Community Gardens

Community gardens are opportunities for teaching and growing sustainable nutrition. Community gardens are unique in that they are both cooperative and sharing; it takes a community to sustain the garden, and it feeds the community it is fostered by. Starting a community garden presents its own challenges, because the type of soil available, the irrigation system, and the plan for sustaining the garden can all be difficult. It takes a social responsibility to create and maintain a community garden. Macon’s community garden is small, but the fact that there is one at all is exciting. To know that it could expand if more people were to be involved (possibly a committee of Mercer students) is certainly something to look forward to. The idea of a community garden is simple, but the hardest part is getting willing people to work and profit from the garden.

            According to Mercer’s The Cluster, Mercer has an initiative to begin their own community garden but “In order to make those possibilities into realities, students would need to make more of an effort to connect with the city of Macon and help volunteer with the community”. I think Mercer has the potential to have a much bigger impact on Macon other than just gentrifying Macon. Instead of pushing out the poverty so that our institution looks better, we need to find ways to improve the Macon community that isn’t simply neglect. A community garden could be a small addition to that ideal.