While in Rotterdam, I volunteered at Vredestiun Noord, an urban garden located in a residential area. This garden is run by one man, but also by neighborhood volunteers who come in the morning and lend some helping hands. The produce grown in this garden is split between people that help out in the garden. After they take what they want, the rest of the harvest is donated to food banks or brought closer to the city center to hand out to people in need. None of their food is sold.
When I arrived there with my group, they explained that to us and then explained what work was going to be done that day. Some people weeded beds that weren't planted in yet, others covered beds with compost, and I was placed on water duty. Being located so close to a canal, they had an irrigation system in place to bring the water up from the ground for the plants. However, that day, the system was not working. It was my job over the next couple of hours was to fill up watering cans from the canal and wheelbarrow them over to the garden where I was then instructed on what plants to water. On a hot day, this was a very laborious task. However, this was nothing but rewarding to know that I was helping the crops grow when they weren't getting water in any other capacity. This was of utmost importance due to the heatwave and the fact that it has not rained in several weeks. At the end of my time there, I was given the task of planting pumpkin and corn plants which was a fun way to tie the whole process together.
This experience was very eye-opening for me. While I consider myself a city person and not too fond of the 'rural' life, I was still only a couple miles from the center of town where I was staying. When I looked through a clearance in the tree canopy, I could see skyscrapers. Bringing the rural into the urban sphere through small gardens like the one I visited is one of many ways the urban-rural divide is being bridged.
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