682: Christine Lance on Planning, Building, and Maintaining a Community Garden.
Doing the hard work of setting up a strong community.
In This Podcast:
Turn your vision for a successful community garden into a reality using the ten-step plan laid out by Christine Lance in this episode. It is no surprise that gardening skills are a plus, but what about planning, land, and funding? How do you develop collaborations, build relationships, and get the support that will be required to keep the project going and growing? Listen as Christine provides the answers to set any community garden on the path to success. Don’t Miss an Episode!! Click HERE to visit the Urban Farm Podcast library
Our Guest:
Christine Lance started gardening in her 20’s and her knowledge went deeper after completing the Master Gardener class at Colorado State University (CSU). To help complete volunteer time required at CSU, she helped to build the first community garden in Ridgway, CO and then expand it from 7 members to the 137 that are served today. 2022 will be Christine’s 13th year with the Ridgway Community Garden (RCG).
Listen in and learn about:
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- Starting and maintaining a community garden – Christine’s ten-step plan
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- Getting community buy-in
- Securing a piece of land
- Reaching out for support and knowledge
- Construction – funding, ecosystem specific needs, community needs
- Board driven creativity and communication is key
- Setting a garden and its gardeners up for success
- Different models – a teamwork garden or a rental bed (independent) approach
- Involving and connecting the garden members
- Creating and developing working relationships with community organizations
- Moving forward with thoughtful vision
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- Explaining a potato to a 5-year-old
- Why come to a community garden?
- Support Christine’s community garden by going to Ridgway Community Garden’s YouTube channel
As well as:
Her failure – Putting a community garden on a piece of private property, only to lose it 7 years later.
Her success – The Ridgway Community Garden
Her drive – Waking up in the morning and having something to do that you’re passionate about.
Her advice – “Experiment with as many things as you can in life and don’t be afraid to fail with those experiments.”
Christine’s Book recommendations:
Start a Community Food Garden, The Essential Handbook by LaManda Joy
How to reach Christine:
Website: ridgewaygarden.org
Twitter: @chrissybirdgirl
UrbanFarm.org/ridgwaygarden
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