Volunteer In A Community Garden

I came across an article in the local newspaper the other day about the growing popularity of community gardens.  Community gardens are usually located in or near cities and often benefit charities such as food banks, as well as the community.

In Oklahoma City, the Regional Food Bank of Oklahoma has an Urban Harvest program to grow healthy vegetables for those in need.  It has helped develop at least 40 community gardens all over Oklahoma in the hopes that these gardens will donate left-over veggies to charity. 

All it takes to start a community garden is a little bit of vacant land and, well, a community.  And, of course, volunteers willing to get their hands dirty once a week or so in return for fresh vegetables and better health. 

I wonder why more churches don't have community gardens?  Most of them have at least a little land and plenty of people who probably would be willing to pitch in.  What the community didn't use could be donated to their local food pantry, or even sold at the Farmers' Market to raise money for the church.

And what school doesn't have land that would be perfect for a community garden.  And lots of little farmers that would love to get their hands dirty and learn to grow healthy, vitamin-filled food?  How happy would a kid be to bring home a basket of tomatoes that he had helped to grow and harvest?

There are lots of opportunities out there going to waste.  If you would like to know more about starting a community garden, you can visit http://www.regionalfoodbank.org/Programs/Urban-Harvest

That's definitely not the only place with information on community gardening.  Resources are abundant on the internet - just Google "community gardening".

If you have experience in community gardening, please comment and let us know.