Sección VI Seguridad Pública
DE LAS BASES DE FUNCIONAMIENTO DE LA ADMINISTRACIÓN PUBLICA MUNICIPAL
Respondents combined an interest in building relationships and community within the congregation with other interests specific to gardening and food-‐related awareness and ministries. All but one respondent described some personal, general, or logistical aspect or idea that could be improved upon in future or that they
wished had developed differently.
21 Ibid., 82.
Question 3 (Pre-‐Garden): “Why did you decide [not/to] participate in the church garden project [and what do you hope to get out of this project personally]?”
Six of the seven pre-‐garden interviewees described wanting to build
community and relationships with others in the church, both for themselves and for the benefit of the congregation. Five people specifically mentioned wanting to provide fresh produce or gardening opportunities to others, or wanting to support more stewardship of the Creation:
I’m sure there are people that don’t have their own property and don’t have the place to have a garden, so that’s why I really like the idea. I just want to be supportive of that, and I also like the community feel of it. That’s what I hope to get out of it personally. Sure it’s nice to have your own fresh
vegetables, I suppose that is the main reason, but in the summer it’s so cheap to buy some of these things anyway, so I do like the community idea of it a lot.23
It’s an opportunity to make a contribution to maybe demonstrate to others what can be grown in a city, to be able to connect with other people who are interested in working with the earth. The garden appealed to me because I’d really like to get my hands back in the dirt again – as a group thing. I always found it was very Zen – very healing.24
I’m considering participating because it feels like a good thing for a church to do – another way to engage with the planet, the people, serving neighbors – a powerful new direction the church could go. Personally, I’m hoping to
explore that as another way to serve.25
Three people mentioned a love of gardening, and one participant specifically described a desire to explore its spiritual aspects:
23 Ibid., 13-‐4.
24 Ibid., 6. 25 Ibid., 19.
I think I decided to participate partly because I’m interested in this spiritual connection to the natural world – I’m really kind of interested in that. I’ve always understood it environmentally but I’m just coming into the
understanding of the spiritual side of it now, later in life – this project gave me an opportunity to understand how they’re connected.26
Question 3 (Mid-‐ and Post-‐Garden): “Now that the gardening has [begun/ended], are you glad you decided [not/to] participate in the church garden project? What do you feel you [are getting/got] out of this project personally?”
The three garden participants interviewed all reflected either gladness or no regret at having participated in the project; and they all mentioned satisfaction at building community with others in the congregation. Each mentioned regrets: not participating more; wishing for more group leadership and cohesion; and wishing for the idea to spread more:
I felt a little bad that I wasn’t able to be as involved as I had wanted to. I moved, there was a lot happening… I’m definitely glad that I participated and got to know people in the church a little better. I wish I had had more energy to put into it over the summer; I kind of blinked and it was over. But I’m definitely glad I did it, and that I got to know some of the other folks. I think it was a big idea in the beginning, and there were big expectations. But I think in the end… I’m just glad I got to know people a little better. It maybe wasn’t the outcome I was expecting, but I think things still happened.27
One participant included some of the ways the harvest had been used in her response; first, in her mid-‐garden interview:
26 Ibid., 16.
Yes, and I think it’s a great thing to do. I think it’s a great group project, and I wish that more groups would do this kind of thing. Helps build relationships within the church, helps people to get to know each other. And I did have some kale one day. It was good – exciting. Very local, very fresh.28
And again, in her post-‐garden interview:
The connection with the other people involved is probably the main thing that I got out of it. I was thrilled that you came to make kimchi… to see the variety of people – and it was a small group, but [it included] a young woman – and he’s Korean, the man that was working on it – I don’t remember – this was so cool. I thought, this is what life should be like. You’re not doing things by yourself. It hardly seems like work when you’re talking with other
people… Interesting mix of people you don’t see at other times.29
The sexton particularly appreciated the wider community aspects of this particular garden:
I was actually really happy to see those beds go up – we did it! We actually did it! I think for me, the biggest satisfaction was knowing that people who walked by were eating the vegetables; particularly because we have people who sleep on our steps, and I imagine that a lot of the people who were taking [vegetables] were the ones who sleep on our steps; unhoused people maybe don’t get a chance to have fresh vegetables that often; it really makes me happy that they have something nutritious to eat, for free.30
The staff also reflected a mix of gladness and regret; they expressed gladness for the accomplishments of the project for the church and the wider community, and they also expressed regret at the logistical and organizational challenges. In both later interviews, the pastor included a desire to continue the project, were he not retiring:
28 Ibid., 52.
29 Ibid. 30 Ibid., 94.
If somebody said to me, shall we do this again, I would say, by all means, let’s organize it a little differently so that we share the responsibilities, but I think it’s been a good and positive thing for me and the community. I enjoy it – the reminder of our connectedness; it’s hard in the city, sometimes, unless you’re really intentional about it, to appreciate our connection to the earth. We pave everything over; I see the trees and flowers in people’s gardens; but to have that sense in being personally connected to something growing from the earth is difficult to establish in the city; it reminded us of our common mother in a way that I don’t always take time to appreciate.31
My own awareness of our connection to the Earth was increased, and I’m glad for that. I was a little frustrated that we didn’t have better teamwork in terms of taking responsibility in caring for it; it felt like some of it was just left to the church staff by default, without anything being decided about that, and that meant basically to me, because others on the staff didn’t really view that as their responsibility, and I felt a sense of obligation about it… I could have done something to set up a rotation, and I didn’t. If we were going to do it again, we’ve learned that lesson now; I hope they do it again; I think we ought to make it a community garden and available to people to help themselves… It would be fairly easy to set up, and then nobody would be overburdened. 32
Despite frustrating elements, the assistant pastor expressed no regret about the project overall:
I wouldn't say that I have regrets. I feel good that I didn’t insert myself into the process and rescue it. I’m glad the [kale] is out in front now; I think it looks pretty. I’m not disappointed with the results.33
31 Ibid., 47. 32 Ibid., 83. 33 Ibid., 56-‐7.