This just in from Gardening the Community:
A Goodbye Ceremony for the Central Street Garden
Springfield, Mass., November 28, 2006 – Over eleven years ago, the Central Street Community Gardens were begun by neighborhood residents seeking to improve their community. Now, this long standing garden will be sold for development. This transformation will not happen without notice from the youth and residents who have cultivated it in vegetables and flowers for over a decade.
On November 28, 2006 from 4–5 pm, residents and former gardeners of the Central Street lot along with young people from the Gardening the Community youth agriculture project will gather at 326 Central for a candlelight ceremony to recognize and appreciate the land and the gardeners. With simple rituals, which will include burying a token of gratitude and the digging up of a little of the soil to take home, the group will share stories of the land, the last of the produce of the harvest, and squash cookies with hot apple cider.
One of the community garden lots on Central Street was leased to Gardening the Community, a project of the Northeast Organic Farming Association, three seasons ago. The youth project had already been gardening at 488 Central Street for two years. In September 2005, the two youth garden lots on Central Street were put up for development sale by the City, as the City fulfilled one of its goals to return vacant properties to the tax rolls. 488 Central Street was sold to a private developer in January 2006. 326 Central was used for one final season by Gardening the Community with permission from the City and the lease for Central Street land runs out on November 30th.
"We have come to really love this land," Kristin Brennan, Director of Gardening the Community says. "It has a lot of history since it was started by residents trying to improve their community. The land and the people that cultivated it deserve a proper thank you and goodbye."
Gardening the Community employs 12 Springfield youth each year. The youth are taught principles of community involvement, organic agriculture, environmental stewardship, and urban development. While learning, they become participants in their community and run their own small vegetable business: selling produce at a farmers’ market, a local food store, and a downtown restaurant. The youth program has found a new site for next season on Lebanon Street thanks to a collaboration with Mitchell Machine.
Tomorrow’s event is open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
