Whatever the name, urban gardening flourishing in region

Great Recession, now pandemic pushing more to be self-sufficient, reclaim land, improve climate

By Madeline Anderson

Urban agriculture is about more than food.

It’s a strategy to gain transparency and take ownership of and responsibility for our food systems and our environment. It’s a collective mobilization effort: building up the businesses, places of worship, schools and every neighbor in a given community.

Even if you don’t have your hands in the soil yourself, many public gardens’ education and economic initiatives reverberate around the area for generations.

A metaphor for life

Also called urban farming, urban gardening or urban growing, these terms for growing food within metropolitan areas may describe different ways of transitioning our food systems from reliance on traditional, rural crop agriculture to ones closer to home.

Community gardening, the most common form of urban agriculture, refers specifically to nonprofit or citizen-led efforts on public or private land.

The various phrases for urban agriculture serve as a metaphor for its ability to adapt to differing needs. Often, urban agriculture is a collaboration between local government, nonprofits and consumers, but there’s never a one-size-fits-all solution. Cincinnati has many models of urban farms: social enterprises, corporate vertical farms, 501(c)(3) nonprofits and more.

Finding its roots

Urban agriculture has some history in victory gardens, also known as war gardens. These were popular gardening efforts during World War I and II, where governments encouraged people to supplement their rations with home- or community-grown food. The gardens also boosted morale, because people felt empowered and rewarded by the literal fruits of their labor.

Cincinnati’s Civic Garden Center was established in 1942 as an educational network for victory gardening. In 1980, its first community garden outreach program established the Over-the-Rhine People’s Garden. This was a cutting-edge solution at the time to rejuvenate downtown Cincinnati and became a national model for neighborhood development.

Urban agriculture’s popularity today tends to follow trends in the economy, as it did a hundred years ago.

“Community gardening basically started falling away in terms of popularity during the early 2000s,” said Greg Potter, community garden coordinator at the Civic Garden Center. “And as the Great Recession happened in 2008, people’s financial situations started them thinking more about being self-sufficient. That’s one of the drivers of community gardens – people wanting to be self-sufficient.”

Robin Jones and Ricky “Yo” Perrymann at Winton Terrace Community Garden

This was especially true this past year. Desires to reconnect with nature, tackle environmental justice and take charge of our food sources have never been a greater part of our collective consciousness than during this global pandemic.

Is sustainability sustainable?

Urban farms may grow on city blocks, like Permaganic in Over-the-Rhine, or they may thrive in a suburban nature preserve, like Valley View in Milford. They may be funded by community fees, grants or direct donations – and often a mix of all of these.

Potter noted that, nationally, new community gardens only have a twoto-three year lifespan, something the Civic Garden Center actively works to combat through free development training.

“The whole idea behind the community garden network is literally the fact that (gardeners) can help each other as much as we can help them,” Potter said. “I have a picture of an old-time switchboard operator above my desk because I connect gardeners to each other and to resources. We can help people leverage the available resources for themselves.”

The city plays a major part in this endurance, too. The Office of Environment and Sustainability has been working for the last decade, but more specifically since 2017, to centralize coding, update zoning and give grants to community gardens for operations, programs and projects.

“We consider (urban agriculture) a good use of public land,” said Michael Forrester, OES director. “When (the city) leases out spaces, we’re putting property back into productive use. We see it as a way to foster bonds within the community. We give people access to green spaces and a chance to grow their food.”

Since the asks greatly exceed the funding – with 50-75 grant applications a year – a collaborative effort with the Office of Community and Economic Development and the Greater Cincinnati Foundation allows the city to pool their financial resources to make it easy for gardens in nature centers, schools, churches and social enterprises to get the direct dollars they need.

A family harvests beets at Price Hill Community Garden

Urban vs. traditional agriculture

Community gardens aren’t trying to compete with supermarkets.

“When you look at traditional agriculture, we’re talking big monoculture spread out in the rural areas here in Ohio. They’re just providing a very different type of product,” Forrester said. “What (urban agriculture) can do is really develop a niche product that can be sold locally.”

Or, maybe not sold at all. Many community gardens grow food and plants for their own gardeners and their families, or as a donation to soup kitchens, food banks and places of worship. With urban agriculture, the community knows what they eat, where it came from and where it’s going.

These small, targeted efforts can make a big difference. When we plan, create, educate and grow together, we transform from consumers to producers, from bystanders to advocates.

“All of a sudden the tomatoes at a store don’t have the same appeal that maybe a farmer’s market tomato has,” Potter said. “Community gardeners are spreading the word about how good local produce can be.”

Forrester agrees. “What urban agriculture is able to do is it’s really able to be nimble. It’s able to be flexible. It’s able to really jump in and put plants in the ground and make things happen.”

Planting beans in Price Hill Community Garden

LEARN MORE ABOUT URBAN GARDENING

Civic Garden Center

With its mission of building community through gardening, education and environmental stewardship, CGC bills itself as THE place in Cincinnati to learn about gardening, sustainability, and horticulture. www.civicgardencenter.org

Hamilton Urban Garden System

Since 2012, HUGS has installed dozens of organic urban gardens, participated in farmers markets, and partnered with local schools, community agencies, universities, and civic organizations around Hamilton, Ohio. www.hamiltonurbangardens.org

Loveland Learning Garden

Working to foster lifelong connections to the wonders of the natural world, LLG delivers outdoor hands-on learning experiences for children in its schoolyard gardens and nature trail. www.lovelandlearninggarden.org

Tikkun Farm

Tikkun FarmAn urban farm in the neighborhood of Mt. Healthy, Tikkun hopes to be a place of healing, repair and restoration cultivated through meaningful work and spiritual practices for the restoration of the individual, the community and creation. www.tikkunfarm.com

Gorman Heritage Farm

A 122-acre nonprofit, working farm with a mission to educate about agriculture, nutrition, sustainability, and the environment, the vision of Gorman Heritage Farm is to cultivate an informed, involved community dedicated to Building Healthy Futures. www.gormanfarm.org

Turner Farm

A working farm and education center in Indian Hill, Turner Farm draws lessons from our rural heritage to help build a positive future, and demonstrate that local, organic, low-impact food production grows healthy communities and healthy ecosystems. www.turnerfarm.org

Check out these and other volunteer and educational opportunities at www.cincinnaticares.org