A reminder of our monthly pattern for these posts: in week 1 we focus on a spiritual concept, week 2 presents a related story, week three invites us to an individual action, and week 4 offers a collective action. For this month’s series, the focus has been on creation restoration as a spiritual practice. We offered the spiritual and Biblical grounding for this, looked at a story of creation restoration in China and Jordan, and invited individuals to plant native species on their property and join Homegrown National Park.
Today, our week 4 collective action invitation will focus on community gardens and tree planting.
As human beings develop spaces (i.e. build homes and businesses, roads, and other elements of infrastructure), the local ecosystem is almost inevitably deforested and damaged. Trees are removed, forest ecosystems are eliminated, corridors for animals to move about are blocked, and the living system that was once there becomes far less robust. Furthermore, as human beings develop areas, they surround themselves with a new kind of environment – one made by people, rather than God. As a result, people who grow up in increasingly developed areas (particularly cities) can become less and less connected with the living system that sustains us all – and therefore less aware of the local expression of the world that their way of life has pushed out.
It's a sad irony that as human beings develop areas, they simultaneously damage creation and become less aware of the creation they are damaging.
So what can we do about this together? We cannot unbuild the cities we live in, but what we can do is work to restore the local forest and reconnect the human residents with the creation our city has been built in. These two practices work together. The more engaged people are with creation, the more they will want to see it around them. And the more creation is planted around them, the more engaged they will become with it. This is a positive feedback loop that helps God’s image bearers who are living in highly developed areas to return to their calling to be caretakers of God’s creation and work to restore it.
So what are some concrete ways we can do this together here in Philadelphia? We can plant street trees and we can join a community garden.
Street tree planting is important as a collective activity for the collective good because it is done in public spaces that are shared by all, and not just the homeowner. The difference between a treeless city block and one lined with mature trees would be hard to overstate. A strong tree canopy provides beauty, shade, cooling (through both shade and evapotranspiration), filtering of the air, habitat, and food for native animal species. Trees also increase property values, reduce crime, and improve mental and physical health. As more trees are planted throughout neighborhoods, the urban forest grows and the health of the local ecosystem can start to return around the city that was planted there.
There is a street tree planting program run by the Pennsylvania Horticultural Society (PHS) called Tree Tenders. Tree Tenders has chapters all around the city of Philadelphia, and trains people how to both plant street trees and care for them until they are established. The caretaking element is crucial because when trees are planted in urban environments and not cared for, they often die. When card for intentionally, however, they have much higher rates of survival and can grow up to become important members of the local ecosystem. There is a chapter in Hunting Park based out of Esperanza, Inc and coordinated by Ivana Gonzalez, who can be reached at igonzalez@esperanza.us
Community gardens are a critical way for community members to come together and reconnect with creation as a group. I’ve been gardening for a while now, and growing fruit and vegetables is wonderful – anyone who has done this will tell you how much better everything tastes when it comes straight from your own garden. However, the greatest fruit I’ve experienced by far has been found in the way the practice of gardening has shaped my heart, mind, and connection with creation. When you buy a tomato from a store, you often get it in a package, with a label, as a product. When you pick a tomato off your tomato plant, you can only do this after having tended it for a whole season, watering it carefully, giving it healthy soil and plenty of light. It takes a long time to grow a single tomato – it’s a mysterious and beautiful process requiring a great deal of care and waiting. A tomato is not a commodity, but part of a living plant – and gardening helps us to reconnect with that reality. All of our food comes from living plants and animals (and fungi for all you mushroom lovers) that have needed care and tending for a long time in order to bear fruit. Gardening together through a community garden helps to build a collective awareness of this reality and helps us to see the wonder and value of God’s creation more clearly through the haze of consumerism and commodification that defines our time.
There is a wonderful community garden in Hunting Park – the aptly named Hunting Park Community Garden. It is located right in the park itself and if you are interested in joining it, you can contact its director, Mike Wilcox, at huntingparkgarden@gmail.com If you are closer to the Upper Darby area, there is a lovely community garden run by the Bywood Community Association and located on the property of the Upper Darby Prayer Chapel. You can learn more at www.bywoodcommunity.org Finally, the Climate Witness Project, the Evangelical Environmental Network, and the Bywood Community Association are working together to try to get grant money to build a community garden next to the Garden of Prayer Church in Hunting Park at the corner of N 6th St and W Annsbury St. We’ll keep you posted. There are other community gardens all over the city as well. See the resources below for a helpful link.
I encourage you to get involved with Tree Tenders as well as a community garden. Together we can rebuild our connection with God’s creation, partner to restore the forest around us, and re-shape what it feels like to live in a city.
RESOURCES:
Tree Tenders (PHS): https://phsonline.org/programs/tree-programs
HP Tree Tenders – contact Ivana Gonzalez at igonzalez@esperanza.us
HP Community Garden – Contact Mike Wilcox at huntingparkgarden@gmail.com
Bywood Community Garden – Go to www.bywoodcommunity.org to learn more
Site with list of community gardens in Philadelphia, as well as a number of other community garden resources: https://www.farmingphilly.com/community-gardens-in-philadelphia/
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