March 14, 2012
Page 4
Cultivating Gardens
1-205, which didn’t have any gar
dens 10 years ago.
“So building the gardens was
the first part o f the strategy and
having the service available for
c o n t i n u e d f r o m page 3
ceed the supply because of lim
ited space, as well as issues of
funding.
Currently, there are 39 com m u
nity gardens, which cover 19 acres,
supplying plot space to residents
in various locations. Although the
program attem pts to equally dis
perse them around the city, she
said there are some clusters where
demand is higher.
In parts of southeast and south
west Portland, there is often a wait
list, which can be up to three years.
In an effort to increase access,
Portland Parks and Recreation
have joined forces with com m u
nity partners to open 1,000 new
plots by the end of the year as part
ofC ity Com missioner Nick Fish’s
Clim ate Action plan created in
2009.
Five new gardens will open this
spring.
A c c o rd in g to N iem i, g e o
graphic equity was a central focus
of the 1,000 plots initiative, so
they began to look into areas that
were on the outskirts of the city,
including outer northeast, areas
north of Lombard and east of 82nd.
She said the program looked es
pecially close at the areas east of
photo by
M indy C ooper /T he P ortland O bserver
Community Gardens Program Coordinator Laura Niemi and Parks and Recreation employees Shane
Crone and Earl Straley oversee the construction of a community garden in northeast Portland.
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1120 SW 5th Ave.
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4b
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T R I@ M E T
people,” she said. “The second
part of the strategy is developing
com m unity relationships to help
do outreach and bring people into
the garden program that may not
otherw ise have participated.”
One goal of the program is to
ensure anyone who desires gar
den space will have access to
plots near their home.
“W e still have a w ays to go to
m ake sure every part o f the city
is w ell served, but we are d e fi
nitely m aking inroads,” she said.
“C om m unity gardens can c e r
tainly help underserved com m u
nity by p ro v id in g a space for
people to grow h ealth y o rganic
food they o th erw ise m ight not
be able to a ffo rd .”
The gardens also provide an
opportunity for families to get out
doors, participle in healthy activi
ties and teach their kids to learn
about the food they are growing
and encourage a love of veggies,
she said.
One way the program reaches
out to underserved com m unities
is through their partnership with
organizations, such as the Im m i
grant Refugee Com m unity O rga
nization, which works with refu
gees and im m igrants new to the
city. “W e have also worked with
Portland Public Schools to con
nect with kids and fam ilies near
the gardens with program s around
healthy eating and active living,”
she said.
In north Portland, for exam ple,
a new com m unity garden is going
in next door to the new Clarendon
building at 9235 N. Van Houten
Ave., which was constructed last
summer, she said. The grand open
ing is scheduled for Saturday,
M arch 17, when residents will
have a chance to sign up for plots.
But as more individuals from
various walks o f life have become
more educated of the benefits from
gardening, the dem and increases,
she said.
According to Niemi, when the
Climate Action Plan was first cre
ated, the waiting list for community
garden space was 1,000 people long.
She said Com m issioner Fish
wanted to focus on expanding the
Com m unity G ardens program to
help m eet that demand.
With more public gardens, com
munity outreach, and education,
the dem and grows even higher as
more people becam e interested
and involved.
“Even though we have added
over 600 plots, we still have over
1,000 people interested in garden
ing in the city of Portland,” Niemi
said.
She said it was especially hard
to find com m unity garden space
in the areas of high dem and be
cause the land is expensive. “And
we d o n ’t have funds to purchase
new property, so our strategy for
developing new gardens is to fo
cus on the land we can utilize for
free through ag reem en ts w ith
property owners. “We also cur
rently have 10 gardens on Port
land Public Schools property.”
While the program will certainly
continue to add more gardens, they
have also begun to make the plots
smaller so more people can be in
volved, Niemi said.
“The other thing we have been
doing is really developing our vol
unteer program to invite those who
don’t currently have plots to work
and volunteer in the community
gardens, so they can get involved
with the neighborhood and con
nect with neighbors even though
they don’t have their own plots.”
And although waiting lists are
long, too many people wanting to
garden is a good problem to have,
she said. “I hope we can continue
to expand so that everyone in the
city of Portland has the opportunity
to participate in a community gar
den if they want.”
Currently, the city in the process
of assigning new gardeners to 500
open plots, with another 325 new
garden plots by the end of the year.
“I hope to continue to develop
partnerships, so that we can ensure
we are reaching diverse audiences
and gardeners,” she said.
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