Colleen Vanderlinden
READ MORE ABOUT:
Community gardens provide places to grow healthy food, make friends, and learn about how much effort it takes to put food on the table. Pretty important stuff, and this year, community gardens will be celebrated across the country as part of the very first National Community Gardening Week.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced National Community Gardening Week earlier this month, stating: "Community gardens provide numerous benefits including opportunities for local food production, resource conservation, and neighborhood beautification. But they also promote family and community interaction and enhance opportunities to eat healthy, nutritious foods. Each of these benefits is something we can and should strive for."
National Community Gardening Week is just one more example of the increasing attention and appreciation we are seeing, nation-wide, for fresh, healthful, local food. From the First Lady's organic garden at the White House, to the People's Garden at the USDA headquarters, to the thousands of school and community gardens across the country, the community gardening trend is big, and only getting bigger.
Celebrate National Community Gardening Week
If we're going to celebrate community gardening, let's do it right, shall we? Here are some ideas:
- Sign up to volunteer in your neighborhood's community garden. (Find local community gardens here.)
- Oh, you don't have a community garden? Start one!
- Start a garden at your child's school.
Meet your neighbors, teach kids about food, and enjoy fresh, healthy food in the process. Community gardening is definitely an activity worth celebrating.
More: Organic Gardening
Related posts:
35 Ways to Succeed at Organic Gardening
How to Go Green: Gardening
Celebrate National Honey Bee Awareness Day
Learn Permaculture 101 in Gaia's Garden
The Art of Eating
