Ely Community Gardens grew beets!
As we enjoy the twinkling holiday lights in the snow, let’s take some time to reminisce about the gifts of summer. Across the Iron Range, community gardens were in full production this past year. From Grand Rapids and Nashwauk to Ely, local folks dug up the dirt and planted their seeds alongside their new gardening acquaintances, and then harvested all summer and into the fall.
In Virginia, all 40 of Growing Together Virginia Community Gardens’ beds were rented and planted. A recent survey of gardeners revealed that most valued the friends they made and the new skills they learned while gardening. Several suggested a fall harvest meal at the garden as a way to end the season. Lori Schiebe, garden coordinator, made sure that all of the garden soil was amended and ready for planting this spring and she hauled all of the plant waste to the compost pile at the landfill this fall. Essentia Health supports this garden, and the City of Virginia donates all of the land as well as filling the water tanks. Growing Together began six years ago and will expand with the “L’il Gard’ners” program introducing Head Start students to gardening in the Olcott Park Greenhouse in January. In June they will transfer what they grow to a new Children’s Garden south of Pine Mill Court. You can find Growing Together on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/growingtogethervirginia
Virginia North Bailey Lake Community Garden site.
Virginia also has two community food forests. One was planted and is maintained by the Rutabaga Project and the other by 4-H. These are unique gardens planted with fruit and nut trees and perennial fruits and herbs. They are meant to grow to maturity over a number of years and continue bearing. The Virginia food forests are very young, but they have yielded harvests each year. To learn more about community food forests, visit https://communityfoodforests.com/ .
In Ely, Northeast Higher Education District employee Heather Hohenstein and Vermilion Community College student Kesley Ebbs moved and renovated an old garden to Pattison Street to become a community garden. (See photo at start of article) Heather planted beets, beets, beets! With the harvest from these gardens and from gleaning around town, 6 VCC students hosted a class at the Ely Folk School kitchen. They chopped and pureed beets to make chocolate beet brownies. (If you’ve never had them, you can’t imagine how beets could taste this good!) Everyone got to take home 4 cups of pureed beets to make their own brownies. Later the students made kale chips from an Ely resident’s extra kale and pickled garlic with seasonings. What a great learning experience! The Iron Range Partnership for Sustainability helped to launch this garden with a $300 contribution toward water from the City of Ely. Kesley hopes to get more students involved next year and grow the effort as well as the collaboration with the Ely Folk School.
In Nashwauk, the community garden is older than others in the area. Started by Karen Peterson ten years ago with grants from United Way, Blandin Foundation, Operation Roundup and the Nashwauk Community Fund, it is located on city property on the northeast side of town on the road to the pit. Plots are free of charge. The local fire department supplies water all summer. This is one of the few gardens that has a private Facebook group where folks chat about what they’re growing and what the garden needs. Volunteer Jim Vesel runs it, and you can ask to join at https://www.facebook.com/groups/141954312540050 In 2020 there were about 20 gardeners. This past summer, fewer, but there are folks signed up for next year.
Nashwauk Community Gardens
Hibbing’s community gardens are located on the Hibbing Community College campus. Jessalyn Sabin, biology instructor, started them a few years ago. There are 12 raised beds, either 4x6 or 5x10 and they are rented about half and half by college students and community members. Fees are minimal. Before Covid, the beds were fully planted, but the last two summers have seen reduced use due to Covid. Hopefully those numbers will be back up next year. You can find more information at https://hibbing.edu/campus-services/sustainability/community-gardens
Two of the newer community gardens on the Range are in Aurora and Cook. Aurora’s gardens are at the Mesabi East Environmental Education Center (ME3C). This past summer, 20 folks rented garden boxes for $25 each. The students also grow lots of produce at the center and sell it at the ME3C farmers market held every two weeks starting in July. The market and gardens are both hoping to expand. Volunteers connected with the hospital in Cook started a community garden there in 2020 and it is just getting going.
The Itasca Community Garden has two locations. The largest is located at the University of Minnesota North Central Research and Outreach Center on Hwy 169 in Grand Rapids. This is the “mother of all” community gardens on the Range with 81 plots in Grand Rapids and 20 in Deer River. They are coordinated by Get Fit Itasca. https://www.getfititasca.org/itasca-community-garden. This past summer there were about 35 gardeners in Grand Rapids using all 81 plots and 10 in Deer River using half the plots. The others were planted with sorghum as a cover crop. Find them on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/itascacommunitygarden
Handicap access garden, part of Grand Rapids Community Garden
From very large to tiny, community gardens span the Iron Range. Such gardens vary in terms of who owns the land and who coordinates the gardening. They vary in terms of cost and physical accessibility. There are a few garden beds built for wheelchair and standing accessibility. Virginia has nine of those (currently being relocated) and Grand Rapids has one at Crystal Lake Park. Gardening guidelines vary too. Most community gardens in the area ask that you use non-toxic chemicals, if any, on your garden plot. Many suggest organic products that fulfill this criterion. Some gardens regularly replenish the soil with compost and manure. Some are fenced and some aren’t. But they all have gardeners who get to know each other and form a growing community. Check out your community garden!
Formal research on community gardens in the U.S. shows that participation improves mental and physical health and creates positive socializing opportunities, connection folks to other resources (Draper & Freedman:2010) And in relation to diet, community garden participation boosts fruit and vegetable intake significantly (Litt et al:2011) Those are pretty significant benefits! What we know from experience is that community gardens can also be sites of vandalism, volunteer burnout, and sometimes even social conflict. But we move forward, those of us who support community gardening, because we believe it’s worth it.
Draper, Carrie, and Darcy Freedman. “Review and Analysis of the Benefits, Purposes, and Motivations Associated with Community Gardening in the United States.” Journal of Community Practice, vol. 18, no. 4, 2010, pp. 458–492., https://doi.org/10.1080/10705422.2010.519682.
Litt, Jill S., et al. “The Influence of Social Involvement, Neighborhood Aesthetics, and Community Garden Participation on Fruit and Vegetable Consumption.” American Journal of Public Health, vol. 101, no. 8, 2011, pp. 1466–1473., https://doi.org/10.2105/ajph.2010.300111.