On Saturday, April 7 I attended the Tampa Coalition of Community Gardens Conference held in Tampa Heights. It was a great opportunity to learn about community gardens from people involved in all aspects, from city planners to gardeners to public health experts. I recently read this great book called City Farmer: Adventures in Urban Food Growing by Lorraine Johnson, a fascinating read, and have been hooked on the idea of community and urban gardens ever since. It was always something that intrigued me, and I've had this idea to start a school garden in the elementary school across the street from my apartment complex, but I happened upon this book while roaming through the aisles of the public library one day, and it really opened my eyes to all the wonderful things that can come with community gardens--strengthening of communities, connecting to food, reducing food deserts, improving nutrition, reducing crime--the list goes on! And it also gave me a clearer idea on HOW to make this happen, and how people can make some money doing it if they wish. I'll surely do another post about community gardens and urban gardens as I learn more and become involved, but I'll just leave you with this short video I took right after the conference (that I was also very lucky to happen upon), showing you some of the Tampa Heights Community Garden.