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This interesting idea was passed along to us, the Community Development Team of Emmanuel Christian Reformed Church of Calgary: host a community garden on the empty grass lot next to the church.  So we sent an invite out to our neighbourhood via mail, to come to the church for a meeting to discuss the potential of having a community garden on our property.  Thirty-five people from the neighbourhood showed up!  95% whom we have never before met.   As a group we made a lot of decisions that night, and we were all very excited about the project.  The name and vision that the group came up with is  “Glenbrook Green thumbs: Growing Together”.

The garden has had significant impact on the church: church members are getting to know other people in the neighbourhood, and discovering that neighbourhood residents are very willing and capable to join together with the church for good purposes.

We have also noticed an impact on the community: residents, according to their testimony, are viewing the church as a generous neighbour who values the same things as they do.  Residents are also becoming familiar with the building and grounds of the church, as well as some members of the church.  For them, the church is starting to have a face with a personality, rather than just an institution with brick walls.

Basically, what both the church and the community have learned is that we are interested in forming friendships.  Many of us involved were encouraged to see this group determine that the vision of the garden should be: “Growing Together”, which reflected the shared sentiment that we are not just growing vegetables together, we are becoming friends.

To date we have 45 boxes (from last year), we are adding 25 more boxes this year due to sign ups.  We have a few on a waitlist, beyond these 70 boxes – and we did no advertising this year at all.  The community is coming to us!

 

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Bowness Community Garden started in 2008 in an unused residential lot in the NW urban neighborhood of Calgary called Bowness. It was an idea that Awaken, a new neighborhood-oriented church plant, felt could help build relationships into the neighborhood all the while inviting others into God’s desires for creation care and environmental sustainability.  The garden consists of over 14 raised plots, composts bins, rain water collectors, and a sitting area.  Each year the Bowness Community Garden provides many folks with the chance to raise their own produce and connect with their neighbors.

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