Community and food: impacts of alternative food procurement in building community in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania

Community can reside in a multitude of places and can built from any commonality. Using an ethnographic approach and the tool of holding space, this research paper tells the stories of two communities built in spaces which focus on food procurement and dissemination in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The communities examined are built from community projects, the Gleaning Project and the Painted Turtle Farm (a community garden). Utilizing the con-cepts of ethics of care, responsibility, dependence, conviviality, care work, social reproduc-tion, and diverse community economies, I discuss the stories of the communities’ struggles during the crisis of the COVID-19 pandemic and how community members have worked to mitigate the issues of state abandonment, food insecurity, and isolation. This paper sheds light on the importance of prioritizing care, social reproduction, and conviviality in building community and how when focus is shifted from these priorities, community building can be compromised.