A growing community

Courtesy: Helfand Farms Community Gardens

by Sean McCarthy

If your thumb isn't green already, it could easily be.

Whether you want to enhance your own life or you’re interested in giving to others, there are multiple rewards that come from community gardening. From the enjoyable benefits of eating organic fruits and vegetables, to the financial advantages of growing your own food, to the social ramifications of buying local, community gardening is an easy and inexpensive opportunity for almost all ages and abilities.

Community gardening is growing in popularity in the South Coast. The format of growing food and flowers in a shared setting is appealing to those who may not have enough space or sunlight to get their hands dirty at home.

“It’s amazing how much you can put in a four-by-eight-foot plot; you can really grow a lot of your own food,” says Lisa Elliott, who helps manage one of three community gardens in Fairhaven. “We have some absolute beginners, and others who have some experience growing at home. A lot of people are learning about gardening as they do it. If you think of how expensive organic vegetables are in the store, it makes a lot of sense.”

“You can buy a two-dollar pack of seeds and get 50 fruits or vegetables from it,” says Reba Elbourn, who is the originator of a community garden at her apartment complex in New Bedford’s north end. “And if we’re able to grow more produce than we’re eating, we’ll give it to our neighbors.”

And while the locations in Fairhaven and New Bedford are modest with about 12 plots per site, Helfand Farms Community Gardens in Dartmouth is massive. With 145 plots, the site produces more than 4,000 pounds of produce a year for area food banks, above and beyond what the participants enjoy for themselves.

“You have the pleasure of being able to grow your own food that’s better quality than you are normally able to buy, and you can grow things that you can’t find in stores,” says Ben Rapoza, President of the Helfand Farm Community Gardens. “Local food kitchens do a great job with food from super markets but they don’t get a lot of fresh produce. Organically grown food is delivered the same day it’s picked and it’s all fantastic quality.”

Supported in part by Changemaker Grants from the United Way of Greater New Bedford, Helfand grows primarily vegetables, including tomatoes, squash, kale, lettuce, onions, garlic, potatoes, and more. They also grow fruits and flowers. They operate on land provided by the Dartmouth Natural Resources Trust.

From small seeds

There is a great deal of freedom with community gardens. Most are accessible from sunrise to sunset from spring through fall. Surrounding fences protect the crops from nearby animals. Helfand Farms has a greenhouse for year-round activity.

“A lot of people choose to do community gardening because they have a lot of shade where they live,” Elliott explains. “It’s a great opportunity to get outdoors and get some sunshine. You can chat with others who are here at the same time and exchange gardening tips. We have a comfortable atmosphere.”

Each community garden is a non-profit with an annual fee, and they are staffed by volunteers. With your fee you are provided with your own plot, access to tools and water, wood, soil and, in some cases, organic fertilizer. Some locations have signup sheets where participants have a small task such as mowing or weed whacking, and helping with the general upkeep of the site.

The three Fairhaven gardens are on the property of schools – Wood Elementary School, Hastings Middle School, and East Fairhaven Elementary School. Each of the schools has plots available to students who learn about gardening from their teachers.

In addition to working with her neighbors at the South Coast Condominiums, Elbourn has begun building gardens for the teenagers and children who live in the buildings. She has started with strawberries near their playground.

“It’s great that the gardens are close to people’s homes, it can be done on a very small scale,” Rapoza says. “You can learn by observing and talking with other gardeners. You can learn a lot by volunteering, and you can watch YouTube videos. It’s easy to start your own community garden, as long as you have a water source and a shed for your tools, and some organic fertilizer.”

“A community garden can get started by putting a message on your town’s Facebook page or a notice in the local newspaper,” Elliott says. “We started 14 years ago before social media and 10 people showed up to an organizational meeting at our library.”

In addition to providing to local food banks and soup kitchens, Helfand Farms has two annual plant sales that are responsible for much of the site’s fundraising. Held in April and May, they sell vegetable starting plants, herbs and flowers that are grown by volunteers. “We get excellent support from the community,” Rapoza says.

Each community garden is a non-profit with an annual fee, and they are staffed by volunteers

Sprouting hope

Elbourn’s community garden was rooted in necessity. Just before the onset of COVID-19, she lost her job. As a result, all of her money was going to rent and medications. She soon found herself in lines outside of food banks during the depths of winter, eating food that was not nutritious. Knowing something had to be done to improve her situation, she began reading books about gardening, and taking an interest in self-sustainability and food sustainability. She soon enrolled at Bristol Community College to major in Sustainable Agriculture and learn about plant science. By using the school’s resources, she realized there was an opportunity to launch such a gardening project on the grounds of her apartment complex. She would eventually write a 30-page guidebook on how to create a community garden.

Elbourn would get community support. Eventually she received a Changemaker Grant through The United Way of Greater New Bedford to get startup funds, and in the process was introduced to Grow Greater New Bedford, which donated materials for the initial plots, including wood, soil and starter plants. Elbourn put up posters in her buildings to recruit neighbors for the garden and in two months she had 12 participants. The group meets every Wednesday evening to have a cookout and some social interaction.

“Struggling to obtain food cemented in my mind how important it is to know where your food comes from, how you get it, and how it is distributed,” Elbourn says. “The whole infrastructure of the agricultural industry is very interesting to me. Food is vital for human survival, but in the richest country in the world, almost 14 million people are food insecure.”

“I’ve always liked the idea of having a garden with a lot of flowers,” she says. “Now I like the idea of connecting with nature and feeling a sense of empowerment. I like having access to food that I don’t have to get from the grocery store.”

Elbourn currently works at The Coastal Food Shed, a New Bedford farmer’s market, as well as the Mobile Food Market which delivers fresh fruit and vegetables and other nutritious food to locations throughout the city.

“We’ve made terrific progress,” Elbourn says of her community garden. “The biggest challenge was finding a spot and getting permission to start it. But the people here have been super supportive. We were all strangers a few months ago, now we’re hanging out and eating together.”