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Community Gardens Digitization

Maintaining Community Through COVID-19

Maintaining Community Through COVID-19

Lodovico de Boni

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The Need For Innovation

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Now that we are entering into the second Spring season impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic, a growing concern on my mind has been the impact that this pandemic may have on community gardens across the United States. My father grew up on a small farm in Italy, and, once he immigrated to the United States, joining a community garden was the sole social activity that provided him comfort. I've grew to share in my father's passion for gardening, and for all of my teenage years, I was a volunteer at NYC Parks GreenThumb—an organization that supports community gardens across the entirety of New York City. During that time, I noticed a number of legacy systems utilized by community gardens that were desperately in need of improvement.

Spring is the busiest season for community gardens and typically coincides with the beginning of workshop demonstrations and other neighborhood gatherings hosted by garden members. Foregoing the events of a second Spring season threatens the bonds which these gardens have worked to build within their community. Even in modern cities such as NYC, Community Gardens have been notoriously slow to digitize their operations—preferring to maintain handwritten membership logs and advertise neighborhood events via flyers or word-of-mouth. Utilization of the templates within this seasonal guide enables any Community Garden to:

Modernize workflows

Incorporate COVID-19 safety measures into garden operations

Foster social bonds amidst statewide lockdowns

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New Member Signup⁠

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Membership Registry & Growth Mentors⁠

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Interactive Plot Layout⁠

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Events Calendar⁠

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Garden Suggestion Box⁠

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Tool Shed Checkout Sheet⁠

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Personalizing This Document

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Click the following button to produce a copy of this document:

Copy doc

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Download the GMail & Zoom packs:

→ First, click the Explore button in the top right corner

→ Second, click the Packs & Import Tab

→ Lastly, search for the GMail & Zoom packs and follow the prompts to connect your accounts

GMail Pack Installation Video:

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After downloading the packs, delete the existing data within the

Membership Form Signups⁠

Member Registry⁠

Host⁠

Calendar Contents⁠

Garden Suggestion Box⁠

, and

Tool Shed Checkout Sheet⁠

tables. Feel free to keep one row of existing data in each table to use as a reference guide until familiarized with these templates.

The

Interactive Plot Layout⁠

page should be reconfigured to reflect the actual layout of your local Community Garden, similar to what you see in the default example. The page also comes with a brief description of one manner in which the table can be utilized to enact safety guidelines during the COVID-19 pandemic. Keep this description if it aligns with your garden’s operations or alter the write-up to better meet your needs.

Lastly, this

Community Gardens Digitization⁠

page should be cleared and transformed into a welcome page for your particular garden. Some suggestions for your welcome page are: ‘About Us’ section, Contact Information (Garden Address, Email, & Phone Number), and a COVID-19 Statement

If there is any confusion regarding these personalization elements, please feel free to contact me

@Lodovico de Boni⁠

and I will gladly help to troubleshoot this issue or build out any additional features

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Lodovico’s Photo Gallery

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4/9/2021: My family starts in on this year’s garden

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6/7/2021: First strawberry of 2021

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Community Gardens DigitizationCommunity Gardens Digitization

The Need For Innovation

Contents

Personalizing This Document

Lodovico’s Photo Gallery

Community Gardens Digitization
Community Gardens Digitization