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The spotlight will shift Saturday to those in Asbury Park who work to emphasize food justice, community participation and on the job training when a collaboration of master gardeners offer the 10 a.m. to noon Community Garden Tour.

“The Garden Tour is to increase awareness about the community gardens in Asbury Park, what they’re doing and how they function,” Director of Planning and Redevelopment Michele Alonso said in a written news release provided by the city.  “Master gardeners will speak at each of the three gardens, so you can not only learn about their purpose and benefit to the community, but also get inspiration for giving back to the community or even your own garden.”

The movement has taken hold in cities across the nation, allowing independent gardeners the opportunity for community interaction.

“It’s getting back to the idea of the commons, which dates from a pre-capitalism time around the end of the feudal system,” said Derek Minno Bloom of Trinity Church, where one of the three gardens will be showcased. “It’s about sharing in a common area, the residents growing their own goods, having ceremonies, and just being a part of a shared community.”

The featured gardens and master gardeners include Bloom at Trinity Church [503 Asbury Ave], Tom Pivinski at the City Hall Community Garden [One Municipal Plaza], and Roger Boyce at Kula Urban Farm [1201 Springwood Ave].

Officials said there will be not set schedule for the tour, allowing participants to peruse at their leisure.

At Trinity Church, the  garden is inspired by Bloom’s role as director of the church’s Food Justice program, which strives to address the immediate problem of hunger as well as organizing and advocating for broader societal change to prevent hunger in the future, according to the news release.

“We serve something around 35,000 people a year through the Food Justice program, and we know that what we’re doing with our own garden is just a drop in that bucket,” Bloom said. “But I think it’s important that we lead by example in a way, encourage more people to think about where they can put gardens in or around their own homes, to maximize land they aren’t really using.”

The Asbury Park Community Garden, located on Bangs Avenue between City Hall and the Transportation Center, is managed by the City’s Environment and Shade Tree Commission [ESTC].

“Markets can be expensive and hard to get to if you don’t have a car or regular money for a cab, so we want to provide a more local and accessible option,” said Pivinski, head of the ESTC.

Now in its fifth year, the garden includes 24 raised beds growing everything from Swiss chard, romaine, spinach, and collard greens to green beans, sweet potatoes, tomatoes, beets, okra, and herbs. Pivinski said the garden is based on a survey of residents in order to determine what would be most useful.

“We ask people what they’d like us to grow, and if we can get the seeds then we’ll plant it,” Pivinski said. “So what we have is based on what the community wants, though we also encourage people to try out produce they’re not as familiar with.”

ESTC volunteers distributes their produce to anyone who needs the organically grown vegetables and fruit on Mondays from 8 a.m. to 10 a.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m.

City officials said a concrete patch laid down at the mouth of the garden this week, will serve as the foundation for a distribution farm stand, being constructed by volunteers.

Located at 1201 Springwood Avenue, the Kula Urban Farm is operated in connection with Kula Café and the café’s job training program, run by Interfaith Neighbors.

In addition to gaining experience and opportunities in the foodservice industry through the café, Kula gives program participants the opportunity to enter the organic food growing industry.

The Kula Farm uses hydroponics and vertical ZipGrow towers to make the most of its limited space. A recirculating irrigation system distributes water to its 100 towers, each of them six feet tall, giving the farm 600 linear feet of growing space.

The urban farm provides fresh produce to the café and began selling its tomato plants and café created ice pops at the Friday night and Sunday afternoon Asbury Fresh farmers and crafters market at Kennedy Park on Cookman.

[Photos at Kula Urban Farm]

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