Growing Close to Home

Healthy environments should be available to everyone no matter where you live. Whether it be in the rural countryside, the suburbs, or a bustling urban city; any environment can create a green and sustainable place for community members to work in and find solitude. In my home town of Alameda, Ca I found a place that does just that.

Ploughshares Nursery is an environmentally sustainable retail nursery and farm. A social enterprise of the Alameda Point Collaborative (APC), the nursery and farm provides a volunteer service program to help support housing to formerly homeless families and provide opportunities to at risk individuals who are in need of starting and maintaining stability and personal fulfillment in their lives. APC uses all of its resources to help families and adults break the cycle of homelessness and poverty. The nursery and farm provide volunteer programs, workshops, and apprenticeships aimed to train individuals in food production and management as a starting point in their working careers. Along with furnishing opportunities to community members it also supplies a place of solitude. Gardening is known to have therapeutic influences and allows for time of contemplation to get closer to a natural setting.

Ploughshares focuses on using and promoting sustainable products and processes in urban gardening. Jeff, the general manager, concentrates on propagating and supplying California native, drought tolerant and edible plants to the community. Jeff wants "to inspire people to create their own gardens at home that can add fresh and sustainable ingredients to their kitchens."

The half-acre farm on the property is a hub of sustainable practices that also successfully distributes about 40 Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) boxes every week. Practices range everywhere from drip irrigation, crop rotation, aquaponics, bee boxes, organic fertilizing through mineral powder additives, and composting. Operating the farm is Evan, who works to maintain these sustainable practices and generate fresh produce for the community surrounding the farm. 

Urban areas all over the country are beginning to create more and more urban farms and gardens to provide fresh and sustainable produce for community members. Creating places of community building and job opportunities, these sites are shaping healthy environments for all who are willing to lend a helping hand. Nursery or farm transition opportunities for low income, homeless, or at risk families, teens and adults are programs that are fostering healthier communities and working towards creating greener, safer, and sustainable cities. And I am proud to say my home town is one place that is providing these opportunities and working to be a better city, community and home.