Unity Gardens Bible: a comprehensive guide to the South Bend Unity Gardens

Student

Kathleen Lane

College(s)

College of Arts and Letters

Faculty Advisors

Julia Adeney Thomas and Sara Stewart (Head of Unity Gardens)

Class Year

2022

Abstract

In my capstone project, I conducted my research on community gardens and on Unity Gardens, a community garden in South Bend. Unity Gardens is a dignified free food model of a community garden that is completely unique in America. In my first section, I conducted a literature review of the history of community gardens in America, the current models in use, and their benefits and drawbacks. For my second section, I researched Unity Gardens, including its history, business model, and sustainable agricultural practices. For my final section, I put together a resource guide for new interns and volunteers at Unity Gardens, to allow smoother onboarding and an introduction to those new to gardening. This last section is currently in use at Unity Gardens and the first two sections serve as a model for those looking to emulate Unity Garden’s unique model.

Introduction

My capstone contributes to the current literature on community gardens, food deserts, sustainable agriculture, and community building. Unity Gardens operates on a very different model than every community garden in America and I’m interested to see how this different model affects these issues differently. The Unity Gardens model of a community garden is based on completely free-pick gardens that are located close to the constituents they serve, and is the only community garden that operates in this way. Unity Gardens is also based primarily on the west side of South Bend, which has lower access to healthy food, and specific neighborhoods that Unity Gardens serves are defined as food deserts. Unity Gardens is also based on sustainable agriculture and focuses on working with the natural environment and natural systems. Finally, one of the biggest strengths of Unity Gardens in my opinion is the community that it has built and supports and I want to show this community compares to other community garden models.