Every now and again

Jack Deatherage

(1/2023) The universe (aka "the laughing gods") recently took on the form of Emmitsburg's governing body (aka the mayor, the town manager and the entire board of commissioners) and granted me permission to design and establish a new, larger community garden on the back of the lot that serves as the town's farmers market- located at the corner of South Seton and Cedar Avenues, across from the community center. The next day, Brian McKenny and I took to stabbing the potential garden area with an eleven-inch broadfork and a nine inch garden fork to determine if we'd be gardening in the ground itself or building raised beds on it. To our surprise the forks easily sank to their hilts every place we stabbed the ground!

Brian, using the broadfork to lift a chunk of sod, grabbed a handful of soil from about seven inches down. "I wish I had soil this good in my yard! It smells like rich mushroom soil! I wonder if the town would let me build a house here?"

I still need to send off some soil samples to a lab for analysis. I worry there might be lead in the soil as no one I've talked to can tell me for certain what that lot has been used for during the last one hundred years. While it's possible to garden in lead contaminated soil, I'd sooner not, especially in a community garden.

While soil testing can wait a few months, organizing a group interested in building a community garden can't. First up, I need a design to present to town manager Cathy Willets. I haven't seriously attempted to design anything since Mr. Massett's Industrial Arts class in 1971. Eh-hem. The community garden could use an artist or several- we'll need a garden sign and an eye-catching, garden promoting poster to place around town as well.

Second, a place for members to meet. The librarians tell me their community room is designated for just such purposes so that's taken care of.

As many years as I've been playing in the dirt trying to grow a freakin' tasty cabbage I blush when people say "You know so much about gardening." I barely know enough to pot up a seedling! What I need, community gardenwise, is a few of Maryland, or Pennsylvania's Master Gardeners to tell me what I'm doing wrong. (Ignoring a Master's advice isn't smart, though I've done it often enough to have lucked out a few times.) Maybe there are some newly minted Masters that need to get in their community service hours who'd like to join this adventure?

I bought a 1982 copy of "A Handbook of Community Gardening" by Boston Urban Gardeners which makes my head hurt. I'm so not the one to organize a group of more than two- and the DW general balks at my ideas even when we agree in principle. (Oh, the gods are laughing.) The garden will certainly benefit from a people organizer, or two.

While I hope to see the garden built with volunteered moneys, I know at some point an account will have to be opened to collect, distribute and track donations, grants and market sales moneys the garden will acquire and generate. (The DW says she'll do the accounting if no one else steps up. She knows what a disaster I'd make of the task, but her heart wouldn't be in the work.)

Hmm... Who am I missing? Gardeners?

Surprisingly, gardeners aren't actually essential in starting a community garden.

Why? I'm glad I asked because I'd not thought about it before.

Gardeners, as I've known them, tend to be solitary in their pursuit of teasing plants from the soil. Sure, many of them take pride in showing off their accomplishments, but in my 64 years of being aware of gardens I've rarely seen gardeners working together outside of a commercial garden. My examples were mostly Mom's brothers, each gardening in their own yards but coming to the family farm when larger gardens were needed. They'd advise or commiserate with each other. They'd share the tools and water sources, but I never saw one step into the other's patch to pull a weed or plant a seed.

I've been a member of more than one garden community over the years. Such communities are easily assembled as the members don't have to leave their gardens to be a part of the community. The gardens exist before the community!

A community garden is a totally different beast. Why? Because building a garden is pretty straight forward in spite of the myriad options available. A gardener simply decides what he or she wants and sets about creating it. Building a community requires enough people, with varying reasons for joining a community, to set individual wants aside so they can work with others to build a thing that does not necessarily meet everyone's wants, but hopefully fulfills some of whatever everyone needs.

That's why gardeners are last on my list of "needs", though they are hardly the least important. After all, the community builds the garden for them. Which brings me to "them".

They's; school kids (public, private and home schooled) needing science projects and/or community service activities, church and scouting groups looking for "good works" to support their members and the community at large, librarians with various educational programs waiting for an opportunity, apartment dwellers looking to try their hands at gardening, seniors remembering garden grown flavors lost in their childhood memories but still available in seed catalogs under the "heirloom" headings, parents wanting their children to learn at least the basics of gardening, lawn proud homeowners (I'm not in that clan) wanting to grow flowers and veggies for their tables without scarring their landscaping, people needing to supplement their pantries and larders (do townsfolk have larders?) and people with reasons to garden that I haven't met, yet.

Worldpopulationreview.com claims Thurmont had 3,457 more residents in 2020 than this place did. Both towns have lost population since the census. Mayor Kinnaird tells me Thurmont set aside land for a community garden that has seen fewer gardeners each year of its existence in spite of fencing and a steady supply of water. While he thought building a similar garden near Emmitsburg's farmers market was a good idea, I can't help but wonder if Thurmont's garden was built before the "community" part of community garden was.

To avoid such a waste of time and money I'm building the community first. Town government is willing to do its part in building the garden. The librarians are waiting for their supervisor to give them the nod. I'm sure Brian would already be laying out garden plots if we had a formal design. Now's the time for community. The gardeners will follow.

Interested? I can be reached via the post office:

Deatherage

PO Box 417

Emmitsburg, MD 21727

Ph: 301-447-2151 (if the answering machine picks up, please leave a contact number- speak slowly and clearly - English is a struggle for me, all other languages are beyond me)

Email: jackdeathjr@juno.com