CHESTERMERE – When a community comes together only good things are bound to happen. It all began when Devonna Nagy donated a small plot of land on her acreage for others to get together and till the soil so to speak. Devonna believed young families and single mothers often don’t have the space or resources to have a garden so she thought they would jump at the chance to grow their own vegetables. And jump they did!! The plot of land Devonna donated is near Chestermere and it had an irrigation system close by (not that they’ve needed it lately). The area was divided into 12 plots and occupied in no time at all. There is currently a waiting list for others to join the community garden and Angela Normand of the Chestermere Community Services says they are considering expanding the program. It takes a fair amount of resources to get a project like this off the ground, or I should say, in the ground. Not only did kind hearted people drop by just to donate some time, but they also brought gardening tools and others brought seeds to plant. Children are brought by to help and learn about gardening and if there attention strays from the gardening chores, there is a sandbox for them. The wood, sand and labour were also provided by a generous donor. Where does the community garden go from here, it’s obviously going to go up just like the plants. Big thanks from Angela and the community gardeners to all of the people and groups who have donated time and resources to this project.
- Encompass Evangelical Free Church volunteer group as well as Cathy, Mike and Steven Robinson for getting the garden and grounds ready.
- Candace Lester of Garden Sence Garden Center for donating vegetable plants and flowers
- Bob Dagg for donating tools.
- GIT Landscaping for donating delivery of sand for the children’s sandboxes
- Bill for the potatoes seeds and tomato plants
- Earl Reimer for cultivating the land for the new garden
- Tanya & Graham Gaskell and for their hard work planting and maintaining the garden
