If you like getting down and dirty with a flower bed, or love the crunch of your home grown carrots, North Bay’s Community Garden Coalition is looking for you.
The Coalition, which was formed five years ago to increase awareness and participation in community gardens, wants to see its numbers grow while it’s gardens do.
Erin Reyce, from the North Bay Parry Sound District Health Unit, one of the founding members, says the idea of the coalition is simple.
“How can we facilitate the development of the notion of urban community gardens in North Bay.”
The Coalition promotes existing gardens and helps set up new ones, while promoting the benefits of gardening, and always with helping the community in mind.
Reyce says, however, the Coalition Community Garden Coalition is looking for more green thumbs
It doesn’t just involve vegetable gardens, but all kinds of garden types, and gardeners.
“The Heritage Gardeners, the waterfront gardening project, is listed as a community garden, because it is something that folks could come out and get involved with. You know, it’s not food but it’s gardening. When we talk about the therapeutic benefits of community gardening, like good physical activity, it’s great for social connectivity when you’re participating in a community garden.”
Reyce says another of the major accomplishments for the Coalition is the "Grow a Row" campaign, which has really caught on in the past few years.
“It encourages any growers in the area to donate their excess harvest to emergency food programs, then they can provide their clients with that fresh locally grown organically produced produce.”
Now, the Coalition wants some new, fresh ideas.
This, says Reyce is the best time to look for them, as the growing season is pretty much finished, meaning those that have the interest, are out of the dirt and looking for something to do with their down time.
“It is tough to get gardeners out for community meetings because they’re busy in the garden. We like to see the coalition evolve into more formalized positions on the board and engage new members to come out and participate. Since our inception in 2012 we’ve had a lot of members come and go and Greening Nipissing and the Health Unit and the Gathering Place have been kind of the core members and so now we’ll still remain at the coalition level on the advisory side but we’re hoping to engage new board members."
On the horizon, if all goes well, is a project that would provide support for fruit tree harvesting. It will link the fruit trees, their owners and harvesters who can benefit from the fruit, preventing fruit from going rotten on the vine because no one was available to harvest it.
How well that works depends on what direction the potential new board of directors wants to take with the Community Garden Coalition.
If you’re interested in a position, you can find out more from the Coalition’s website at https://northbaycommunitygardens.wordpress.com/coalition-members/
