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Date: 9/2/2021
SOUTH HADLEY– Located off Route 47, the GRO South Hadley Community Garden Center is open every day from Monday through Sunday. It’s described as warm, welcoming and inviting; an overall learning environment where people grow crops ranging from green peppers, eggplant, kale, tomatoes, jalapeno peppers, asparagus and potatoes to flowers, strawberries, cantaloupe, watermelon and more.
President and registered dietitian Dominique Deslauriers explained, “It’s a fantastic community led group that was started many years ago by a group of amazing and ambitious community members in South Hadley. They were very passionate about residents having access to fresh healthy food and to learn about growing their own food. At the time the town didn’t have anything, and they really formed it from the ground up.”
She continued, “We have large plots for residents of South Hadley to rent so they can grow their own fresh food. In addition, we also have a large section of the garden that’s known as the ‘Full Circle Garden’ that is completely run by volunteers and donates to the local food pantry Neighbors Helping Neighbors.”
Larry Dubois, one of the original founders of the garden center, explained how the center came to be. He told Reminder Publishing fellow founder Linda Young talked to him about the garden and they put together a proposal to the Town Selectboard. The proposal was accepted and GRO was born.
The town provided the space and several truckloads of compost. Young rounded up fencing while Dubois laid out the garden beds with his tractor. The first members of the garden got together and put up the fencing and the garden was off.
Dubois explained when the garden was first formed the original board wanted to ensure they could reach as many people as they wanted to garden as possible. They only built 20 spots at the garden but wanted to encourage gardening throughout the town. They formed sub-committees to investigate how to do that, and to remind them of that mission, they adopted the GRO which stands for Gardening and Residential Outreach.
Deslauriers has been president of the garden for a year. She previously led a community garden at the Springfield YMCA for inner city youth. Her passion, she explained, has always been community nutrition and providing healthy food to those who may not have it. Currently, she does outpatient nutrition counseling and works with a lot of youth, particularly those with eating disorders or in terms of extremely picky eaters.
She shared, “I’ve always loved working with kids in particular ... I was inspired by a teacher of mine at Veterans Park Elementary School in Ludlow who passed away in 2009. Her name was Lenore Paul and she was a farmer who taught me where food comes from. I think it's so important for kids to know where food comes from and what types of foods are out there without it being pushed on them. I envision it to be more of a fun learning environment instead of a pushy health or weight centered mindset.”
Deslauriers said the garden was doing great before the pandemic happened, and saw an increased interest following the pandemic. She said this was their first year having all of their plots completely filled by residents of the town and there was seemingly a lot more interest than previous years.
“I think part of that maybe due to people being a little ‘stir crazy’ during COVID and trying to find some outdoor activities,” Deslauriers explained. “Garden centers like Home Depot and Lowes were struggling to keep up with demand, so we saw a lot of demand on that end as well. Through COVID we made sure to adhere to all CDC guidelines and we even held our meetings via Zoom when needed.”
Moving forward, Deslauriers plans to do this program again next season and wants to expand it into a more formal curriculum for next year. She’s planning to host a harvest gathering, an end-of-the-season kickoff for all residents on Sept. 12 which will include a recipe swap of residents’ favorite recipes from the garden, arts & crafts for children and outdoor games. She’s also hosting a fun kid’s taste test of various fruits and veggies on Oct. 1 at 5 p.m. to be held in her office at 264 North Main Street, Suite #7 in East Longmeadow ($5 per child and parents are welcome).
“The community garden is valuable beyond words in my opinion,” Deslauriers responded. “There are sections of South Hadley that maybe neighbors don't have space in their own backyard to grow their own food. Now, they have a space to come to where they can explore, experiment and learn; having access to fresh fruit and healthy vegetables.”
She concluded, “In addition, you have a sense of community and an ability to connect with your neighbors in general. If you’re just at home gardening in your backyard, you don't get that same experience as learning from somebody who’s been gardening for 15 years or even 30 years. We have very seasoned gardeners and it's incredibly valuable to learn from others.”
If anyone is interested in registering email Dominique Deslauriers at gro@shadleyma.org or call at 750-8250.