Re: More Gardens!

**J*@aol.com**

That is a good article in the Tennessean. It is commendable that the 
Methodists have Thomas Henderson advocating for churches to get involved in 
urban agriculture- there is definitely a dichotomy between position 
statements of the church and individual actions of local churches. We have 
the largest Methodist church in Iowa in our neighborhood. They have taken 
houses down to create more parking so their parishioners don't have to walk 
far, (and not among those in the neighborhood. Their parishioners are not 
from the neighborhood- they are more affluent. The neighborhood is poor.) 
They are looking at expanding their facilities (tearing down more houses and 
the parking lots will follow.) It is our neighborhood, the people who live 
here, who are developing community gardens, native habitats, and a CSA 
garden. We make the observation: the churches see vacant land and want to 
pave them for parking lots, the neighborhood see vacant land and we want to 
put a garden on it, (and we do.)
Thanks to the ACGA and conferences- we have learned about connecting to the 
land and renewing our neighborhood through community gardening. We also 
learned from NYC, Philly and Portland about permanence of gardens- the 
neighborhood association owns our gardens- no one can take them away from us. 
I agree, we need more gardens- one at a time. Unfortunately, the churches 
haven't been the best stewards to the land, at least in my neighborhood. 
---Jill Jones, Wellington Urban Gardeners, Wellington Heights Neighborhood 
Assn., Cedar Rapids, Iowa

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