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Community Corner

Richfield Residents Take Advantage of Community Garden Space

Joan Johnson and Steve McKeown have been renting two plots at the Richfield Community Gardens site for the last four years.

Joan Johnson and Steve McKeown have site—which is run by city and — for the past four years and say it is absolutely integral to their lifestyle.

The two grow broccoli, red cabbage, beans, potatoes, summer squash, basil, cauliflower and Brussels sprouts on two rented plots.

“Plus some flowers to make it look nice,” said McKeown, who has lived in Richfield for more than 40 years.

In addition to gardening in his own backyard, McKeown said he had plenty of experience with community gardens elsewhere before he and Johnson rented space at the Richfield Community Gardens.

Johnson is a vegetarian and has been community gardening since 1991. She harvests vegetables from the two garden plots all summer long, right up until the land must be cleared at the end of October. She and McKeown use vegetables for stir fries and end up giving away a good deal of food to friends and family. They plan to continue renting the same two plots next year, which gives them an added incentive to maintain the soil.

“It’s a good deal price-wise, it’s a good deal water-wise, it’s a good deal size-wise,” McKeown said. “And there’s a lot of diversity out here with the types of plants. It’s beautiful.”

“We learn a lot from our neighbors too,” Johnson added. “Just chatting with them and sharing gardening tips.”

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Johnson said most gardeners at the community gardens have a shared philosophy which kept everyone coming back year to year.

“The foundation is that [neighbors at the community gardens] want really good food that isn’t contaminated by pesticides and herbicides,” she said.

Gardeners are not allowed to use chemicals at the gardens, a policy Johnson and McKeown said is generally respected.

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Why Participate in Community Gardening?

McKeown said there need to be more spaces like the Richfield Community Gardens in the metro area.

“It’s unused land, and that’s what we need more of–to take some of these areas back,” he said, pointing around to empty grass lots that surround the Richfield Community Gardens.

“This is the future,” he said, “Because we’re running out of room and out of oil.”

Of concern to both Johnson and McKeown is the distance, or “food miles,” typically traveled by agricultural products before they wind up on the dinner table.

Johnson said eating locally-grown produce is a way of avoiding the costs associated with food traveling long distances, and estimates that, in the long-run, she and McKeown save money by growing their own produce.

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