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Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden: Community Gardens Are About More Than Growing Food!

September 6, 2024

 

One of the great folks that comes along to the newly opened Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden has been doing just that, carving out time to do something she loves – sketching. She shared with us why she loves to draw in the garden, some photos of her sketches, and highlights that community gardens are for everyone.

Have you always enjoyed sketching, and how did you come to love it as a hobby?
I did art when I was young and starting out, and am returning to it now that I’m older, with worse eyes but just as much enthusiasm and joy, Art is how I connect with the world – and it’s fun! Even the simplest sketch involves conceptual thinking so it’s deep too – and you meet really cool people along the way, there’s that as well.

What are your favourite things to sketch?
Diversity, I think, is what I enjoy most both in life and to draw.

Why do you enjoy sketching in the Muirhouse garden?
Just that it’s ok! I can sit and draw and nobody minds. I can also do polyculture in the raised bed I adopted, and nobody minds that either. Sitting and sketching is my way of saying, ‘it’s ok to be here in this garden,’ it’s for us.

Do you think that spending time sketching in the garden has a positive impact for you?
For a high-rise dweller like me the garden as a community space is all kinds of wonderful! Being able to just sit and draw is a big deal for me. I’m more used to sketching at bus stops or perhaps on the (alas increasingly rare) benches dotted around the city. A liminal activity in liminal spaces. Having a garden to sit and draw in is astonishing and unexpected – and amazing. That’s the art bit, that it’s a garden is even better, and that it’s a community garden better yet, so yes, a very positive impact.

The Muirhouse garden is new to the neighbourhood, what do you think about the garden as a space for local people?
The community here is very strong and always has been. We have a history of initiatives being helicoptered in though, so the garden is on the ‘wait and see’ spectrum as far as I can make out, with general good feeling, particularly about growing food for the community, which, given the fact that we haven’t had a supermarket for over a decade, seems a very good idea. I think people are unsure if they’re just expected to donate hours to help. Many people walk past and look in, wave, but under their eyes is what they must do next to keep going in their own lives, not much time nor energy for donating hours.

What would you say to those people to encourage them to stop by for a chat with neighbours, or simply to enjoy the space without feeling as though they have to donate hours?
They should know that there’s really no pressure! My approach is to wave and say hello if I’ve seen someone pass by a few times. Sometimes they’ll pause and chat a little longer, mention how nice the garden is – and that gives me the chance to say they’re welcome to come in for a wander and closer look.

Find your local community garden to see how you can get involved and explore how you can use the space using our map.

Muirhouse Neighbourhood Garden holds gardening sessions every Wednesday from 9:30am-12:30pm, and Sunday from 1-4pm.

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