GROW your neighborhood!
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| April 27, 2011 |
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Story by Jerry Pavia
Photos by Jerry Pavia, Ingrid Pavia and Steve
Jasma
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Local high
school volunteers help build a GROW!
garden fence. |
Gardening to put food on the table is a
time-honored tradition, and often a solitary
pursuit. In recent years, the physical and
mental benefits of gardening have been
well-known, even when a person is the sole
caretaker of a plot.
Why not add another benefit to digging in the
dirt?
Community gardening is gaining ground, not only
to provide food for families and local food
banks, but also as a way for people to interact
and forge lasting connections and build a
stronger community.
One such community gardening effort, Gardeners
for Regional Organic Well-Being, or GROW!, was
organized in 2009 in Bonners Ferry in gardening
zone 4. The organization provides education for
planting, growing, harvesting, food storage and
composting, and provides plots where local folks
can get their knees and hands in the soil.
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One of last
year's GROW! gardens in full bloom. |
GROW! worked three garden sites during the last
gardening season, providing gardening
opportunities for people living in apartments or
for those looking for a neighborhood connection.
The largest GROW! garden is on land donated by
Trinity Lutheran Chruch.
The three sites total 36 gardening plots, each
measuring four by 20-feet, which are available
to community members. The three gardensare
maintained by volunteers, school children, a
part-time employee and a member of the Youth
Conservation Corps. If you're interested in
having a plot to play in this gardening season,
call Jennifer Jenson at the Boundary County
Extension Office, (208) 267-3235.
The garden group provides fruits and vegetables
to the local food bank and sells some of its
produce to purchase flour, rice and sugar for
the food bank. The organization also connects to
the school system by providing on-site lessons
about food sources.
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Local GROW!
gardeners working the soil in
preparation of a thriving garden. |
GROW! makes food available to the Bonners Ferry
Senior Center and to churches or other groups
that provide a place for food distribution.
The group's future project, Vision for GROW!,
aims to establish a community center that will
provide a place for exercise and communication,
as well as facilities for food storage and
kitchens for processing food.
GROW! meets the first and third Tuesday of each
month at Mugsy's Tavern and Grill, and funding
needs are met through individual donations, plot
fees and grants. They'll be holding a work day
at the Trinity Lutheran Church site at 9 a.m.
Saturday, May 7, and everyone is invited to
pitch in.
To find out more about GROW!, visit their
website,
http://www.growboundarycounty.org, or call
(208) 267-7374.
This article is published with the
permission of the author, and is adapted from a
version that appears in the latest edition of
Grit Magazine.
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