah. Have you heard of any in your area?
October 27th, 2008 at 3:48 am
There are murmurs of something like this starting here in Seattle. We’ll have to look into this. Imagine what we could do with a decent sized plot of land! Food for a whole city!! LOL
October 28th, 2008 at 1:44 am
My mom lives in a suburban area, but I know for a fact that she would love for a guerrilla gardener (don’t know how “guerrilla” it is when the homeowner is begging for you to come?!) to adopt the strip of land between the side of her house and the road.
I think technically, the land is the city’s property, but my parents and their neighbor are supposed to maintain it. It is pretty neglected because the soil almost pure sand and my mom doesn’t have the time to or interest in amending the soil and planting something there. But if someone who was short on space wanted to claim the land, I am sure my parents would give them permission and the use of my parent’s hose.