The Journey of the Broccoli: The ‘Feel-Good’ Activity of Community Gardening, Reconnection to Nature, and Food Waste Hege Lindtveit Frøystad Master thesis in Development, Environment and Cultural Change Centre for Development and the Environment UNIVERSITY OF OSLO 01.06.2019 ã Hege Lindtveit Frøystad 2019 The Journey of the Broccoli: The ‘Feel-Good’ Activity of Community Gardening, Reconnection to Nature, and Food Waste Hege Lindtveit Frøystad http://WWW.duo.uio.no Trykk: Reprosentralen, Universitetet i Oslo II III Abstract This thesis examines the possible impacts of community gardening participation on perceptions of food, nature, and food waste. What is the impact of community gardening on participants? Does participation in a community garden have an impact on perceptions of food and nature? Further, does participation in food growing have an impact on food waste behaviours? An interdisciplinary approach is used to gather a holistic understanding of participants’ motivations, experiences, and narratives. In-depth, open-ended qualitative intervieWs of 11 community garden participants, and a supplementary online survey, forms the basis of the research material. Ultimately, the gardeners that considered the consequences of their actions and believed in their ability to impact change adhered to the notion that gardening had impacted their vieWs on food, nature, and food waste. Interestingly, garden participation encouraged a circular vieW of food: its entire journey from seed, to plant, produce, waste, and return to soil. Thereby, garden participation had intriguing impacts on food waste behaviours. Key Words: urban agriculture; community gardening; food; nature; reconnection; reconciliation; food waste; waste cycle. IV Acknowledgements First and foremost, thank you to all the people who took time out of their day to talk to a Norwegian stranger about their gardening experiences. This thesis would not have been possible without their unique and fascinating stories, insights, and Wisdom. Thank you to Sam, my partner in life, for providing for me, supporting me, and loving me. I could not have done any of this without you. Thank you to all the astounding and remarkable people that were my classmates at SUM. You all made my year in Oslo something I will never forget and alWays cherish. Thank you to Mariel Aguilar Støen Who took the time to read my thesis and give me invaluable feedback and encouragement. Thank you for continued guidance despite me moving to Canada and changing the topic for my thesis. Thank you to my family for only being a facetime call aWay: alWays rooting and caring for me. V Table of Contents 1 Introduction ___________________________________________________________________ 1 1.1 Outline _____________________________________________________________________________ 2 2 Literature Review ____________________________________________________________ 3 2.1 Urban Agriculture _________________________________________________________________ 3 2.2 Community Gardening ____________________________________________________________ 5 2.2.1 Benefits _________________________________________________________________________________ 6 2.2.2 Challenges ______________________________________________________________________________ 8 2.2.3 The Value of Urban Agriculture _____________________________________________________ 11 2.3 Food Waste _______________________________________________________________________ 14 2.4 Reconnecting People, Nature, and Food ________________________________________ 18 2.4.1 What is Nature? _______________________________________________________________________ 21 2.4.2 Theories of ‘Reconnection’ ___________________________________________________________ 23 2.5 Critique: Neoliberal Governmentality Tool _____________________________________ 25 3 Methodological Approach __________________________________________________ 29 3.1 Study Site: Toronto _______________________________________________________________ 30 3.1.1 Community Gardens Studied ________________________________________________________ 33 3.2 Data Collection ___________________________________________________________________ 36 3.2.1 Qualitative Interviews ________________________________________________________________ 38 3.2.2 Online Survey _________________________________________________________________________ 39 3.3 Data Analysis _____________________________________________________________________ 40 3.4 Limitations of my Research ______________________________________________________ 40 3.5 Ethical Considerations and Reflexivity __________________________________________ 42 4 Analysis and Discussion ____________________________________________________ 44 4.1 The Impacts of Gardening _______________________________________________________ 45 4.1.1 TheraPy: EscaPe and Sanctuary _____________________________________________________ 46 4.1.2 Gratitude, Reward, and Confidence _________________________________________________ 49 4.1.3 Community ____________________________________________________________________________ 52 4.1.4 Food ___________________________________________________________________________________ 56 4.1.5 “Getting your hands dirty” ___________________________________________________________ 59 4.1.6 Connection to Past, family, and childhood __________________________________________ 61 4.1.7 Challenges _____________________________________________________________________________ 63 4.1.8 Conclusion _____________________________________________________________________________ 69 4.2 The Impacts on Perceptions on Food and Nature ______________________________ 72 4.2.1 Nature: Destination Wilderness _____________________________________________________ 72 VI 4.2.2 Garden and Nature: SeParate or Together? ________________________________________ 76 4.2.3 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________________ 78 4.3 Waste _____________________________________________________________________________ 79 4.3.1 Work and Value ______________________________________________________________________ 80 4.3.2 Waste Cycle ___________________________________________________________________________ 85 4.3.3 The Individual vs. The Collective ____________________________________________________ 89 4.3.4 Conclusion ____________________________________________________________________________ 92 4.4 Guilt: Overwhelming or Rejection _______________________________________________ 93 4.4.1 GrouP One: “Tend Your Own Garden” ______________________________________________ 94 4.4.2 GrouP Two: Breaking Down Barriers ______________________________________________ 100 5 Conclusion: Simply a ‘Feel-Good’ Activity? _____________________________ 106 References ________________________________________________________________________ 113 Appendix: Semi-Structured Interview Guide _______________________________ 123 VII List of Figures Figure 1 Gardeners relationship with food ............................................................................ 58 Figure 2 Non-Gardeners relationship with food .................................................................. 58 Figure 3 Graph of self-reported food waste .......................................................................... 79 Figure 4 Graph of motivation to limit waste: "thinking about the idea that I can make a difference through my actions" .................................................................................. 82 Figure 5 Graph of food disposal location ............................................................................... 88 VIII List of Tables Table 1 Community gardens studied .................................................................................. 34 Table 2 Interview subjects ....................................................................................................... 36 IX X 1 Introduction Following in the footsteps of countless other expanding ‘developed’ cities, urban agriculture in Toronto has re-emerged. As a leader in the sustainable food movement, urban agriculture (UA) has been promoted by the city as a solution to issues of poverty, food insecurity, and food sovereignty. Urban food production is seen as a productive resolution to health and food issues, with social justice and hunger cited as the most important concern. Sustainability issues are presented as secondary. Combined with municipal support and promotion of urban agriculture, community gardening has become widely popular amongst the general population. The number of community gardens in Toronto is currently at an all-time high. Community gardening has been the topic of a great deal of research. Both benefits and challenges have been raised. Some have promoted UA as a saviour to end all issues of food insecurity and sovereignty, while bolstering community cohesiveness and limiting poverty. Critics’ counter-argument asserts that UA is a ‘trojan horse’, making communities and individuals bear the responsibilities previously provided by the state (Jermé and Wakefield 2013, 309; Pudup 2008; Rosol 2010). However, despite the challenges and critiques, the noted benefits and continued participation speak volumes. It appears that urban agriculture’s re-emergence is fully established. Climate change is the looming threat of the Anthropocene. Food production and consumption are some of the most resource consuming activities, as Carlsson- Kanyama writes: “the consumption of food has been identified as one of the most resource demanding or polluting