Growing 'hope' in new community garden in Lower Sackville

Colin Campbell wears brown rubber boots and a wide-brimmed hat as he waters tiny seedlings in a new community garden just off the main drag in Lower Sackville, N.S.

The Sackville Community Food Garden, in Acadia Park on650 Sackville Dr.,officially opens with a barbecue on Saturdaybetween 11 a.m. and 1 p.m.

Supported by a local charity called the Acadia Recreation Club, with additional funding from two municipal councillors Steve Craig and Lisa Blackburn there is no cost to useone of the 19 raised beds for the season.

Campbell has already planted chives, beans, lettuceand carrots in the bed he's claimed and plans to add "pretty much anything that I can jam in."

"When you plant something there's always a bit of hope. You never know how it's going to work out," he said.

"You take care of things as best you can and at the end maybe there's some good food to eat."

Accessible garden boxes

One of the major goals in designing the garden was to make it accessible to all, said project manager Jason Craig.

"If you want to be involved, then we want you to be involved," he said.

Some of the garden boxes were built at standing height, said Craig,"for folks that might have a few issues with bending for long periods of time."

There are also some barrier-freeboxes that were built to allow wheelchair users to pull in close.

"You can put your hands in front of you and boom you're gardening," he said.

Empowering people

Craig reminisced about the moment a few weeks ago when he realized all theplanning and preparation had paid off.

He recalled looking out over thefinished beds just as "the suncame out after a cloudy, misty, rainy day."

He hopes the garden will empower local people to become more self-sufficientwhile saving money on groceries.

"We have neighbourhoods in this area where folks are struggling," hesaid.