The Citizen, 2015-05-07, Page 30PAGE 30. THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, MAY 7, 2015.
Blyth ‘Comet Garden’ begins to take shape
A community comet
The Blyth Community Garden, a Blyth Arts and Culture Initiative 14/19 project,
started at the former Blyth Public School last week. Volunteers, including, from
left, Huron Food Action Network’s Dan Taylor, garden designer Dave Rankine
and 14/19 Project Director Peter Smith were on site all day Thursday and
Friday to get as good a jump as they could on the project which
will see the former sports field at the school transformed into a community fruit and
vegetable garden. The circle cut into the turf above, as seen from the roof of the
former school, is the head of what will be a large stylized comet. For more pictures
from the initial stages, plus concept drawings of what the completed garden will
look like, visit The Citizen’s website at www.northhuron.on.ca. (Denny Scott photo)
Continued from page 1
field tilled and planted, according to
Smith. The design for the layout is
artistic, thoughtful and creative.
“It’s really a beautiful thing to
look at and take in,” he said.
Rankine said the garden, which is
large in scale, covering nearly the
entire east-to-west width of the
property, will double as a kind of
labyrinth and will provide a place for
community members to share their
gardening experiences.
“We still plan to have all the
generations we can muster
involved,” Smith said. “We want this
to be a place where people learn
about gardening from their family
and friends.”
Smith also said that local
churches, including the Blyth
Christian Reformed and United
Churches, are going to be involved.
“It’s a community garden so, the
more who invest in it, the better,”
Smith said.
The site also marks the
repurposing of an important public
space according to Smith.
“We [Smith and 14/19
Administrator Karen Stewart]
recently attended a conference on
rural creativity and one of the big
messages was repurposing under-
valued assets,” Smith said. “This
space held the energy of hundreds of
children every day including their
emotions and their dreams. We want
to take this land and invest some of
that energy back into it as the
community is brought back here to
share their experiences and their
energy.”
Smith said that, since the school
closed in 2011, the playground at the
site has remained mostly dormant.
“People once saw this as the hub
and the heart of the community and
that energy changed when the school
closed and all those young people
were gone from here,” he said. “We
hope that by planting the seeds of
this garden, we can recapture some
of that energy and bring people back
to the site.”
Smith said that the site will host
both formal and informal educations
with there being some talk of
gardening lessons being taught
there.
“We’ve considered lessons but we
also want people to come together
and celebrate the garden,” he said.
“We want it to be a social place
where people will gather, talk,
exchange ideas and experience and
inspire each other to get involved.”
Rankine said that, while he came
up with the design, the real green
thumbs on the project are noted
gardeners Rhea Hamilton-Seeger
and Karen Redmond, both from the
Auburn-area.
“They’re the real plant people,” he
said.
Rankine said he was excited to
work on the project because it gave
an opportunity to show how things
used to be, pointing at his plans for a
“Three Sisters” garden based on
practices of the Iroquois natives.
“The garden features squash, corn
and beans,” he explained. “The
beans grow up the corn and the
squash shades the ground and they
work together and provide a full
protein meal. There’s no doubt these
three crops were likely planted
around this area.”
Many of the finalized facts for the
garden are yet to be worked out
including who will benefit from it.
Smith said that churches, local
businesses and food banks have been
considered as potential locations for
the produce from the garden to go to,
but the committee that will be in
charge of the garden will have to
figure that out. He also said that the
first year the garden is in operation
will be a formative experience,
allowing those involved to learn
from the experience and adjust
policy based on that.
He also said that anyone and
everyone can get involved by
contacting the 14/19 office at 519-
441-7629 or 519-955-4594.
Smith said the garden has been
created through volunteer work like
Rankine’s contributions as well as
the contributions of locals like Blyth
Business Improvement Area (BIA)
Chair Rick Elliott.
“Rick has been amazing,” Smith
said. “He’s been instrumental to
getting this project going and we
need people like that to keep it
going.”
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519-887-9114
413 Queen St., Blyth
519-523-4792
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