Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
This is your opportunity to sell. Use your most heartstring-pulling language. Include photos if possible.
Close with the words, “thank you.”
An important thing to keep in mind: if you are borrowing land for the short term from an individual,
institution, or a government organization, you generally cannot get permission or a lease without first
having liability insurance. Do your homework and become a member of ACGA, or find a carrier you
can afford and have that information available when you're ready to talk land.
A Safe Garden Is Everyone's Business
Your garden leadership team needs to be responsible, identifying and rectifying safety issues in the
garden, particularly situations that gardeners have brought to your attention. It is imperative to fix prob-
lems as they arise—before they become issues that could harm someone. No number of signatures on
documents will help in the case of negligence. If you're lucky, gardeners will take matters into their
own hands and deal with worrisome or threatening situations as they come up. Setting up a formal chan-
nel for reporting garden concerns is an important step in managing and maintaining a safe and well-run
garden. It is always best to empower your gardeners to feel responsible for the safety of everyone. Then
it's not just you or your small group of leaders who seem to be responsible but all of the participants. It
is truly a community space when the people who use the garden understand and are active in its success
organizationally. This includes safety, too.
Signatures and Signage
Hold harmless waiver
Many organizations create a hold harmless waiver that is mandatory for all par-
ticipants to sign. During your garden registration process, you might want to have participants sign an
agreement stating that they understand there may be dangers involved in participating in the garden, and
that they waive any claims of legal action against the garden organization due to injury or other dam-
ages to physical property. Make it clear that signing a hold harmless waiver will apply to the member,
their family, and anyone they invite onto the garden property.
Media permissions form
You are going to want to document the life of your garden either for your
own memories, for the garden community, or to share with potential funders. A media permissions
form allows you to use anyone's image in materials related to the garden. This is another element that
many gardens build into the registration process as a caveat for participation. As with the hold harmless
waiver, a signed media permissions form will apply to the member, their family, and anyone they invite
onto the garden property. And, of course, if you're in the garden taking pictures and members ask not
to be photographed, even though they have signed a permission form, be kind and respect their wishes.
“Enter at your own risk” signage
You're probably going to have some identifying signage at your
garden, such as “Welcome to the XYZ Community Garden!” This is a good place to also post a notice
to those who enter and have not signed a hold harmless form. Your gardeners have signed a waiver,
covering themselves and anyone they've invited into the garden, but it also useful to have signage as a
reminder for those covered by the hold harmless waiver as well as for passersby who might wander in to
admire the amazing garden. “Enter at your own risk” signage, prominently displayed by all entrances,
provides another way to cover your organization in case of an accident. If the community garden is
