Lucy Gellman Photo
Lorenzo Martinez woke up early and eager. He didn’t have school. He wasn’t especially excited about what was on tap for breakfast.
The stakes were higher than that. He and his mom had broccoli to water.
Proud alums of New Haven Farms’ Farm-Based Wellness Program, Lorenzo and his mother Abigail Martinez now participate in a garden incubator program in Fair Haven’s English Street Garden, as do 21 other families under the auspices of New Haven Farms and the New Haven Land Trust.
Saturday morning they and around 35 other community members came out for the kickoff of Fair Haven’s Green Thumb Community Challenge (GTCC), part of the city’s “Health In Your Hands” anti-obesity initiative announced earlier this week. From Aug. 1 through the end of September, the organization will “aim to celebrate and support community members growing their own food by providing four celebrations in Fair Haven and the Hill neighborhoods.”
One more reason to dance in the dirt? Five days after celebrating the GTCC in the Hill, Fair Haven’s kickoff came the on the heels of Wednesday’s aldermanic decision to grant New Haven Farms the Ferry Street property, which had been on loan status from the Livable City Initiative (LCI).
“This is the most exciting thing to me,” said New Haven Farms Director James Jenkins (pictured above). “Our past participants can go on and have community gardens.”
He wasn’t alone in that feeling. Describing the GTCC – and the gardens in which it was taking place – as “magic,” Truman Street Garden supervisor Leslie Radcliffe and Cooking and Nutrition Educator Celin Garcia doled out portions of cracked wheat and cucumber salad, seasoned red cabbage, and circusy kale to Ferry Street volunteers and curious onlookers who ventured into the plot to see what was going on. Through the support of Harvard Pilgrim Health Care Foundation, Garcia creates tasty, nutritious meals each week in the Farm-Based Wellness Program.”
“It’s amazing. You see it [the plants] grow. I like to plant stuff from seeds, you start seeing them, watering them, working with the soil — putting your hands in there … I think the community benefits from it,” said Ruth Torres, there with her grandson Alex.
“The garden has meant being more conscious about my health,” added Emily Perez, a GTCC volunteer who participates in the farm-based wellness program with her wife and daughter. “It keeps me grounded, brings me back to the community where I grew up, lets me stay connected and have something in common with other folks.”
Behind her, Compost Director Domingo Medina dumped the day’s last load of warm dirt, smelling sweetly of vegetables and manure, into a freshly built garden plot. A small crowd of helpers applauded and cheered around him.
Working in tandem with “Health In Your Hands,” the GTCC will allow the organization to expand its already community-centered mission, which included growing 11,500 pounds of vegetables on under an acre of land in 2014, as well as weekly wellness sessions on healthy eating and cooking at the organization’s James Street location. As it expands the Ferry Street operation, Jenkins also sees NHF being able to subsidize next year’s CSA shares.
To learn more about the Green Thumb Community Challenge, visit New Haven Farms’ website.
This place is one of the most beautiful places to see in New Haven. Rows and rows of fresh, organic vegetables growing in what was once an empty lot. The Hill GTCC (Truman Street Community Garden and Field of Greens Community Garden) welcomes the challenge from Fair Haven, because in the end ... everybody wins!!!