Community garden to help fill shelves at food pantry

Date: 6/22/2011

June 22, 2011

By Lori Szepelak

Correspondent

SOUTH HADLEY — Tucked behind the luscious town community garden is a small plot known affectionately as "The Hill," a 40' by 60' plot that will soon blossom into its own with a host of vegetables to help fill the shelves of the town's new food pantry.

"I loved the idea and chose to work on this project," Sue Brouillette said during a recent interview with Reminder Publications. She is a member of the Neighbors Helping Neighbors (NhN) Food Pantry Committee and Count Me In.

As she hoed a small area on the Hadley Street site during the afternoon of June 14, Brouillette noted that the ultimate goal of supplying fresh vegetables to the food pantry was utmost on her mind.

"This is an important nutritional feature to everyone's diet," she said, adding the food pantry garden is "more evidence" of how town residents care about all members of the community.

"We are all in this together, this process of helping one another, helping families, helping moms and dads take care of their children, our community's children," she said. "It is important to all of us in this general way."

Brouillette noted that the garden also provides an opportunity for people to do "meaningful work."

"It is important to learn about gardening, how something goes from seed to table — good food, good hearts here, good community," she added.

Of course, the garden cannot survive and thrive without volunteers, and Brouillette noted that persons interested in watering, weeding, staking plants, clearing paths, grading around the garden, planning and picking are all needed. The Count Me In Facebook page and the NhN Facebook page allow interested individuals an opportunity to sign on to the work crews. Volunteers can also e-mail Brouillette at brouillettes@aol.com for more details.

Brouillette explained that Bill Foley, a member of NhN, brought the idea of starting a vegetable garden to Count Me In, and with the generous donation of a plot by the GRO.SoHadley Community Garden group, the idea blossomed quickly. Brouillette credited Linda Young and Larry Dubois for their constant support through the early process, and also thanked Rob Lak for starting all the plants in his greenhouse.

"We have been very fortunate to have the volunteer services of professionals," Brouillette said. "As I have learned through participating in community work, the generous sharing of knowledge and materials is remarkable in South Hadley."

Among those already scheduled to tend to the garden are a host of Holyoke Community College students who are participating in a nutrition class for several weeks, under the direction of instructor Laura Hutchinson. The students will be cultivating the rows of squash, tomatoes, peppers, peas, cucumbers and green and yellow beans that are already blossoming from the dark rich soil.

"The students will begin by shredding newspapers and will create walkways between the rows," Brouillette said. "Not only will the students help with maintenance, they will also learn how to grow vegetables and then develop recipes that will be available at the food pantry."

Brouillette added that she and others are "complete novices" at vegetable gardening, but are eager to sow the land that will reap benefits for others.

"The expected success of the garden will be a direct result of the generosity of GRO and Rob Lak, and the volunteers who give up some hours to do a little hot and dirty work," she added, just as the heavens opened up and the warm rain descended on the garden to nourish the plants underground.