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The key component to Berkeley Community Garden is community. Community takes shape in two different ways at BCG. First and foremost, of course, is your community of gardens. Meeting your fellow gardeners is a wonderful experience. The garden brings together people of all backgrounds into our own little melting pot. We have different backgrounds, different ages, different incomes and educations. Heck, we even garden differently. But we're all drawn together by our love of nature and our strong desire to work the earth to bring a bit of nature into our neighborhood.
As a community, the garden is also self-sustaining. The garden has no paid staff, but is run by the gardeners itself. Gardeners do all the physical work as well as record keeping and finances, in addition to raising all our own money through annual fees.
While everyone enjoys the gardening part, both endeavors require participation from all the gardeners. BCG requires every gardener to participate in the running of the garden. Gardeners who cannot or chose not to participate in the garden community will be assessed a fee. While these fees help the garden cover expenses, we use this fee more as a deterrent than a fundraiser.
For those with limited time we have garden clean ups every two weeks. During clean up we pick up trash that has accumulated in the garden, as well as perform light maintenance activities. Gardeners who chose to help in the biweekly clean ups must attend at least 6 clean ups to get participation credit.
For those who cannot make the Monday clean ups, or wish to become more involved in the garden, we have many activities that are in need of volunteers. If nothing in this list appeals to you, send us your own ideas - you may have thought of something that the garden needs that we haven't!
Garden Leadership
Your garden leaders are the people who run the major activities of the garden. They are volunteers and have been serving for quite a while now and could definitely use some time off. Being a Garden Leader is a chance to become a greater participant in the running of the garden and is a chance to direct the garden's future. Some responsibilities of garden leaders include
- Meet regularly as a board to discuss garden issues and plan for the future.
- Help with basic annual garden activities, like garden sign up, the spring and fall clean ups, getting letters out, and such.
- Attend garden events and coordinate activities in the garden. Basically, if there's something going on in the garden, one of the leaders will be there.
- Coordinate specific garden activities, such as keeping records, coordinating maintenance, being treasurer and other such dedicated activities.
If helping shape the future of the garden is something you feel you'd like to be a part of, definitely contact us!
Garden Work - Physical work that can be done in the garden on your own time
- Gate building
- Many of the gates to gardeners' plots are in bad shape and not everyone has the skills to build themselves a new one. As capable people step forward, we are replacing the gates throughout the entire garden. This can be done on or off site at any time (the garden pays for supplies).
- Tool pen construction ('05)
- We'd like to build a new, more secure tool pen. Join the team designing the layout and then building the new tool area.
- Compost
- We need a team of people to oversee the garden's compost areas. This would include compost education for gardeners, making sure brush is cut to a small size, watering the compost regularly, and the turning the compost bin twice a year (spring and fall clean ups). The trash that accumulates in the compost bins is usually cleaned up during the Monday clean ups.
- Maintenance
- You can volunteer to take care of a specific area of the garden. One of the common garden areas or public areas of the garden - take care of trash, weeding, plantings and waterings. While this is similar to weekly clean up work, this can be done on your own time.
Desk Jockey - Things that can be done from home
-
While we're looking for individuals,
many of these activities would be best served by
a small team.
- Fundraising
- The garden could always use more money. We have bills that need paying and repairs that are continuously ongoing. We're looking for someone to commit the time to get a fundraising effort together. (We'd like a group of folks - we don't' want to saddle one person with everything.) This could include items such as soliciting neighbors to fund specific purchases, seeking donations from local businesses (both money and items), and applying for small grants available.
- Newsletter
- We have a lot that goes on in the garden and not everyone has an internet connection. We'd like to put out a regular newsletter (quarterly maybe?). This would be sent to all gardeners, as well as out neighbors and those to whom we solicit donations.
- Logo ('05)
- We'd like to get a logo for the BCG. Something that could be use to easily identify us, represent the garden and what we stand for. It could be used for things like a newsletter, signs, t-shirts, etc.
- Web pages
- I could always use help with web design and upkeep.
- Activities
- Someone who could organize some activities in the garden. From a pot luck to a mini festival to something as big as music in the garden. While this person would coordinate such things, running them would involve additional volunteers - everyone would give a hand.
Other opportunities
- Community Garden Council
- The CGC is a new body designed to address the needs of all community gardens in the city. They're just starting to establish their vision and goals, so this could be your chance to get in on the ground floor and help community gardens all over the city. Their elections are in October and we're hoping Berkeley will be represented on the council. This would be monthly meetings as well as helping in other CGC efforts.
- SELROSLT Board
- Berkeley is physically owned by SELROSLT, which is run by a board made up of representatives from all gardens. Our current rep has been serving for a number of years and we'd like to give them a break and get a fresh face on the board from Berkeley.