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The Freedom Community garden project
Do you have a love of gardening, would like to start growing your own food but not sure where to start, or want to become more active or involved in the community?
We are looking to create a community garden at Freedom Park on 4th Ave. (next to where the old Liberty School Building was), but need the support of the community in order to proceed to the next steps and show that this is something our citizens are interested in supporting and participating in.
What is a COMMUNITY garden?
Simply put, a community garden is a shared outdoor green space that is used to grow fruits, vegetables, herbs, or ornamental flowers.
It is a collaborative effort among interested parties to create a green space where all people involved participate in the upkeep and maintenance of the garden, learn about sustainable growing practices, build relationships, and develop a sense of belonging.
Local community gardens can produce a lot of food. As a result, they provide a crucial opportunity to increase local food security.
Since the majority of plots in community gardens are allotments, most community gardeners are growing food for themselves or their families.
Similarly, community gardens allow individuals greater control over the quality and type of food they consume. They also increase consumption of healthy, fresh foods, especially fruits and vegetables.
benefits of a community garden
Community gardens are associated with numerous benefits on both a personal and collective level, some of which include:
Improved Mental Health: Evidence suggests that gardening and being in natural surroundings can reduce stress, boost moods and improve overall well being.
Increased Food Security: Access to fresh, healthy food is a challenge for many neighborhoods. Community gardens provide an opportunity to grow high-quality produce at a low cost. They also help to promote a healthier diet.
Enhanced Community Engagement: Community gardens create a space for people to come together and build relationships, fostering a sense of belonging and connection with one’s local environment.
Environmental Benefits: By creating green spaces, community gardens help reduce air pollution, reduce water run-off, promote biodiversity, foster an appreciation for nature, and increase local wildlife habitat.
Neighborhood Benefits: Studies show that green spaces and community gardens increase property values, lower crime, and beautify the surrounding neighborhood.
Food desert
Did you know that Freedom Borough is classified as a food desert according to the USDA?
What is a food desert? They can be described as geographic areas where residents’ access to affordable, healthy food options (especially fresh fruits and vegetables) is restricted or nonexistent due to the absence of grocery stores within convenient traveling or walking distance.
For instance, according to a report prepared for Congress by the Economic Research Service of the US Department of Agriculture, about 2.3 million people (or 2.2 percent of all US households) live more than one mile away from a supermarket and do not own a car.
In urban areas, access to public transportation may help residents overcome the difficulties posed by distance, but economic forces have driven grocery stores out of many cities in recent years, making them so few and far between that an individual’s food shopping trip may require taking several buses or trains.
In suburban and rural areas, public transportation is either very limited or unavailable, with supermarkets often many miles away from people’s homes.
USDA’s Economic Research Service previously identified approximately 6,500 food desert tracts in the United States based on 2000 Census and 2006 data on locations of supermarkets, supercenters, and large grocery stores. These food deserts are areas where people have limited access to a variety of healthy and affordable food.
Unfortunately, our town of Freedom is classified as one of those affected tracts. A community garden can help by providing residents easy and convenient access to locally grown, fresh, healthy, organic produce.
Get involved or learn more
The community garden would have all the tools and equipment needed to start growing your very own fruits, vegetables, herbs, or ornamental flowers in a 4’x10’ raised bed.
There would be a shed to store equipment like shovels, wheelbarrows, rakes, etc. Composting bins will allow us to create our own nutrient rich soil, and water will be supplied by an on-site rain catchment system.
A sunflower garden as well as native perennial garden beds will not only help increase your fruits and vegetables pollination rates, it will also help support local insect and bird populations, increase wildlife diversity, as well as beautify the garden and surrounding area.
Picnic tables and benches will be available to rest your feet after working in the dirt, or to sit and socialize and get to know your fellow neighbors who share the same love of gardening and the outdoors as you do.
A pumpkin patch will be located in the garden as well, in the hopes that the Great Pumpkin may be spotted each Halloween season. 🙂
The initial garden design accounts for 12-15 raised garden beds available to rent, so space is limited. The membership cost to rent a 4’x10’ plot would be nominal. This membership would include access to the community garden, a raised garden bed, use of the tools, shed, water, compost, and soil.
The yield that you grow in your rented plot is your own, and you are free to do with it as you please- keep for yourself and family, donate to a food bank or church, offer to the community, etc.
If you are interested in reserving a plot, or volunteering your skills and talents to help get the community garden up and running, please click on the register button below!
P.S.- Please ignore the 9/14/24 date listed below- the website builder requires me to add something there. There is no event taking place that day. I'm working with the webmaster to fix. Thanks! :)
For any questions feel free to email freedomcommunitygarden@outlook.com