Social Gardening, Community Capital

Sorry it's been almost a month since I last blogged. I just finished two other summer courses, so I've neglected this for a while. But, I'm back and focused to explore more this community gardening issue. For the paper, I wrote on how there is a lack of emphasis on the link between Community Gardening and Social Capital, even though there has been extensive research done. Most of what I found was writing about gardening sites as contested space or as gardens being the site or racial (mostly for Black, White, and Hispanic populations) integration.

I found lots of research done by Troy Glover, a professor in Leisure Studies (I didn't know there was such a discipline, but in reflection I shouldn't be surprised). Social Capital has proven to be a determining factor in a Garden's success, because it allows its leaders and members to gain the tools, garden related or othewise, to contribute to it. This includes tangible resources, such as water, tools, and other supplies, but extends further, as members connect on a social level where gardening becomes peripheral to other activities such as grant-seeking, fundraising efforts, community cook-outs etc. Members become active in one anothers lives seeking mutual support for needs beyond that of the gardening, and offer more help to simply baby-sit, or offer other services.

Social Capital, in essence is relational currency, where investment manifests itself through the relationships formed between members. The garden unites people, and the bonds formed allows it to flourish. Glover refers to such as "leisurely episodes" where networks of knowledge are gained and formed. Social capital, according to Glover, "is a collective asset that grands members social "credits" that can be used as capital to facilitate purposive actions".

While writing my paper, I made a mistake of writing "social capital" and "community gardening" as "social gardening" and "community capital", of course I corrected my mistake. But in reflection, it almost seems fitting that they can be used in an altered fragment, and still make sense, almost logical. In blogs to come, I would like to explore these "leisurely episodes", how they initially begin, and what sustains the social capital to make community gardening so attractive.