It is always rewarding to do a story for Lakes District News and feel that people are excited about an initiative.
That’s the feeling I got from covering Burns Lake’s new community garden. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say “new,” considering that the original allotment garden - located on municipal land adjacent to the Immaculata Church - was built in 2002.
Up until a couple of months ago, however, most people in Burns Lake did not know there was a community garden in town. That is partially because the site had been neglected for a number of years, with only a few of the beds being utilized.
Tracey Payne, now the president of the newly-formed Burns Lake Community Garden Society, said she saw the garden for the first time only a few moments before a meeting about the garden on Aug. 20, 2015. She even called it a “secret garden.”
Well, the secret is out. What is also not a secret anymore is the fact that the community garden society – along with the help of community volunteers – has done a remarkable job recovering the site and creating initiatives seeking to involve the entire community.
Over the last couple of months, volunteers have cut back the overgrowth of grass and thistles, removed three tandem truckloads of thistle infested soil and removed a thistle infested composter bin. In addition, the community garden society has been discussing how they can provide outreach to the elderly, people with mobility issues and young families. The group recently made a presentation to village council to share their initiatives and ask for government support. Their efforts certainly paid off. On Oct. 13, council voted unanimously to create an access point to the community garden from Nault Drive and make general upgrades to the property - adding gravel to improve access to the garden site, moving the fence to accommodate the parking lot and removing small trees.
In a report presented to council, village staff acknowledged that keeping a community garden in town has a variety of positive “environmental and social” impacts in addition to improving the appeal of the neighbourhood. What the report could have added was that keeping a community garden in town also has economic and health benefits.
Gardening can greatly improve people’s mental health and help combat stress. Learning to grow plants is mentally stimulating and adds to an individual’s knowledge and expertise. In addition, it improves physical activity levels - especially for the elderly - helping to keep cognitive outputs as people age. For youth, community gardens can be a powerful tool to promote good work habits, responsibility and improve their food knowledge. Since community gardening is a social activity, people can develop skills such as decision making, problem solving and negotiation. Community gardens also work as an outdoor community centre, helping locals meet new people and increasing their sense of community and belonging.
By growing some of their own food, individuals and families have access to fresh, nutritious food, improving food security and helping them save money on groceries. Not to mention, many community gardens donate food to local food banks. Burns Lake’s community garden has already sparked the interest of the community. Since all the current 16 allotment beds have gardeners, the garden society plans to add an additional four beds before the 2016 growing season. What’s inspiring about this initiative is that this proactive group of local residents continues to develop plans and finding ways to involve more community members in their project. Initiatives such as this one bring people together and make people feel proud to live in Burns Lake.