07/29/2009 Env Bd Packet - Laserfiche WebLink

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• : data.center @metc.state.mn.us . 1t Met 390 N. 1 Cities can support local gardens Interest in community gardens, urban agriculture and farmers markets is growing sky -high as people are becoming more concerned about how their food is grown, reduc- ing their carbon footprint, lowering their food costs and eating more healthfully. Take the City of Hopkins. Before this year, they had never sold all the plots in a City-run commu- nity garden located in one of their parks, according to Kersten Elverum, the City's community development director. This year, all the plots were taken in two days. Gardening Matters is a Minneapolis -based nonprofit that provides resources for individuals, groups and communities seeking to start and support commu- nity gardens. Executive Director Kirsten Saylor said they received more requests in the first three months of 2009 from people interested in joining a community garden than in all of 2008. The City of Minneapolis is addressing the issue of building a strong local food system through a project called Homegrown Min- neapolis. City officials, ]anna Schneider, Minneapolis, waters her heavily mulched garden plot at Soo Line Community Garden. community organizations and residents worked for more than six months to craft recommendations for consideration by the city council in late June. What cities can do. Saylor and other experts say that local government can do a lot to support the formation and success of community gardens and other urban agriculture. "Making land more accessi- ble, providing soil testing and access to water - these are just a few of the ways that cities and counties can support community garden- ing," Saylor said. Her organization has a set of recommendations, accessi- ble at www.gardeningmatters.org/ Resources /govtpdf. Community benefits. The benefits of community gardens and other local food sources are many, not the least of which is vastly reducing the number of miles food has to travel to get from farm to table. Community gardens also provide education, bridge age and ethnic differences, produce high - quality food and have been shown to increase property values. They can also lower family food bills and provide exercise for Tess mobile people.