Connecting Your Farm With Community
Once your garden and/or flock gets to a certain size you’ll quickly realize you have more food than you need for yourself! A huge win on a plot of urban land!
Here are some ideas as to how we have connected to our local community through urban farming work.
Compost is a great way to connect with your local community. Make connections with your favorite restaurant, bar, or coffee shop and teach others about the art of composting. Soon friends and strangers alike will be dropping off their food scraps to add to your pile. Give away your soil when it’s ready.
Share Your Abundance with neighbors, friends, the people who deliver your mail packages, and anyone who seems interested in urban farming. Word of mouth spreads quickly and gardens bring people joy.
Make Your Presence Known by adorning your space with your favorite plants. We have a “fresh eggs” sign amongst a bucket garden on the porch that welcomes everyone who comes by. Hanging plants and colorful flowers will tell the community that someone is working on this space with intentionality and respect.
Curbside Urban Farm Stands tell the community you trust them and want to share the fruits of your labor. The honor system and leaving a note on your produce usually suffices to explain to people your initiative. Leaving food out sends a direct message to your local inhabitants that we can relate to one another differently, and it also allows people that need food to take what they need without judgement.
Teaching By Doing is one of the most powerful things you can do. Rather than waiting for permission, using your imagination and wits to create the outcome you want is inspiring to others. And they pick up on it pretty quick. If they see you do it, they know it’s okay for them to do it too. This is how one chicken coop turned into four on our city block! When you believe in your own abilities, others may find courage in themselves.
These are some simple ways we have connected our farm to our community and our city. The more participants we have in these micro-local projects, the more abundance we will enjoy. On our quest to make the city a safer and more food secure place, we hope to do so as a unified group sharing our resources, talents, and fruits.