Ebook: Start a community food garden: the essential handbook

Community gardening enhances the fabric of towns and cities through social interactions and accessibility to fresh food, and has an enormously positive effect on the lives of everyone it touches. And with more than 18,000 (and growing) gardens spread through the United States and Canada, they are quickly becoming a primary source for fresh food in urban, suburban, and rural areas. LaManda Joy, the founder of Chicago's Peterson Garden Project and a board member of the American Community Gardening Association, has worked in the community gardening trenches for years and brings her knowledge to the wider world in Start a Community Food Garden. This hardworking guide covers every step of the process: fundraising, community organizing, site sourcing, garden design and planning, finding and managing volunteers, and managing the garden through all four seasons. A section dedicated to the basics of growing was designed to be used by community garden leaders as an educational tool for teaching new members how to successfully garden.;Without community, it's just a garden: getting organized -- Get the party started: meetings with a mission -- Bringing the garden to life: planning and design -- Taking care of garden business: a structure for sustainability -- Mobilizing: developing a team of gardeners and volunteers -- The year-round community: keeping it fun -- Groundwork for success: teaching new gardeners -- Twenty-one vegetables to sow, harvest, store, and serve.