Our Community, Our Justice: Urban Gardens

If NYC can take anything from Tropical Storm Irene, it is two things: we are lucky and, with the exception of our outdated plumbing system and infrastructure, partially prepared.

Unfortunately, most upstate farms were neither. According to an August issue of the Daily News, more than 80 percent of upstate family farms that provide produce for NYC’s 53 green markets were damaged by the storm. When it is that late in the summer crop season, it’s highly improbable that the nearly 190 inundated farms will be able to recuperate in time to yield the carrots, onions, spinach, baby beets, arugula, winter squash and pumpkins that we normally expect to see by the fall. There has been sparse coverage of the farming families who have been devastated by the utter collapse of the pumpkin market for this year’s Halloween season. Some farmers have seen as much as 20,000 pumpkins fall prey to the storm — we can expect higher prices at the grocery store.

But that does not mean that farmers’ market enthusiasts should freight. If anything, I see this as an opportunity for urbanites to support one of the most underutilized assets: empty lot gardens. These urban diamonds turn vacant lots, which are otherwise filled with shredded tires, rodents and debris, into bearers of community empowerment.

According to Green Guerilla, a nonprofit started by Liz Christy in 1973 amidst economic hardships, there are currently 600 community gardens in the City.

At East New York’s New Vision Garden — which is located by the Van Siclen 3-train station — youth groups, public schools, churches and community centers visit to plant their own patch of greenery. Whether they immediately notice it or not, their seeds reap the indispensable qualities of teamwork, patience, attentiveness, self-achievement and, one of the more undermined virtues in the inner-city, health consciousness.

Health

Unfortunately, there are virtually more fast food restaurants than patches of grass on any given block. By no surprise, the CDC reports that childhood obesity rates increased from 5 percent in 1980 to 17 percent in 2010; the percentage for non-Hispanic black females between the age of 12 and 19 increased to about 28 percent during the same period. When I look at the beauty and benefits of New Vision Garden next to the sugar and poverty blight that continues to go neglected, I ask, “What’s going on?” Brooklyn leaders should encourage community members to grow more and get youth involved in the process. The gardens save money and fortify families.

History

The use of urban gardens as a response to natural and economical disasters is not a new phenomenon by any stretch — their roots go as deep as six-and-a-half decades back. If you ever speak to an urban farmer from Brooklyn, you are likely to hear them recount of the glorious Victory Gardens that fed so many families both physically and spiritually during WWII. In 1945, the Civilian Defense Volunteer Office encouraged urbanites to utilize as many empty lots as possible to cultivate foliage turnips (for greens), New Zealand spinach, onions (from sets), leaf lettuce, Swiss chard, potatoes, beans, tomatoes, radishes and beets, which are still common novelties for urban farms. Eventually, the movement became so powerful that nearly 50,000 urban farmers were cultivating 17,000 farms in Brooklyn’s backyard — that is nearly 230 acres of land.

President Harry Truman was so impressed by the gardens that he urged citizens to keep up the work.

“The value of gardening in building strong bodies, healthy minds and happy people has never been greater. Today we need physical strength…we need moral strength to combat inflation and other economic dislocations; we need spiritual strength to see us through…trying days…We need relaxation, happiness and congenial relationships among our people. These needs can be met in great part by continuing a program which involves the participation of millions of Americans in home gardening.”

A Call for Leaders

Call me a romanticist, but I still envision a nation where it isn’t out of line for a politician to stand at a podium and laud the positive impact that a community garden can foster during economic hardships and natural disasters. And perhaps this is even more extreme, but I don’t think it should be too far out of touch to see First Lady Michelle Obama take her fight against childhood obesity to the empty lots of the inner-city. They are all so valuable, yet, they are seldom spoken about, nor are there a series of well-known incentives for those who take up the venture to stay afloat. Although the gardens take a lot of time and dedication, what they reap eclipses environmentalism: It is about empowering communities and its youth. I hope some leaders will emerge and take the gardens under their wing.