Neighbourhood Gardens Create Community Food Security

… Everything I’ve described here we’ve done without government assistance. Our hamlet is a self-initiated, self-supported urban homestead that we’d love to see replicated all over the country. The feature that makes this hamlet concept so attractive is that it can be imitated in any urban setting by neighbors building bonds with one another, collaboratively growing food in neighborhood gardens, making optimal use of their local resources, and lightening their footprint on our overstrained ecosystem.

And gardening, I can tell you, is a veritable magnet for neighbors. In my 30 years of political organizing, I’ve never seen anything break down barriers and foster dialogue like growing food does. In the first 22 years that Kay and I lived on our block, we knew maybe one or two of our neighbors by name. Today, after five years of working to build the hamlet, there are no strangers. We know everybody. We all work together to produce delicious, high-quality food, and we enjoy constantly learning new things. We also feel more secure and content.

More on this amazing neighbourhood initiative, written Tim Rinne for Mother Earth News,  is available  HERE>>