What Gardens Grow
Supporting home and community gardening is a core activity of many community-based organizations (CBOs) that are leading the food justice movement in the U.S. Using mixed methods across multiple action-research studies with five food justice CBOs, this paper documents myriad layers of benefits that...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems
2018-07-01
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| Series: | Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
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| Online Access: | https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/612 |
| _version_ | 1827836022636937216 |
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| author | Christine M. Porter |
| author_facet | Christine M. Porter |
| author_sort | Christine M. Porter |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Supporting home and community gardening is a core activity of many community-based organizations (CBOs) that are leading the food justice movement in the U.S. Using mixed methods across multiple action-research studies with five food justice CBOs, this paper documents myriad layers of benefits that gardening yields.
Our participatory methods included conducting extensive case studies with five CBOs over five years; quantifying food harvests with 33 gardeners in Laramie, Wyoming, and surveying them about other gardening outcomes (20 responded); and conducting feasibility studies for assessing health impacts of gardening with two of the five CBOs, both in Wyoming.
Analyses of these diverse data yielded four categories of gardening benefits: (1) improving health; (2) producing quality food in nutritionally meaningful quantities; (3) providing cultural services; and (4) fostering healing and transformation.
Examining these results together illustrates a breadth of health, food, and cultural ecosystem services, and social change yields of home and community food gardening in these communities. It also points to the need to support CBOs in enabling household food production and to future research questions about what CBO strategies most enhance access to and benefits of gardening, especially in communities most hurt by racism and/or insufficient access to fresh food. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:18:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5f316fddc8a94a98a2d89c91fba60947 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2152-0801 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-12T06:18:43Z |
| publishDate | 2018-07-01 |
| publisher | Lyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food Systems |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |
| spelling | doaj.art-5f316fddc8a94a98a2d89c91fba609472023-09-03T02:20:49ZengLyson Center for Civic Agriculture and Food SystemsJournal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development2152-08012018-07-018A10.5304/jafscd.2018.08A.002612What Gardens GrowChristine M. Porter0University of WyomingSupporting home and community gardening is a core activity of many community-based organizations (CBOs) that are leading the food justice movement in the U.S. Using mixed methods across multiple action-research studies with five food justice CBOs, this paper documents myriad layers of benefits that gardening yields. Our participatory methods included conducting extensive case studies with five CBOs over five years; quantifying food harvests with 33 gardeners in Laramie, Wyoming, and surveying them about other gardening outcomes (20 responded); and conducting feasibility studies for assessing health impacts of gardening with two of the five CBOs, both in Wyoming. Analyses of these diverse data yielded four categories of gardening benefits: (1) improving health; (2) producing quality food in nutritionally meaningful quantities; (3) providing cultural services; and (4) fostering healing and transformation. Examining these results together illustrates a breadth of health, food, and cultural ecosystem services, and social change yields of home and community food gardening in these communities. It also points to the need to support CBOs in enabling household food production and to future research questions about what CBO strategies most enhance access to and benefits of gardening, especially in communities most hurt by racism and/or insufficient access to fresh food.https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/612Home GardensFood DignityCommunity GardensPublic HealthCommunity Food SystemsCommunity Food Production |
| spellingShingle | Christine M. Porter What Gardens Grow Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development Home Gardens Food Dignity Community Gardens Public Health Community Food Systems Community Food Production |
| title | What Gardens Grow |
| title_full | What Gardens Grow |
| title_fullStr | What Gardens Grow |
| title_full_unstemmed | What Gardens Grow |
| title_short | What Gardens Grow |
| title_sort | what gardens grow |
| topic | Home Gardens Food Dignity Community Gardens Public Health Community Food Systems Community Food Production |
| url | https://www.foodsystemsjournal.org/index.php/fsj/article/view/612 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT christinemporter whatgardensgrow |