Student coordinator Josh Klein-Kuhn says, "Gardens like the Bard Community Garden allow people of all walks of life and of all ranges of gardening experience and interest to be involved. There are folks like myself who do a lot of the work, plan out the garden, plant, et cetera. There are folks who come once a week for structured work, where they can be shown and directed what to do. There are folks who just come and graze. And all three of those groups are great, and balance each other well to create a healthy group of community members."

A community garden project with a different emphasis is the Cornell Cooperative Extension Green Teen Community Gardening Program, which operates in four gardens in Poughkeepsie. The project works with youth aged 7 to 17 years and offers a variety of programs to teach kids not only how to grow vegetables, but to learn how to cook using fresh produce. There is a business venture component as well: teaching youth to market and sell their products. The project is part of a greater Community Development initiative and offers programs during the school year as well as in the summertime. Local non-youth are also invited to get involved through volunteer positions helping out at the gardens. "Our project is not a traditional kind of community garden with each kid having his or her own individual space to garden in," says Shannon Kishel, the program's community educator. "It is students who come together as a community to grow things as a group and learn from one another. And it becomes an opportunity for the kids to get directly involved with people who live in the community around them."

A bit farther afield, Albany and the surrounding cities of Troy and Schenectady boast many thriving gardens. Organized in 1972, the Capital District Community Gardens organization has over 40 organic produce gardenswith over 600 families gardening, and is one of the oldest and largest community garden organizations in the country. The gardeners pay a small donation (usually $10 to $20 per year depending on the size of the plot) and are provided with free seeds, free garden education classes, free mulch, and free tilling.Many of the gardens have a shed for shared tools, and all have water available on-site. The group manages all these projects with only a staff of five, even as the demand for garden space continues to increase.

Program manager Sharon DiLorenzo says, "We have many gardeners who have had their plots for decades and wouldn't give them up for anything in the world. Ninety-nine percent of our garden plots are filled right now so it would be difficult for someone to get one with us, but we will be developing several new gardens in Albany, Schenectady, Cohoes, and Rensselaer to accommodate the ever-growing number of interested gardeners."She feels the efforts of the Capital District organization are necessary and worthwhile. "Urban gardens help bring people of different backgrounds together, working toward a common goal."

Whether one's goal is building stronger community ties, creating more productive green areas, growing one's own food, teaching kids nutrition and life skills, or just enjoying being outdoors, community gardening offers an opportunity to explore all these possibilities at once. Sometimes hidden in plain sight, local community gardens are an example of this area's commitment to keeping a relationship with the natural world as we are increasingly distanced from it through modern technology. In the words of University of Michigan psychologist Stephen Kaplan, "Nature is not just 'nice'.... It is a vital ingredient in healthy human functioning." Many Hudson Valley residents are heeding these words.