Hemmingford’s Community Garden Bears Fruit

by Catherine Stratford  (December 2021)

Hemmingford’s Community Garden has had a fruitful 2021 season! The hot and sunny spring got plants off to a good start. Three citizens asked to use garden boxes this year. The rest of the garden bins were planted and tended by the Garden Committee and members of the Service Action Bénévole(SAB). If you are interested in joining us for the 2022 season, please contact Frédérique Auvray : loisirs@hemmingford.ca

Côme Giroux and helpers from the Village built several new bins to replace damaged ones.

The Carson Sawmill generously offered us the wood to repair the bins. Bill Kishka donated earth to fill them. The Lucie and Alain Dauphinais Greenhouses, La Fermette, La Ferme Quatre Temps, the SAB and Jayne McNaughton donated vegetable seedlings for the garden. Yves Poissant and Clément Beaulieu maintained the grounds, helped to water the plants, and kept the water barrels full, very appreciated with the dry spring we had! Thanks to all our partners for their valued contributions! Thanks also to the Hemmingford Village and Township for their support.

We also would like to express our gratitude to the Municipalities of Hemmingford as well as the Hemmingford Environment Committee, for their support of the publication and distribution of the flyer« From Hemmingford Farms to Your Table ». This guide to encourage the purchase of fresh local foods, was created by the Garden Committee. A gesture to promote our food-producing farms and to help reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions to help the planet.

Thanks to the Grade 5 and 6 students who came to the Community Garden in June to help plant. Seeds of gardening knowledge have been sewn over the years. It is so important for our youth to know where their food comes from.

This year, encouraged by Eveline Taylor, the Principal of Hemmingford Elementary School, Bart Jeuris, a parent, built garden bins in the school yard. The Garden Committee and the Hemmingford Hardware Store (RONA) supplied the school with pots, potting soil and seeds. Bill Kishka donated earth. The Environment Committee and Jacques Boyer supplied bushes and trees to plant along the fence line. Thanks also to the families who tended the garden over the summer, especially in the dry spells (Bienz, Bee-Cassidy, Creswell and Kingsbury).

Thanks to Sally Meyer, Chris Bienz and Bill Kishka, garden bins were also put up at the Rec Center, for the use of the children attending Hemmingford’s Day Camp.

The produce harvested from the Community Garden was transformed into soups, sauces and other dishes for the “Christmas Cookie Walk” project which provides baskets of food items to isolated citizens at the beginning of December.

A lot of partners contributed to the Hemmingford Community Garden this year. The success of this community project depends on the efforts and donations of its participants. Thank you! Keep well and we hope to see you in 2022!