Purposes of Community Organic Gardening - Assignment Example

? Community Organic Garden Lecturer Purposes of Community Organic Gardening The reasons of carrying out this community project include beatifying neighborhoods, increasing fruit and vegetable consumption, improving social connections, decreasing crime, improving physical activity and property values, decreasing obesity, and diabetes or food expenditures. These are the core purposes of the community organic garden that have remained the inspiration for community gardens that were started in the community. Organic gardens can have invigorating purpose for devastated communities and help in increasing the aesthetic appeal of the community physical environment. Community organic gardens have also been documented in order to give people of the community a sense of achievement and boost self-confidence. The precise purpose of a community organic garden varies depending on the entity that developed it. For instance, the Park Heights Community Garden severs to improve dietary habits in the Park Heights neighborhood of Baltimore while the Community Organic Vegetable Garden at Morgan State University minimizes obesity as a part of their goals and objectives. In addition, people do participate in community gardening for different reasons. For instance, to some people, community gardening is a social interaction while to others it is the chance to learn a new skill (Paling, Miszkiewicz, Abbas & Zambon, 2008). Community organic gardening challenges Community organic gardening is associated with various challenges ranging from planning phase to implementation and execution. The concerns and issues of community gardening heavily depend on the participants, their initiatives and their goals of the gardening. For instance, community gardening on campuses of college creates a complex situation. The season of community gardening conflicts the academic school years. This was the period when a garden in most climates needed the most maintenance students have retreated to their home towns leaving the bulk of the work on a few individuals. In addition, it is not feasible to ask students to devote their time that is already strained with sports, classes, working and other extracurricular activities. Community gardening is not easy work by any means and can take many hours. To other people, it is not very appealing to devote time towards something that does not improve immediately their educational experience (Tropman, 1995). Goals and objectives of community organic gardening Community organic gardening outlines the following objectives: To provide nourishing fruits, vegetables, and herbs to MSU surrounding community To bring forth homogeneity and cohesiveness within the MSU and the Stonewood-Penston Community To demonstrate student and community self-sufficiency To expand gardening efforts to a cooperative food initiative To improve sustainability In addition, the Adopt-a-Bed Cooperative will assist in increasing homogeneity and cohesiveness through bringing together communities members who would not ordinarily be exposed to one another. The main Strategy to increase the community engagement would be through the following: Expanding the community organic garden Increase and maintain the participation of the students and members of the community Provide organic nourishing vegetable, fruits and herbs to the Morgan campus and surrounding community Identify formal and informal leaders in the community to direct us towards different organizations in the community Demonstrate students and community self –sufficiency Increase the number of beds from 5 last year to 10 this year Organize farmer market in the community Create opportunities to recruit more students and more people in the community Target and recruit at least 5 organizations in the community (Tropman, 1995). Use of community organic gardens The efforts of community engagements involve some kind of incentivizing. This means that community gardening participates in its own incentive. The space of the garden may be used as a venue for various events that appeal to the members of the community and/or students. The members of community in community organic garden make it inherent that a great deal that engagement and community outreach that must take place for a project of organic garden must be successful. The exploiting the benefits of community organic gardening to the members in the surrounding community and current volunteers will obviously motivate sustained participation. Involving and engaging the participants in the efforts of community organic gardening lays the platform for improved social capital within the Northwood community (Jerabek, McMain &Van Roekel, 2002). Community gardens and service learning Service learning is probably the most important and significant manner through which students attain knowledge compared to any other. While community organic gardening can provide a well working knowledge of plant morphology and physiology, Integrated Pest Management, plant ecology, and agricultural practices, it lends to the community participants a sense of giving back to their own community. Community organic gardening provides a form of service learning which enables the participants to get their hands literally dirty. This is because there are many frustrations that come along with community organic gardening. The community organic gardening participants learn to depend on the strengths of others. This practice can prove to be a humbling process for the erudite in particular (Hoffmann, Antwi-Nsiah, Feng & Stanley, 2008). Project activities The activities of community engagement exists at the heart of the efforts that undertaken by the community organic garden. The community organic garden participants have engaged themselves in such activities as seasonal clean ups, weekly meetings, a movie night, and regular maintenance. Tours have also been hosted at the garden. In addition community organic garden performs a periodic neighborhood walk-through and produce hand-outs, and member have participated in building, arts and other projects (Dewney & Harris, 1992). Community engagement success and challenges In the early times, the presence of the community was obvious and the local home owners supported the gardening through giving their blessing. As time progressed there was a dwindled presence of community members at the garden. This was justified by the times in which gardening takes place, which conflicts with the typical schedule of a working class community. Consistent participation from the Northwood community members as well as from MSU students has been a challenge for community organic garden. In most cases, few dedicated community members become over whelmed with the daily logistics and maintenance of the garden. The community organic garden has the impetus to become a cornerstone on the Northwood community. The community organic garden provides a venue for the members of the community and students to work and learn together. Students benefit from experiential learning as the garden is applicable to many degree programs on campus such as Nutritional Science, Public Health, Landscape and Architecture among others. A community leader will also be given a chance to aid in the implementation of the community organic gardening (Taft, 1988). References Dewney, P. & Harris, R. M. (1992). Community information needs: The case of wife assault. Library and Information Science Research, 14(1), 5-29. Hoffmann, K., Antwi-Nsiah, F., Feng, V. & Stanley, M. (2008). Library Research Skills: A Needs Assessment for Graduate Student Workshops. Issues in Science & Technology Librarianship, 53. Jerabek, A. J., McMain, L. M. & Van Roekel, J. L. (2002). Using needs assessment to determine library services for distance learning programs. Journal of Interlibrary Loan, Document Delivery and Information Supply, 12 (4), 41-61. Paling, S. W., Miszkiewicz, M., Abbas, J. & Zambon, J. (2008). A Model for Assessing Digital Image Use and Needs: Report of a Study into Digital Image Use in North American Dental Education. Library Resources &Technical Services, 52 (3), 173-83. Tropman, E. (1995). Community Needs Assessment. Encyclopedia of Social Work. Washington D.C.: NASW Press. Taft, M. (1988). Automation and human resource management. Library Journal. 113(12), 44-46. Read More