#Fast4earth Volunteer in a community garden
Plant your seed in the morning and keep busy all afternoon, for you don’t know if profit will come from one activity or another—or maybe both. – Ecclesiastes 11:6
It was during hard lockdown in South Africa that the seeds of a boom in urban gardening were born. Many people were left without jobs and desperate for a way to survive. Coming from rural areas, many had the skills to grow their own food. For other people, being stuck at home gave them a chance to realise a dream to get their vegetable garden going, and others started one as there wasn’t a lot else to do! Churches and NGOs began to add seeds and seedlings to food parcels that they were handing out.
Across South Africa the CANS (community action networks) linked under-resourced communities with more well off ones, and were able to help local communities start dozens of community gardens on waste land. Often this was hard work, as the waste land had become a dumping area for rubble and rubbish, full of glass and plastic. It is a tribute to the hard work of community members to see these gardens coming alive
From backyard veggie gardens to communal gardens, people are rediscovering the skills and joy of growing your own food. People are turning verges into food gardens and digging up wasteful grass lawns so that they can feed their families and give away to those in need.
It is happening all over the world! Atlanta has created the nation’s largest free food forest to address food insecurity, with 50 volunteers helping out.
https://edition.cnn.com/2021/02/22/us/atlanta-free-food-forest-trnd/index.html
The Episcopal church has the wonderful “good news gardens” programme https://www.episcopalchurch.org/good-news-gardens/
There are so many ways to help, get involved with clearing and digging – dig up your verge and plant some seeds for a free harvest by passers-by. Sponsor compost or gardening equipment for a community garden…. Plant a fruit tree on a public space and water it for two years….