Community Gardens with Grow Slow!

Hello SLOWest!

It's been a while! Just as a reminder, this blog will serve as a portal for my own personal experiences with SLOWest, but if anyone else wants to join me and blog about their own experiences, I am happy to share the login information.

The other night I had my first meeting with the Grow Slow gardens group. Approximately 10 people were in attendance, all coming to the group with different goals, agendas, expectations, intentions and plans! In the end, we all just want to dig in the dirt, grow some food and share, not only with each other, but also landowners and others in the community.

Last year there were 3 gardens tended to in the yards or lots belonging to people in the community, and 15 gardeners were involved. Much was planted, weeded, harvested and learned, and now we're back for another year! This year will be my first year actually joining the work in the gardens, last year I simply wrote about their experiences.



Over cups of tea and delicious muffins, we mapped out a year's worth of preliminary plans and each contributed ideas and goals that we wish to see come to fruition by the time the winter solstice comes along in December. It was a group made up of both novice and very experienced gardeners, enthusiastic environmentalists and food lovers, and community-minded individuals.

I committed to sharing as much as possible about the process on the various blogs I'm involved with; trying to create connections with local artists in the neighbourhood to create more community around the gardening projects; and connecting with another local food group to see about working together.

The quote, "earth care, people care, fair share" came to my mind that night while we were brainstorming, so thank you to my friend Jackson for sharing that quote -- I think it encapsulates beautifully what we're trying to do with our community gardening endeavours in Grow Slow.

Looking forward to getting some dirt under my nails,

Heather

Grow Slow Community Garden

Hello SLOWesters! I hope you are all having a fantastic summer and enjoying this beautiful growing season! Accompanied by Kirsten of the Food/Community Gardens Group (and Vegetable Patch), I recently took a stroll to a community garden that is part of the Grow Slow initiative in The Food Group. This garden is on Ladouceur Street and it is one of 3 gardens involved in the Grow Slow project. The total yard space measures approximately 1200-1500 square feet and contains a variety of vegetables, a few fruits and lots of herbs.



This garden began before SLOWest got involved, but it has thrived in the past year due to this added involvement. I spoke to Brent who owns the home next door and is responsible for the garden's existence. Brent told me that the piece of land where the garden resides is next door to his property and it was derelict for over 10 years until he got involved. The landlord was receiving yard maintenance complaints from the City of Ottawa's By-Law Department due to the unkempt nature of this parcel of land since it was filled in after a house fire.

In 2006 Brent made an agreement with the landlord to maintain the land, and he could use it however he wanted as long as it got the By-Law people off his back! Four years later and the garden is going strong and even flourishing lately.









Everyone involved in this garden product shares in the bounty of food it produces, but neighbours passing by are offered a few veggies as well. The Food Group has a potluck every 2 weeks where they weed the garden and share food.







It amazed me to see such a variety of vegetables and herbs in this one garden:

• peppers
• cucumbers
• hot peppers
• radishes
• Swiss chard
• basil
• broccoli
• parsley
• cilantro
• arugula
• lettuce
• kale
• beets
• scallions
• sage
• mint
• chives
• rosemary
• lavender
• oregano
• lemon balm
• stevia
• zucchini
• pumpkins
• potatoes
• tomatoes
• butternut squash
• watermelons
• beans

I asked Kirsten why it was important for her to get involved with this garden through the Grow Slow project in SLOWest's Food Group:

"I'm worried about access to food and the place that food is taking in our world, our minds and the economy. This is a fun way to work on that issue and also be part of a community. People stop by and smile and ask questions when we're in the garden;it's a fun way to bring people together!"


Kirsten and the garden's official kitty mascot



I went home from this garden visit with a handful of herbs, a tomato and a cucumber, and a mind inspired by this neighbourhood project that not only brings people together, but also helps redefine the food system in our city.

Vibrant Garden Signs!

Check out this beautiful sign artfully painted by the Grow Slow Group, which is part of the Food and Community Gardens project group! In June, members of this group brought their carpentry and artistic skills together and hand painted some colourful signs for SLOWest's community gardens. I plan on visiting the gardens myself to see the signs in their new homes and to find out more about each one. Stay tuned to the blog for more garden stories!

Have a great weekend, everyone!