Economic Gardening is a grassroots, community-driven system of economic development based on a local first orientation to create a long term sustainable growth cycle. This model is one that has a primary focus on the leveraging of existing community assets. It recognizes the importance of seeing that our local assets are not limited to only financial resources. It stresses the importance of citizens to be honest about a community’s strengths and weaknesses and find cooperative, celebrative and creative ways of partnering. Success is gained by thoughtfully and incrementally building on these strengths, by prioritizing resources towards reinvestment, retaining, and revitalizing community assets.
Cedar County's future is predicated on how well we manage our current assets. These include the people of our communities, the established businesses on our Main Streets, our agri-business heritage, and the natural resources of our county. The process all begins with a conversation about the future of your community.