Our Project: Visioning from the Flapjack Breakfast

A couple of weeks ago we had the opportunity to gather some insight at the MAP Flapjacks for the Farm pancake breakfast. Here's what we gathered!

What Does Community Gardening Mean to You?

1. A sustainable future

2. I've never done it, but I imagine a lot of pretty gardens in the city and a sunny place where I can hang out with friends and meet new people.

3. Hard work, weeding and sun

4. Making use of otherwise fallow land

5. Sharing the Earth's bounty

6. Apple orchards- all kinds... NY is an apple state!

7. Opportunities for urban residents to garden and grow food

8. Arbor Day- check out their website for good ideas!

9. Grow hazelnut trees

10. Fig trees!

11. Check out the Local Harvest website!!

Our Project: Table of Contents

Below is a the table of contents for our upcoming report. The class has chosen groups to tackle each section. A brief description of what the groups are working on will be posted soon!

1.  Executive Summary
2. Introduction/Problem Statement

i. What is community gardening and urban agriculture?

ii. History of community gardening?

iii. Types of community gardens/urban agriculture models

iv. Why community gardening/urban ag? Benefits of community gardening/urban ag.

v. Purpose of this report

vi. Layout of this report

3.  Methodology; data sources; limitations

4. Current state of and demand for community gardens in Buffalo

i. Establish a baseline of need/demand

ii. Brief description of Buffalo's overall food system (with special emphasis on urban food production)

iii. Inventory of existing community gardens

iv. Review of regulatory mechanisms (zoning, laws, codes) and legislation that enable or limit urban ag and community gardens

5. Case Studies of Best Practices

6. Recommendations

7. References

8. Resource Guide (web resources, funding sources, sample legislation language)

9. Appendices

Our Project: Flapjack Pictures!

Our Project: Community Meeting

Queen City Gardens would like to thank everyone who attended our meeting last night! Great ideas and stories were shared. This information will be included in our report and provides the document with the voice of the community.

The notes and pictures will be posted very soon, so make sure to check back!

If you couldn't make it or have more to add, we would still like any input you would like to give us! Please send comments, questions and ideas to queencitygardens@gmail.com!

Grow Buffalo: CSA in the News!

An article was posted on wgrz.com about Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) in Western New York. The basic premise of CSA is that community members buy shares of harvests from local farms. This helps with supporting the costs of food production to the farmer while supplying healthy, locally grown food to the consumer. The article claims that because of the declining economy, the interest in local CSAs has increased.

Full Article Here

Grow Buffalo: Buffalo Common Council Annual Action Plan

The Buffalo Common Council Annual Action Plan for 2008-2009 has listed increasing the number of community gardens in the City of Buffalo as one of their planning initiatives. The excerpt is below:

Grow the Number of Community Gardens in Buffalo

Experience has shown that community gardens that are incorporated into neighborhood streetscapes can become lasting community assets. When properly maintained, gardens can bring great vale to the community at large and act as a catalyst for getting residents involved in their neighborhood.

The time, effort and collaboration that goes into creating and maintaining community gardens can foster an increased sense of pride and ownership in one's community. These green spaces can also provide a venue for education, recreation and relaxation for neighborhood residents, promote environmental awareness and potentially become a source of fresh produce.

The Common Council supports inclusion of Community Gardens in the City's Strategic Planning efforts and encourages the Administration to set aside adequate funding to assist with their planning, creation and maintenance. The Council additionally recommends that the Administration look for opportunities to collaborate with the business community, non-profit groups and Buffalo's many Community Based Organizations (CBOs) to identify opportunities for including amenities such as benches, children's play areas and artwork to these gardens to beautify them and add to their value to the community. 

Full Common Council Action Plan can be found at this link

Our Project: Definitions of Community Gardens

"To me, a community garden is a shared space where neighbors can cultivate the land to meet their community's needs, whether it be to beautify with flowers and plants, to supplement nourishment for families with fruit and veggies or simply to provide a clean, common space to congregate and interact with one another." ~ QCG member Danielle R

"Any piece of land gardened by a group of people" ~ American Community Gardening Association

"'Community Garden' shall mean public or private lands upon which citizens of the state have the opportunity to garden on lands which they do not individually own." ~ New York State Agriculture and Markets Law, Article 2-C Section 31-g

Community Gardens "..are publicly functioning in terms of ownership, access and management, as well as typically owned in trust by local governments or nonprofits." ~Ferris, J., Norman, C. & Sempik, J. 

Our Project: Community Outreach Flyer

Click on the flyer for a larger image!

Our Project: Fantastic Flapjacks!

Queen City Gardens would like to thank MAP for letting us set up a couple easels at their Flapjacks for the Farm pancake breakfast last Saturday. The event was great and the pancakes were delicious! Everyone had a wonderful time and we attained valuable information that will be posted soon!

~QCG

Welcome!

Hello! 

First of all, thanks for visiting our blog! The Queen City Gardens crew decided to utilize this outlet as another method of community outreach. We want to keep the public aware of the task we are doing, as well as being a resource on community gardens. 

Posts will be divided into three sections- "Our Project", "Growing Buffalo" and "Examples to Follow". Research that we have conducted as well as information on meetings and events that Queen City Gardens is involved in will be posted under "Our Project." "Growing Buffalo" will be posts with resources on the community gardens and other organizations that the City of Buffalo has. "Examples to Follow" will be posts on gardening projects that have been successes around the world. 

If you have any questions, comments or helpful tips, please e-mail us at QueenCityGardens@gmail.com.

Thank you!

~Queen City Gardens