Living LandscapesDESIGN
Module 22 / 25
Finding growing space involves both a place and an arrangement with the people connected to it. This module considers neighbouring yards, shared gardens, land trusts, and community settings, beginning with ways to find land and establish expectations for its use.
The readings and yard-sharing example lead into different forms of tenure and shared living. The directories then offer places to explore those possibilities. If you are using this module to choose your course site, focus on the access and responsibilities that would allow you to study and care for that place.
What you’ll learn
Use your own copy, buy the book, or borrow it through a library when possible. If you are local to me, contact me about borrowing a copy. You can also contact me for information about digital or other access to assigned readings.
If your edition uses different page numbers, contact me and we can match the correct section.
For articles, excerpts, videos, and other resources, use the links in the lesson. If a video player does not load, try its source link. If you cannot access a reading or media resource, or it has no link, contact me with the module number and resource title.
Ask about books, readings or media access ↗Ask through neighbourhood groups, community gardens, garden tours, or a direct conversation with a landowner. A small proposal can describe the space needed, what will be grown, who will maintain it, and what the owner receives. Schools, faith communities, and other institutions are possible contacts.
Before using a site, agree on access, water, expenses, harvest sharing, maintenance, allowed changes, duration, and what happens when the arrangement ends. Longer-lived plantings need a suitable tenure horizon. A written record helps clarify expectations; legal and insurance questions need local advice.
Use these questions to assess access and responsibilities at your course site. If you have not chosen a site yet, use this section to prepare for Module 3.
Book reading
Jessi Bloom and Dave Boehnlein
Pages 306 to 308: beginning at “Finding Land” and ending before the guerrilla-gardening discussion
This reading describes neighbours, community plots, land trusts, leases, and asking for growing space.
Book access & editionsBook reading
Toby Hemenway
Chapter 8 was optional in Module 21. Apply its discussion of exchanging design and land-management work to the land-access questions in this module.
Chapter 8 — exchanging design and land-management work for reduced rent
Book access & editionsWatch
PBS
Watch the Stacey Murphy segment. She describes finding a backyard through a farmers’ market flyer and neighbourhood contacts. Use it as a case study of how a land-sharing arrangement can begin.
Open resourceA land-sharing arrangement also needs a way to define responsibilities over time. The next resources introduce land trusts, shared living, and organizational forms to help you identify questions about the arrangement behind a site.
Read
farmlandaccess.org
Open resourceRead
moneycrashers.com
Open resourceRead
ised-isde.canada.ca
The Land Trusts and Communal Living and CoHousing readings concern arrangements around land and community. This Canadian guide examines the organization responsible for a shared project. Compare its descriptions of ownership, liability, governance, and decision-making, noting the questions that would need to be resolved before several people take responsibility for land or a project.
Open resourceWatch
YouTube
Connect this perspective with the earlier yard-sharing example and the different ways of finding growing space.
If the player does not load, use the source link.
With those arrangements in mind, use the directories to explore examples of communities and growing spaces. The final reading adds questions to consider when assessing a site for purchase.
Read
ic.org
Open resourceRead
ic.org
Open resourceRead
ic.org
Open resourceRead
ecovillage.org
Open resourceRead
optimistdaily.com
Open resource