Urban gardening is a growing concern 4.16.11

INDIANAPOLIS STAR

Shelley Etnier sees her community garden plot on the city's Northside as a teaching tool.

She's naming her 4-by-8-foot plot at the Arthur M. Glick JCC "Sophie's Garden," hoping it will instill the gardening bug in her 4-year-old daughter, Sophie Farnum, who attends preschool at the JCC.
"For Easter, I might get her a garden set with tools," Etnier said. "We'll plant basic vegetables -- beans, sugar snap peas and basil. I might let her plant a pumpkin or some sunflowers."
The community gardening concept is taking root in Indianapolis for a variety of reasons.
For some suburban residents, it's a way to teach children about environmentally friendly concepts such as sustainability through growing your own food.
But for others in the inner city, community gardens can provide access to more affordable fresh fruits and vegetables in areas where grocery stores are scarce.
A handful of initiatives are under way locally to spread the community-gardening concept.
Indianapolis Mayor Greg Ballard announced last week that there were about 35 urban vegetable gardens in place in Center Township -- a big step toward his Urban Garden Challenge program's goal of having 50 such "urban farms" by year's end.
Indiana University Health and Keep Indianapolis Beautiful announced last week plans to install vegetable garden plots at nine Indianapolis Public Schools locations the week of May 9-13.
A new urban garden tended by students at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis will grow food for a charity that supplies local food pantries.
Two Westside urban garden projects -- organized by a community organization and a church -- will open up space there for residents to grow food.
The American Community Gardening Association, based in Columbus, Ohio, doesn't track the number of such gardens in the country. However, projects coordinator Vicki Garrett says she sees growth in the hits on its website -- which jumped from 17,000 in 2008 to 392,000 in 2010 -- as well as from questions by phone or email.
Consumers want food grown closer to home and to have more of a hand in the food they eat, Garrett said.
"There is also a need for people who don't have land to have a garden," she said. "I don't think the need for that has been greater than now."

In Center Township

Under the IU Health/KIB plan, nine IPS elementary schools will each get seven 4-by-8-foot raised beds, which will be used to grow food for students to take home and for community distribution. A garden bed was installed at a 10th IPS elementary school last fall.
When they return in the fall, the IPS students will help harvest the food grown, then they'll plant a new crop. Not only will they learn about the life cycle and where food comes from, said Maureen Weber, IU Health's director of community outreach and engagement, the program also encourages healthier lifestyles.
"Our goals are to reduce the incidence of childhood obesity -- as many as 29 percent (of students) are overweight in some schools -- and provide the ability to access fresh fruits and vegetables," she said. "Planting a garden literally produces produce, and it turns the schoolyard into a classroom."
Under the Urban Garden Challenge program, Center Township gardeners can use their own land or apply to install a garden on a city-owned lot, said Kara Brooks, Department of Public Works spokeswoman. About 150 such abandoned, tax-delinquent or problem parcels listed in the Indy Land Bank can be used as community gardens, Brooks said.
Anne Holy helped develop the first garden in the mayor's program last year in the 4900 block of Farrington Avenue.
Organizers rented 15 plots for $20 each to offset costs for construction and watering, Holy said. Most of the gardeners kept the food for their own use, but she thinks such gardens have the potential to feed others, too.
"There are an awful lot of people going hungry," she said. "If we all did this on a small scale, we could feed the entire city. It doesn't have to be huge and fancy."

On the Northside

Planners at the JCC, 6701 Hoover Road, underestimated the popularity of their new community garden.
Within six weeks of the announcement, JCC members claimed all 30 of the 4-by-8-foot plots, said Mindi Epstein, the JCC's marketing coordinator.
The garden was installed April 10 with the help of KIB, and Epstein said she is already scouring the campus for more space.
"I think people are that excited about being outdoors and growing their own food," she said.

On the Westside

Well-known gardening expert Dick "Dr. Dirt" Crum and his wife, Jody, are working with Chapel Rock Christian Church to launch a 150-plot community garden on land at 8650 W. Washington St. that was donated by the Wayne Township school district.
Dick Crum was injured recently while preparing the garden for planting, but other volunteers are still getting it ready, Crum's wife said.
"People want organic, and it's expensive to buy," she said. "We plan to keep it open and running until October."
Other food gardens are being planted on the Near Westside.
After a successful pilot garden launched in 2008 near the Hawthorne Community Center, three other gardens will soon be started on empty land nearby, said Patrice Duckett, Near West coordinator.
Not only do such gardens help beautify abandoned land, she said, they build stronger ties among neighborhood residents.
"We want to make the gardens fit into the neighborhoods with benches to relax and places for kids to play," Duckett said. "Food will be distributed on a neighborhood harvest day, and we'll have a meal with food from the gardens and give away vegetables."

Downtown

A new urban garden at IUPUI also aims to do that, said graduate student Rachel Bennett. It was installed in October and planted again in March.
Student volunteers maintain the 18 raised beds that sit near the Science Building on Blackford Street. Food from the gardens will be donated to Indianapolis-based Global Peace Initiatives.
"The main purpose is to teach about a sustainable garden and to feed the hungry," Bennett said. "We want to provide access to healthy food to people that need it and teach people to do it themselves in their backyards."
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