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Posted: May/05/2009 10:55 AM PST
Any one every try this kind of activity??? I have been reading about this and am intrigued. I believe in the cause but as a mother and business owner in a small community I am a bit chicken. |
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Posted: May/05/2009 11:33 AM PST
For those who don't know what it is........ Its planting veggies and edibles in public unused areas, parks, vacant lots. Usually under the cover of darkness. Its feeding the homeless or those who just don't have enough to eat. Its reclaiming useful resources to feed your community. |
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Posted: May/05/2009 11:33 AM PST
I believe you mean "guerrilla" gardening. I have heard of it, wouldn't really recommend it. I would be too chicken to attempt it myself. I actually have mixed feelings about it: while it's nice to want to improve your surroundings and make them better for yourself and others, it's a fine line to cross into stepping on the toes of property owners and making the decisions for public places that should be made by the municipalities in charge. Or put before voters. And if you should get caught? Fined or Prosecuted? Personally, I have plenty of things to keep me busy on my own property, that I should take care of before I even think of improving any place else. But, if I had the spare time, energy and inclination, there are volunteer opportunities abounding around here. There's always the Adopt-a-highway program, the local library is looking for gardening volunteers, and the local zoo has adoptable gardening beds (I think you even get into the zoo for free, any time you want!). Personally, meek goody-two-shoes that I am, I would choose one of these options first. |
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Posted: May/05/2009 12:14 PM PST
My Yard and Garden looks like a Gorilla was turned loose, We plant 5 times what we could possible use, naming our Garden was Maggie's(age 6)Idea "Share Garden", Giving to our Church's Food Pantry, Men's Light House Ministries, and local Families, that could use a few extra veggies, There's always someone in need not more than 1 mile from you, as we speak, I don't mean hand outs or support a bum kind of thing, I mean family's with strained budgets, We will continue to plant five times more than we need, Oh! we set up a veggie stand at out church and only took donations 100% going to the children ministry "Wednesday Parents Night Out Dinner" and raised 90 bucks, wow God Rules!, Your Heart is in the Right Mode thinking of others, Just Gardening Guilt Trip and the Twins Attachments:  |
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Posted: May/05/2009 12:25 PM PST
I do plant more than my family uses, and share it with the community, I live in a rural dairy/coast town on the western edge of the continent. We have a small community garden, and a struggling Food Roots organization. I'm just getting so sick of hearing about lack, and the hungry here in our own country. I just get so sick of seeing excess unused, neglected space that could be used for healing our world problems. I guess I am of the mind that growing and sharing food is the answer to most of the worlds problems if you bring them down the lowest common denominator (besides that I have a naughty streak that really makes this concept appealing 
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Posted: May/05/2009 3:43 PM PST
I hope this isn't a problem posting it, but before Easter my non-catholic church  was given information about The Society of St. Andrew. It's an organization that gathers salvagable foods of all kinds and distributes it to the needy. They take monetary donations and they are non-profit. The ratio of dollar to food items is astounding. They do have a website, too. Besides the trespassing dilemma one might have on private property, one might not be aware of possible ground contaminants there, too. Oh, in case anyone is wondering why the wink, it's because of the 2 separate types of Christianity working together. That's all. |
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Posted: May/05/2009 4:18 PM PST
There is a program out now that helps people contribute to food banks. It is the age old idea of sharing the extra that your garden supplies. It is called "Plant A Row". Here is a website from Indiana that describes how this is done. You could contact a local Farmers Market to see if they participate. We do this in my town. http://www.hhfoodbank.org/plantarow.htm I think this would be a much better and safer idea. In my town we also have communities that plant at a corner in a community park and share the harvest. But gardeners the world over have always shared the harvest with one another. Here is an article written about the program. http://www.gardenwriters.org/gwa.php?p=par/index.h tml |
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Posted: May/05/2009 6:39 PM PST
My earlier post showed up the same time as Sister Fearless' explanation, so I didn't see it before I replied. To be honest, the "feed the homeless" angle didn't cross my mind. I was imagining she meant more along the lines of planting flowers in vacant lots. My appologies, Sister Fearless... It is my understanding that guerrilla gardening refers to any time one or more people tend to property they don't own without permission. Other types of guerrilla gardening that I have heard of include hunters planting food plots in state or national forests to draw the wildlife to a certain area so as to help their chances of a successful hunt, and growing marijuana in national or state forests for, well, the obvious reasons. Yardgranny, I like the idea of "plant-a-row." They encourage that around here, too. Something else that seems to be catching on is community gardens. One nearby city is turning two adjacent vacant lots into a good-sized community garden. It will be divided up into plots, some of which will be available to interested citizens to use, and some set aside to provide food for local shelters. |
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Posted: May/06/2009 7:24 AM PST
If more communities had programs like that there would be no need. I would also like to see every one of our public schools have similar gardens. In fact if there isn't one here by the time my son starts school, you can guess who will be heading THAT committee!!! |
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Posted: May/06/2009 7:58 AM PST
I never thought of the hunters or Marijuana growers. The context that I have been reading have been in slums, inner citys, areas of high homeless, and it has mostly been food. Our town recently planted a lovely flower bed in memory of a local radio dj who passed away a few years ago. But its ALL flowers. Dont misunderstand me, the world certainly needs flowers, but right now I just feel like its an elitist concept when our food roots group is struggling to help keep the local food bank even half stocked. We are a very poor county and its getting worse with the closing of the lumber mills. I just wish they would have acknowledged this need with some food plants in with the pretty flowers. |
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