Neighbourhood blooms with new garden
A new community garden in the Meadowgreen neighbourhood started as a mud pit, but nearby residents see it growing into a nourishing project for the area.
About 70 volunteers were in the garden — the second in the neighbourhood — at Kate Waygood Park on a rainy Wednesday morning preparing the soil and planting their new plots as part of a joint project between several organizations and companies.
Single parent Warren Stanley said he looks forward to bringing his four kids to help work in his garden and meet neighbours.
“I live here, and you gotta bloom where you’re planted, you know?” Stanley said during a break Wednesday morning.”
When neighbours regularly get together, it can lead to more community involvement and other projects for the area, Stanley said.
“Each one of these plots belongs to a different family. You’ll be out here every day and meeting your neighbours. When people start talking, defences come down and that’s where ideas come from. It’s exactly what this community needs — any community.”
The daylong event had volunteer help from the City of Saskatoon, the Open Door Society and CHEP (Child Hunger and Education Program) Good Food Inc. Canadian Tire and Fiskars, a tool company, partnered to support the project.
Many new Canadians have plots in Saskatoon’s 34 community gardens, bringing agricultural experience and traditions from their home countries, said Gord Androsoff, community garden co-ordinator with CHEP.
“There are social and cultural aspects to community gardening,” he said. “It’s a gathering place. Gardens can break down barriers — meeting neighbours you might not have before.”
Community gardens strengthen food security, he noted.
“In some neighbourhoods, growing your own food can have a good effect on the family budget.”
Sara Lundrigan, who moved to Saskatoon 18 months ago, lives in the apartments across from her new plot in the community garden, which she hopes will help her family’s food budget.
“I have no space to grow and I have four kids, and it’s important for them to have fresh food,” she said. “A couple of them are hungry teenagers. They have empty legs. My youngest will take carrots over cookies any day.”
Each year, Fiskars picks a Canadian location to build a community garden, said company representative Paul Tonnesen.
“It can be a catalyst for future in- vestment in the neighbourhood,” Tonnesen said.
“A city will notice it’s a great project and will maybe add a basketball court or benches to beautify the area.”