Community gardens get online presence
Community gardeners in the city of Lethbridge have a new tool to stay connected as Environment Lethbridge is providing an online network to grow and share information and support.
Community gardens are public plots of land which are available for members of the community to come together and garden collectively.
Kathleen Sheppard, Executive Director with Environment Lethbridge, said the network is one of the ways the city has been looking at in order to provide support to community gardens in Lethbridge.
“The City was looking for ways to make those experiences (taking part in a community garden) positive for everybody,” Sheppard said.
It was felt a network would be a good formal way for those involved in the gardens to support each other. Environment Lethbridge volunteered to host and help facilitate that network, providing support through organization and a virtual space for the network to exist.
“Our goal is to provide resources, information, support, and communication tools so these different gardens can talk to each other and learn tips and techniques — that sort of thing,” said Sheppard.
The Lethbridge Community Garden Network has five goals: improve food security, increase available resources for community gardens, increase awareness on the benefits of community gardens, increase the number of people gardening in Lethbridge, and increase opportunities for community interaction.
There are eight community gardens in the city, four of which are located on lands owned by the City of Lethbridge.
The Community Garden Network is comprised of representatives from Environment Lethbridge, Chinook Food Connect, Lethbridge Sustainable Living Association, and the City of Lethbridge, along with members from existing community gardens such as the Campus Roots Community Garden, Interfaith Food Bank of Lethbridge, and the Westminster Neighbourhood Garden.
“Having a network of experienced people and organizations to draw on will be a great benefit to our community garden,” Kristina Larkin, with the Westminster Neighbourhood Garden stated in a recent news release. “We’ll be able to share our experiences and information, to support the creation and development of our gardens and communities.”
Community gardens are an important local feature because their existence supports local food in the city, while promoting environmental stewardship and connecting people to their food.
“These are spaces where people can interact. They can talk to their neighbours about their carrots and zucchinis, and build connections in the community,” said Sheppard.
“It helps to build our resiliency, because people have skills to grow their own food, and there are spaces to grow food. Those kinds of things are really important.”
Anyone interested in learning about the Lethbridge Community Garden Network is encouraged to contact Environment Lethbridge at info@environmentlethbridge.org or by visiting environmentlethbridge.ca.