About Community Gardening

Earth’s Promise Community Garden and The Center for Neighborhood Sustainability

Working together to strengthen regional communities in Be’er-Sheva by developing grassroots models of sustainability that address real life challenges.

Beer Sheva’s abundance of neglected public open space provides the perfect venue for communal and environmental renewal in the form of community gardens and micro-farms. Both of which utilize small plots of land to generate tremendous social and ecological benefits.

Social benefits include:

•     Restoring a sense of purpose to older or unemployed persons.

•     Adding flexibility to a family’s budget by growing their own vegetables.

•     Strengthening communal relationships (particularly intergenerational relationships).

•     Greater communal health by increasing access to culturally appropriate, nutritious, pesticide free food.

•     Preserving the traditional knowledge of the Ethiopian community.

•     Easing the transition from rural country living to modern urban life.

Ecological benefits include:

•     Moderating urban “heat islands” by growing environmentally appropriate crops.

•     Reducing the amount of solid waste entering landfills by composting organic material.

•     Creating microhabitats that attract birds and other forms of biodiversity that enhance local ecology and beautify the city.

We believe in providing simple accessible tools for healthier living – through educational programs and waste management solutions while encouraging active citizenship and local economy initiatives.

Our future programs include:

- A Learning Center for Sustainability

- Expanding the Community Gardens to include more community members (now on a waiting list for a vegetable plot)

- A Neighborhood Leadership Course

- Community based Eco-Events that involve local businesses

- And continue being active educational gardens