Yard Sharing is a simple idea that is sweeping the country. It goes like this: many of us have yards but don’t have time to garden them. Others of us live in triple-deckers or apartment buildings and have no space to garden.

Enter Andree Zaleska of the JP Greenhouse who is making matches between gardeners and yard owners. Each transaction is individual, but the aim to is connect gardeners without yards, with homeowners who would like to volunteer their gardens to an urban grower, in exchange for a share of produce. If this sounds intriguing, fill in the form here at JP New Economy Transition, and we’ll try to make you a match!

Andree writes: “Four other families will be joining us in our garden this year, each taking a plot, and making JP Green House into a community garden. We range from ‘regular’ urban gardeners with hankerings for fresh tomatoes and strawberries, to a professional garden consultant experimenting with native pollinator plants, and an artist creating seed-sculptures. ”

Sign up  before June to participate: http://jptransition.org/jp-yard-sharing/

Andree says that many more Gardeners are wanted – there’s lots of unused land!

Here is what happens, Andree will suggest you get in touch with each other because you are nearby and share common interests, then you plan a visit at the site of the proposed garden, and discuss your needs and plans for the space. Consideration should be given to the following areas: Who provides? Is there a cost, and if so, who pays?

• Water
• Compost
• Mulch
• Fertilizer
• Tools
• Weeding, watering and general maintenance
• Soil Testing (you can send samples to UMASS, alternatively you could build raised beds with non-pressure treated lumber)

Whether or not money changes hands, or a deal is made about how much produce the landowner receives, it is good to lay out all expectations beforehand, and even draw up a contract for the arrangement. Here is a good article you might look at, to remind you what to consider in your arrangement: http://www.shareable.net/blog/how-to-share-vegetable-garden

If you have a really large yard and want to be part of an innovative farming start-up, then you should really reach out to Angela and Brian of Yardbirds (and on Facebook). They are working with urban clients with clean soil to plant out vegetables as part of a scattered-site urban CSA.

Keep track of these and other innovations with Transition Stories (our new blog on JPtransition.org, we will continue to cross-post these to JP  Patch too). And “like” Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition on Facebook to keep up with the conversation on all things Transition and find out about future events in JP (Movie Screening May 30th: Gasland).

Meanwhile, have you heard about natural bee keeping? Super cool: http://beenatural.wordpress.com/tag/bee-shelter/

On a Tuesday night in April a group of about 25 neighbors gathered at Jenny’s home in Hyde Square for a potluck and to share our visions for the future of Jamaica Plain.

First, Jenny introduced us to the 2011 Resiliency Measures Report.  Last fall, a group of us pulled together a series of indicators of “community resilience,” or in other words, our ability to respond to systemic shocks like climate change and rising costs of food and fuel.  With indicators such as Orange line ridership and acreage under cultivation, we hope to measure our neighborhood’s capacity to cope with unforeseen changes and track our progress towards increased resiliency.  In a pioneering survey, soon-to-be translated into Spanish, Jamaica Plain residents “somewhat agree” that we are a resilient community with a score of 3.4 out of 5 (being most resilient).  This report was shared at February’s State of the Neighborhood forum as part of the Jamaica Plain New Economy Transition (JP NET), a volunteer-led initiative.

To break the ice and get in the spirit, I asked everyone to turn to their neighbor and discuss one thing that makes them feel resilient and one thing that would make them feel even more resilient.  The room filled with voices, laughter, and connection.

The next step, besides helping ourselves to more delicious food, was envisioning our future as a neighborhood.  Sarah asked us to imagine that 15 years from now everything has worked out beyond our wildest hopes, and we wake up and walk out our back door.  What is there?  “Imagine floating over JP in a hot air balloon.  What do you see on the ground?” Orion asked, and we were off, pens in hand.

Armando reminisced about the dancing he remembers down at Jamaica Pond.  “Why don’t we start dancing again?” he said, shaking his shoulders to a beat.  Yuya wished for a movie theatre; a place where people can gather for theatre, cinema, dancing.  “Make sure they show European movies,” Deb chimed in.  Rafael asked us to respect animals and consider going vegetarian.  Jen wants to create a directory of JP professionals and hobbyists to boost the neighborhood economy through local connections.  Sage advocated for horticulture education in elementary school classrooms.

