Dangerously organic!

Foraging at Community Gardens

The other day, I came to the McRorie Community Garden and a homeless woman was there getting food for her dinner. Somehow, the conversation turned to Sh'mal and we bonded. But, there's giving and helping the homeless and there's swiping food from the garden. I wound up giving her my takeaway from Buddha Belly, my fav organic restaurant here in the Swamp.

Stealing is wrong and people need to know that. Being homeless is not an excuse to pull plants out by the roots and destroy gardens, even out of hunger combined with ignorance. McRorie gardeners have told me that their plants have been ruined by careless foragers. How can we deal with this problem? And, it is a sticky wicket. Here's my position on it: unless it gets totally out of hand, how can we think about preventing foragers while we still have a big homeless hunger problem? One person suggested putting up a on trespassing sign. I think that sends a message we don't want to either send or live with.

I feel terrible that we have a homeless problem. I wish I could take everyone in and fix their lives. But, since that's not possible, I say this: I will do things I can to help the homeless, including giving food and solace, which comes naturally, because for example, the woman I talked with at the garden was really very nice.

Meanwhile, we're just going to have to deal with the foraging situation as an artifact of a situation that we're doing our best to work with. The homeless problem is ridiculous, in my opinion, because we don't live in a poor society here in the USA, but a rich one with the resources to deal with homelessness. We live in a society where we have freegans who can live on the discarded food of our homes and restaurants. We must all do our best to help the homeless and their food problems.

What do you think? Because thinking about this and writing about it is one step towards action! Action is what it takes to get something done.

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Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Bill on July 19, 2008 at 12:26pm

I would imagine it's a tough problem to deal with. Here in rural Wisconsin, we just have deer and they really do a number on the garden if you let them in. To keep that under control a good sized fence helps. I'd imagine that could do the same for people, homeless or not, who want to take from the garden.

And it's really not the taking that is the problem, but the damage they do while taking. I mean what gardener doesn't end up with loads of extra Zucchini and Tomatoes during a good year? At work the break room starts filling up with boxes of all sorts of yummy stuff gardeners need to share.

We are really at a watershed. Homeless people outnumber the vacant foreclosed homes in many cities. It's obviously not a problem one person can solve, but there needs to be a solution we can arrive at as a society. The number of tent cities springing up across the country indicates we're heading for a new era of mice and men. It's time to stop the problem now.

I'd imagine this could be done in your situation, too. A good fence to keep the foragers out and a nice little stand by the gate with free harvest, or maybe even "for sale" with a cash box people could pay for stuff if they wanted to.

Permalink Reply by Michael Levin on July 19, 2008 at 7:49pm

From Arupa:

I agree it's going on, and will probably only get worse as more and more people are hungry and desperate. Freeman calls the garden foragers "urban deer." They probably sell the vegetables door to door in the projects. Despite this irritation, the garden has given us a steady supply of vegetables for years. I guess we just need to be grateful for that, and work for a more just society.

Permalink Reply by Michelle on July 21, 2008 at 9:59am

i don't garden there, but i have some ideas... emphasizing the idea of community.

one day i went there with sh'mal there were some plots overgrown with veggies which he said would not be harvested- though i'm not sure why. he gave me an enormous zucchini and said he had taken some to st francis. i wonder if you could somehow have a share basket-- though that would still require the plot gardener to harvest.

another option is to make some room for the 'urban deer' to have their own plot to tend to. share seeds with them and see where it goes. or ask them to help you with your plot and share.

or maybe offer to teach them how to harvest without destroying the whole plant. this seems counter-intuitive in a way, but i do believe it is harder for people to take from friends than it is to take from strangers. plus, showing people a better way is nicer than fencing them out, and possibly more effective.

i'm voting for a more just society.

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