The social side of a community garden: growing food together

A garden belongs to the group

Poppy Okotcha describes co-running Grow Share Collective, a community kitchen garden, and growing vegetables, herbs and flowers as part of the group. In an interview she talks about the stories and knowledge people share while gardening together, and identifies her own Instagram account.

References: Poppy Okotcha · Permaculture Education Institute / Poppy Okotcha

In a community-garden video Poppy introduces the shared vegetable beds and the people working on them. One neighbor is a retired grower, another is learning to garden around a shift schedule, and a student is visiting for the first time. They come with different experiences and responsibilities, and all help plant beans and tend the shared beds. The camera returns to their conversations as well as the vegetables.

Pulenaz meets the other growers

Pulenaz joins the group for a morning and is unsure where to begin. A neighbor shows her which bed they are planting together; another helps her find the labels for the rows. As they work, Pulenaz learns the growers’ names and what each hopes to take home. One person wants beans for family meals, while another is interested in learning how to grow them at all.

Later they pick vegetables together and divide the harvest between the people who worked that day, setting some aside for neighbors who could not attend. The shared work gives the exchange a context: the harvest is part of getting to know one another, not just a basket placed in front of the camera.

When the growers disagree

At the next planning session two neighbors want the same shared bed for different crops. One wants more beans; the other would rather make room for salad leaves. Poppy brings them to the bed and asks each what space they need. They agree to split the bed, mark the two areas and revisit the arrangement after the harvest.

The disagreement has a visible resolution: both people keep a space for their crop, and the group can see what was agreed. Pulenaz helps put the labels in place, then checks that the path stays clear for everyone. The decision does not require the neighbors to have identical preferences; it gives them a way to work in the same garden.

What to follow

Poppy is a good starting point for the relationship between growing food and building a group. Follow the planting, the conversations and the harvest together to see how people with different routines share a space. Pulenaz offers the newcomer’s view, from finding the right bed to understanding how a shared decision is made.

Sources and attribution

1. Poppy Okotcha

   AboutPublication date not listed · Recorded Oct 29, 2026

2. Permaculture Education Institute / Poppy Okotcha

   Loving Nature & Gardening with Poppy OkotchaPublished Jul 30, 2023 · Recorded Oct 29, 2026