The room was electric with ideas flowing and rapidly written down on large sticky note pads.  Alternating blue and orange markers, we cataloged everyone’s voices and visions. (You can see the unedited list below). As the last person in the circle spoke, we gathered in working groups, sharing ideas and steps forward.  What an empowering night!

To chime in, signup for updates (see top right).  Come to the next JPNET potluck on Worker Cooperatives.  Check the calendar for the next Resiliency Measures Meeting.  And “like” us on Facebook.

In the meantime, turn to your neighbor and share your vision for Jamaica Plain’s future. Here is what we recorded verbatim from last week:

food growing everywhere

water collection

solar panels

people talking

bike paths

music playing

goats not lawnmowers

chickens

no high rises

more parks fewer cars

movie theater

place for plays and dancing

community center

more security, less crime

open doors and safety

new small businesses – producing necessities, i.e. clothing

age diversity – community center for all ages

owner occupied housing

more triple deckers built

town square – outdoor meeting place

community kitchens

elderly housing in the same place as day care

talking in person – no smart phones or texting

moveable feast on Fridays

celebrations, i.e. solstice, equinox

explore wild places with others

return of street cars along Centre St and Washing St, all the way to Roslindale

only jointly owned cars

local rent control

more community gardens

roof top gardens

weatherization

everyone can speak Spanish

hub of mass transit

all season farmers markets

make alternatives accessible (?)

apprenticeships

community training schools

young people feel safe

human waste supplies energy

free healthcare

electric school buses

return of the Stony brook

high school horticulture academy in Franklin Park

community center with solar panels

birds alone in the sky (no airplanes)

too many green jobs

grow seedlings for towns with more land

no big developments

no traffic – horse and buggies

more gardens

harmony

groups singing in the street

free drinks once a week

weekly dances at the Pond

mutual support – be there for each other

better schools

neighborhood groups

animal rights

avoid eating meat

peaceful

volunteer based education center

all season greenhouse

solar panels and wind turbines everywhere

parties – street festivals

public street art

Last summer 31 young people embarked on a seven-week bike trek around New England as part of the Better Future Project, documenting community re-localization efforts to address our nation’s fossil fuel dependence.  At the end of the seven weeks, the six teams of bikers reconvened and shared stories about what our communities are doing to keep industry, sustainability, and resilience in our own neighborhoods.  The results?
The bikers identified nine sectors of sustainability and detailed town-by-town examples of what neighbors are doing to keep our communities healthy.  Each week for nine weeks, this blog will address a category on their list, beginning with sustainable economies.

What does a sustainable Boston economy look like?  Well, for one, it means we reduce our utility use and associated greenhouse gas emissions.  In 2010 alone, we produced 14 tons of greenhouse gas per person, slightly better than the 16 tons produced per person in the rest of Massachusetts.  To counter these trends,  companies like Renew Boston help reduce the need for energy in general by providing weatherization assistance and free energy audits for homeowners.  In 2008, the Mass Green Communities Act required electric and gas utilities to help customers take cost-effective measures for energy efficiency.

A sustainable Boston economy also creates new jobs, training people for a green economy with skills such as retrofitting old buildings.  The Sustainable Business Network of Greater Boston provides sustainability consulting to businesses that are concerned with their “triple bottom lines”—i.e. their environmental and societal impact.  Taza Chocolate of Somerville teamed up with Metro Pedal Power, also of Somerville, to make local business deliveries by bicycle.  Here we are, back full circle with the power of bicycles to re-localize our communities.

Next week, we’ll discuss sustainable food systems from community gardens to sustainable restaurants. In the meantime, jump on your bicycle and get connected to your local community!

By Orion Kriegman
Orion lives in Egleston Square where he is helping to create the Egleston Community Orchard.

In 2010, Hannah and I bought a home in Egleston Square after living in the area for about a year. One of the things that brought us together as a couple is a shared vision of community and sustainable living, and a desire to work for social justice and community power. But, as Hannah’s mother likes to ask, “what is community?”

