I’m a big fan of public outdoor space. I think it’s so important for the mental and physical health of a community for there to be a place to gather, play, sit, meditate, garden, exercise, and observe nature.
I was on a call this morning on behalf of Brooklyn Queens Land Trust, with a philanthropic group called the 1834 Project. I got to spend some time advocating for community gardens and what makes them so unique and relevant, especially in difficult times! If we’re looking at a summer where we can’t socialize indoors – in homes, cafes, or restaurants – the demand for free outdoor space will be greater than ever. As communities struggle with food and financial insecurity, the opportunity to learn how to grow food may become a more important skillset than we had realized, as food delivery or Instacart become an increasingly fragile concept.
Many community gardens were born as an act of community resilience. Immigrant and marginalized communities cultivated the soil of empty plots of land, usually in undesirable neighborhoods (well, according to a real estate agent). These early gardeners grew crops as a way to preserve the food heritage of their culture. Now some of these gardens are decades old, and through the work of land trusts or other partnerships, are conserved in perpetuity (no new condos can be built on those plots!). I have no doubt that community gardens will play a vital role in the collective rehabilitation we will all go through after the pandemic. They are staples of our landscape, and their benefits are steadfast. Healing communities is what they have always done and I think they will continue to do.