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Script:
Host Intro: In NYC, many neighborhoods are considered “food deserts”, which are urban areas in which it is difficult for people to acquire affordable good quality foods. A community garden is a local plot of land that is used for the neighborhood’s local residents to learn how to grow and harvest some fresh fruits and vegetables while providing them with free access to the garden. To understand the importance of these community projects, I spoke to a local resident in Woodside, who is a frequent volunteer and contributor to their neighborhood’s garden.
ACT: Angela- Hey, so my name is Angela I am 26 years old and I’ve been volunteering at my local community garden since its opening in I think it was May of 2022. I’ve always kind of been aware of community gardening just through my other you know organizer friends but never really took the initiative to go and actually volunteer for this past year my neighborhood got its very own community garden right on 68th Street and it made it a lot easier for me to get involved.
Track: I followed up by discussing her interests in the garden, and why she decided to spend her time contributing to this community project.
ACT: Angela- Yeah, so I grew up in a lot of different parts of queens and I still live right here in Woodside you know, I also spend a lot of time in Manhattan obviously for work and other things and I think that all of us living here in this in New York can kind of notice the start differences in what’s readily available to our communities versus theirs and you know I think maybe the situation has gotten a little bit better throughout the years but still if you look in our local bodegas and you know these are places where our community’s residents and kids frequently visit when they’re looking for food and other things are largely filled with like heavily processed foods and there isn’t really as much fresh fruits and vegetables available as you might find in stores in Manhattan, so you know that’s kind of the first thing that really drew me into volunteering with the garden was the fact that they were going to provide the community with free access to the space and the things that we harvested so that in itself was a big interest for me since you know as part of volunteering we were learning how to grow things like lettuce kale tomatoes peppers tomatoes eggplant and you know things like that and so it was really cool that we were able to give back to our own community and you know that everyone can access these things for free and another aspect that kind of drew me into the garden itself was being connected with my neighbors. I was able to make a lot of friends through this experience and have gotten to know people from a lot of different cultural backgrounds who actually just live a few blocks away from me.
Track: I asked Angela if there were any personal benefits that she feels she gained from this experience.
ACT: Angela- Yeah so I was completely new to gardening when I first started so it was a huge learning experience for me. I think that learning new things, especially as an adult is always special and important I personally found gardening to be very meditative and even spiritual in the sense that you feel kind of connected to other living things the connection and friendships with my neighbors were also something I considered very personally uplifting for me and of course being able to you know contribute to the Community Harvest where my neighbors and I could all enjoy delicious and fresh vegetables or fruits was also a really good feeling. I really recommend you to find and get involved with their local Community Gardens if you can you really get to meet new people you get to meet your neighbors, you learn a new skill, feed people and learn things like patience, consistency and care.
Track: After speaking with Angela, it is clear to me of the importance of these community gardens, and just how significant they are to these neighborhoods and their residents. And with that, for JRN 3510. I am Norbu Sherpa.