Good question! With so many of our friends so mobile and moving off to California every few years, with family spread out across the US (for me) and the UK (for Hannah), with different cultures, languages, religions and histories all jumbled together in an urban neighborhood like Egleston Square, sitting at the cross section of JP and Roxbury — what exactly is community?

Sunflowers are our mascot. Photo Credit: Alvin Kho

Well we decided to find out by acting, so that Spring we went door to door to ask our neighbors about the vacant lot at 195 Boylston Street – what was its history and what did people want to see happen there? We heard that 30 years ago it had a house on it that had burned down and was vacant ever since. At one point neighborhood kids used to play baseball in the lot, later it had been a memorial site for a shooting victim, and a place were people had buried unwanted trash. When we proposed cleaning it up and making it a useable space for neighbors, everyone we spoke with was delighted. Some even joined in to help.

Bobby and Orion shoveling horse manure. Photo Credit: Alvin Kho

Over the next two years a growing group of volunteers has organized work days to clean up the lot, plant wild flowers, apple trees, raspberries, blueberries, red currants, and build raised beds for greens. Stonybrook Fine Arts donated a birdbath, complete with water slide and small chairs for sunbathing sparrows. ACE, on Centre Street, donated gloves, shovels, yard waste bags, and other tools. City Feed donated coffee and fruit. And dozens of neighbors donated time, plants, ice cream, cold beers, rain barrels, composters, tools, a “peace pole”, and expertise in permaculture, soil remediation, fruit tree planting, carpentry, community organizing, painting, sculpture, Spanish translation, fundraising, strategic planning, and more.

Hannah and Kokoro working in the Orchard. Photo Credit: Alvin Kho

After each workday, with the chaos of ten or twenty folks buzzing about, I feel energized with gratitude for what we accomplish together. I feel pride in my neighborhood and connected to new friends, and joy at watching our garden grow. In the winter a core group of us keeps the fire burning, planning the next season over weekend brunches filled with laughter and irreverent humor.

Thus was born the Egleston Community Orchard, an ongoing experiment in planting the seeds of community and growing fruit.

This May, we plan to march from the Egleston Peace Garden to join in the Wake Up The Earth parade, and we’ll be at the festival handing out wildflower packets. Come by and say hi.

[Orion will be sharing more stories of people building community resilience across JP as part of his blog on JP Patch. Let him know what you think and drop him a line to share what you are up to in your corner of JP!]

xx

• Download our full report (PDF)
• Get involved! Click here to join our Google Group

The people involved in this project are all volunteers, with no funding, or any official standing.  We came about through the work of JP New Economy Transition to start bottom up initiatives using the Transition Towns methodology. We are cheerfully doing our best.

Our hope is to spark conversation about the meaning of community resilience and to explore ways such resilience can be measured and improved in our neighborhood.

Resiliency

Resilience (noun)

1 the ability of a substance or object to spring back into shape; elasticity:

2 the capacity to recover quickly from difficulties; toughness:

(source)

Definition of Community Resilience

The capability to anticipate risk, limit impact, and bounce back rapidly through survival, adaptability, evolution, and growth in the face of turbulent change (source).

What a community needs to be resilient are things like reliable local food supplies, renewable energy sources, affordable housing, and communal responsibility for the welfare of all members.  The reasons to be resilient are because we live on a finite world, with finite resources, and a growing population.  It is unrealistic to expect the continued availability of cheap oil to provide us with cheap transportation, food, and energy.

Measures

We started in October 2011, so these initial measures are just a beginning.  We selected things that were easy to obtain data for.  The intention is to report on them every year at this time, but because we are just starting, some of them will turn out to be not relevant or need refining or changing, and there are things that should be measured that are missing that will have to be added.  It will be an adaptive process, which your feedback will make better.

Our intention is not to build an organization that measures resiliency. Measuring resiliency is not an end in itself.  Improved resiliency is the end result.

JP

We’ve focused on measuring just in our neighborhood, because it has a human scale.  It is possible for a human mind to encompass that area and to think yes this applies to me.  If we were to include all of Boston or the North East it becomes too difficult to see what difference changes make.  Sometimes it is interesting to look at how JP is measuring up compared to other neighborhoods of Boston or other areas of the country, but such comparisons can also be distracting.

NEXT: Tell us what films you are interested in seeing.