One of the criticisms I've heard of community gardens is that outside volunteers are brought in haphazardly, and that the community surrounding the garden has limited involvement with the garden. I went into our gardening sort of with this idea, because obviously they were bringing outside students to help out. However, as we got working on the street, I saw a few neighbors come out to watch or to help out. And that made me realize that, even if we were outside volunteers, we still helped the community take pride in itself. Plus, it gave our class time to bond!
As we prepare to write our reflections, what were your initial impressions on the community surrounding Egleston? Did gardening strengthen the surrounding community, our class community, or neither? How did you feel about Egleston on Tuesday, compared to after gardening Thursday?
Feel free to talk further about the idea of using volunteers in
Sam's post!
I felt like our work definitely helped build community, but I felt like it was more among our class than with neighborhood residents. There were a few neighbors who came out while we were working, but I think that if we had worked with more of the residents, we might have experienced more of a personal connection to the project.
ReplyDeleteI loved watching cars drive by and slow down to take a look at what we were doing in the street. I think this was a great experience to beautify a community and to help our class community. I think the street looked better by a lot after just one day of less than 30 students working on it. However I agree with you Liz, as I also got the sense that after we would work on the street it might just go to waste if other volunteers did not work on the street after us.
ReplyDeleteThe part I found odd about the community building was that only a few people came out. Was it Jim or Bill that gave us the hose? He was helpful - and friendly, but I also saw quite a few people stay inside and just look out. It would have been really fun to work alongside some of the people in the neighborhood. I also do wonder who will maintain the gardens, especially the flower gardens in the middle of the street!
ReplyDeleteI agree with the above comments. I was glad to see some of the residents, but it would have been nice to see more. I also would be intrigued to go back next year and see if things were maintained. I was disappointed to see that the garden wasn't better maintained and that was done last year.
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