Community Gardening magazine seeks stories for 2024

 

ACGA’s annual magazine, Community Gardening, is looking for stories on the theme of land access and protection for our 2024 edition. Finding and keeping land for gardens over time is a major challenge for our movement; land access impacts all food production, particularly in urban areas. We want to hear your garden’s story: How did you find land for your garden and how do you protect your space?

 

Share your story ideas in a short email to our 2024 Editors, Rob Bennaton and Terri Carter, at magazine@communitygarden.org. Deadline for inquiries is Friday, December 1. Please include “magazine” in the subject line.

 

We are interested in stories of creative ways you have accessed land for community, school, faith-based, therapeutic, and other types of gardens and urban farming. In your story, we encourage you to include an introduction and site history; creative ideas for accessing land for public and community use; how your site benefits your community and local environmental stewardship; challenges you face, especially regarding stewardship, “green infrastructure”, and urban food production; and your sources of support, particularly from local groups and public-private partnerships. What role do faith-based organizations play?

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In your conclusion, we encourage you to consider the following questions:

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How is your community garden or urban farm sustaining itself as a resource for future generations over the long term? What would you do differently to access space if you knew then what you know now?

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Submit your article idea to magazine@communitygarden.org . You may also send questions to the editors, Rob Bennaton at magazine@communitygarden.org and Terri Carter at terri.carter@communitygarden.org. Deadline for inquiries is Friday, December 1, 2023. 

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Final article drafts (roughly 800 words, however length may be negotiated with the editors) should be accompanied by at least one to four high quality photos illustrating the story, in .jpg format, file size approximately 1 MB per photo. If you want to submit an all-photo essay, please contact the editors. The final version of your story will be due in late 2023 or early 2024, as determined by the editors. The magazine is sent to all ACGA members.

 

If you have an idea for a story about community gardening not connected with the theme, please send a note to the editors pitching the basics. We will consider it.