Detroit Urban Garden: A Case Of Community Building

A week ago, when I was visiting family in Detroit, I got to see the new Grant Park Community Garden in Royal Oak Township, where my uncle Jim works as a community gardener. I can't think of any better representation of unity than a garden after what I saw.

Royal Oak Township is predominantly working class African American, and from what I hear there's a proud history there: many families have lived in the township for generations. Because the township is more or less poor there isn't much money for projects such as a community garden, but my uncle got the chance to work an unused lot into a sustainable food garden. The lot was, I've been told, in terrible condition - overgrown, crawling with all species of weeds, and huge.

I wouldn't have been able to guess it from what I saw.

The children's garden

In fact, the garden's beauty was the first and most obvious joy of being there. Knowing that this land, now lined by labeled green rows of verdant vegetables (kale, collards, tomatoes, squash, cucumber, cabbage, lettuce) had once been nearly impossible to cultivate - that knowledge put perspective into the immense work that must have gone into the garden. The work that transforms an ugly and useless piece of land into a beautiful shared celebration of food draws people together like a magnet.

Also bringing people together was the twice-a-week summer camp being held over the summer to teach children the values of sustainable foods and garden work. The camp had a fantastic turnout considering socioeconomic bracket the participating families were in, and the kids gave every impression of really enjoying the garden. I came on the last day of summer camp, and when the director assured them that they could work on the garden even after the end of camp many young faces showed relief. I felt a twinge of jealousy: how come my Turkish students couldn't have been this motivated? After the speeches there were sustainable food cooking classes and parents wandered through the public garden (there are private rows available to buy) and bought greens from garden volunteers. Besides the camp regulars, the district's state representative Rudy Hobbs came and spoke to the campers and parents, as well as other important members in the local community. It felt like people of all sorts were there to say that yes, this garden and its food are important!

Rudy Hobbs speaking to campers, parents, and visitors like me

Picking collards

The kids making a collage for the garden

The cooking class

It made me feel the deep mistake governments are making by cutting extracurricular activities. Not just gardens but sports and arts, both activities that intrinsically bring people together. The production value of these extracurricular isn't much when you're debating it in the state senate or a school board meeting, but when you're at the garden itself and seeing how it raises the quality of life so much and so simply it seems almost essential. Like a public park, a shopping district, or a senior center, communities need things like gardens, art galleries, and local sporting events.

Aunt Linda with homegrown cucumber