The following letter went out to the members of the Medfield Community Garden today. I thought it was worth sharing...
Good morning, everyone,
The Medfield Community Garden officially closes today. This year, 81 families gardened on 75 plots, putting up with one of the rainiest seasons on record, yet harvesting gorgeous fruits, vegetables and flowers.
Our acre of land has always been called the ‘Community Garden’ but this year it truly proved to be a genuine ‘community’. Let us explain.
There was a time when the town pretty much did everything for us. We applied for a plot and paid our fees to a town employee. We came to the garden on the first of April to find it newly harrowed, staked, and ready to plant - all done by town employees. Piles of wood chips appeared and a town tractor sporadically mowed the perimeter. There were just 40 plots.
Beginning in 2010, we began fending for ourselves. This year, twelve volunteers braved 40-degree weather and stiff winds to stake the garden. Christian Donner and Eric Pender mowed the perimeter. Chris Hogan kept four lawnmowers (some operational, some kept for cannibalizing) in great condition. Allyn Hubbard maintained a fleet of wheelbarrows; perennially stalking the Transfer Station for wheels, axles, and other parts.
And, speaking of Allyn, he suffered a compound foot injury before the season began. In March he contacted us to say he was unlikely to be able to garden. We asked him not to be so hasty. By the end of April, volunteers had put up a fence, tilled, and planted a garden. Then, the garden was weeded and regularly harvested. When Allyn made his first appearance at the garden in June, he was rightly astonished.
We (Betty and Neal) had to step back from food cupboard duties this season due to out-of-town commitments. Cathy Summa stepped in, giving up what we suspect was a substantial part of her sabbatical year, to make the operation work flawlessly. ‘Flawlessly’ means putting out wheelbarrows, sweeping for produce as many as four days a week, and making either one or two deliveries to food pantries. Assisting (and sometimes substituting for) Cathy were a cadre of volunteers, chief among them Hy Greenbaum and Jeanne Hill. If there is a ‘Rookie of the Year’ award for food cupboard service, it is first-year gardener Ellen Vigoda, who threw herself into the project. Dina Russell not only gave generously from her own plot, she also planted and harvested from a half-plot given up early in the season. Edmund Prescottano, Mary McCarthy and Heather Cochran gave weekly. Other regular contributors were Lena Stonkevitch and Rob Doe (who also asked their plot be picked when they could not be at the garden on collection days). Susan Perry, Jennifer Hern, Chris Hillenmeyer, Yulin Liu, Lauren Bietelspacher, Mary Ann Vann, Kim Catlin, and Lisa Wood all deserve thanks for their generous, regular contributions.
As the season closed, Barbara and John Collins, and Yulin Liu volunteered their trucks and, more importantly, their Saturday mornings, to make it possible for all of us to more easily get our garden detritus to the Transfer Station.
There were many other acts of kindness – large and small – throughout the season; and many touching, personal stories told to us by members who told us why gardened. Suffice it to say we are proud be able to say we ‘oversee’ this garden. In reality, though, what we do is to empower so many others in the Community Garden to grow – in every sense of the word.
See you in 2024,
Betty and Neal Sanders
Co-managers, Medfield Community Garden
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