Community gardening is about more than growing a garden. It's about growing a community. Building on the gardening experience, communities reap numerous benefits at the individual, family, neighborhood and greater community levels.
A community garden is any plot of land where people gather to garden. What is grown there varies as much as people's preferences. Some consist of only flowers, others vegetables, but the options are limited only by the amount of land, type of soil and human input.
"Gardening is increasing in popularity, and communities all over the country are developing community gardens," Jane Ellery, Ball State wellness management professor, said. "Delaware County is no exception."
Several community gardens exist in Muncie, including one located at the Maring-Hunt branch of the Muncie Public Library. The Buley Center has a small plot that school-aged students work on together, as does Motivate Our Minds. Union Chapel Ministries has a one-acre community garden located on its Broadway Avenue campus.
Last summer a group participated in community gardening at the Maring-Hunt library. Kellie Arrowood, who works at TEAMwork for Quality Living, attends Ivy Tech and is mother of three boys, gardened there alongside her children, friends and neighbors.
"The benefits of working that little patch of land are amazing," she said. "There is nothing in the world like seeing your colleagues hacking away clods of dirt, laughing when the unyielding ground refuses to give more than an inch at a time."
The benefits of community gardening certainly aren't limited to the joys of playing in the dirt, though for Arrowood's 8-year-old son, that and watering the plot were pure pleasure.
Other benefits of a community garden range from growing nutritious, fresh foods to building self-reliance and increasing access to healthy foods. It's also believed that children who help grow gardens are more likely to eat the foods they help raise. And garden fresh food tastes better, too.
"If you don't use pesticides you'll have to use alternate methods — your food is so amazingly delicious." Arrowood said. "I cannot mention the taste difference with enough emphasis."
A range of intellectual benefits accompany gardening, too.
Working with others on a variety of plant species provides the opportunity to learn and refine skills relevant to planting and maintaining a healthy, productive garden. Math and organizational skills are also involved as crops are planted in certain proximity to and distances from others.
"Sharing stories while gardening with the other people at the community garden is awesome as well," Arrowood said. "There is so much to learn, every bit of information shared is one more lesson you do not have to personally experience."
From an emotional standpoint, there is a certain therapeutic benefit to gardening, which stems from its routineness and also from spending time connecting with nature.
"I learned for the first time that gardening can be fun," Dorica Young, Circles Coach-Coordinator and case manager at TEAMwork for Quality Living, said. "Yes, there is lots of sweat and hard work, but it can be relaxing and freeing. As a gardener, I was able to reinvent myself. I realized that I do possess a ‘green thumb.'"
Young also used community gardening as a platform for developing a dual hobby — gardening and photography.
"I went from a person who believed that I would kill any living thing, to a person who photographed every stage of growth for my melons and greens," Young said.
From a wellness perspective, community gardening is about as well-rounded as possible. So much so, that Ellery is offering a class this summer for Ball State students and individuals from the Muncie community to participate in and document the community garden experience.
Ellery said the immersive experience will teach gardening skills, provide opportunities to learn from various neighborhood community gardens, develop a creative project related to community gardening and much more.
Get involved in a community garden this spring. Grow fresh food. Learn new skills. Be well.
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