The community of Richelieu Valley is coming together to help feed its residents by revitalizing an abandoned piece of land in Otterburn Park.
The area, tucked behind Mountainview School, was a community garden that had been abandoned.
“In the Richelieu Valley, what I learned was there’s over 100,000 people in the area and in the last 3-5 years, they’ve seen the demand at the food counter, Le Grain d’Sel, go up about 30 per cent,” said Brian Peddar, coordinator of Richelieu Valley’s community learning centre.
The learning centre Peddar works for is part of Riverside School Board.
He came up with the idea to put the abandoned land to good use to help the families.
“I said ‘well, you know what, we have land – this used to be a community garden but it was abandoned – why don’t we work together?'” he said.
The garden neighbours a school, a daycare and a senior home, so everyone is involved in the project.
“The kids will be able to plant some of the seeds. We’ll let them know what vegetables Le Grain d’Sel wants to grow,” he explained.
“Then, we have seniors, so for their mental and physical well-being, we’re going to give them some of the land, let them do a bit of gardening for themselves and in exchange, at night time, when we’re not here, they’ll help with surveillance.”
Most of the produce will go to feeding members of the community.
Doris Hamelin, director of the local food bank, said the garden will be a great help for the 80 families it helps.
“In the garden, if we decide to plant an entire plot of cucumber, there will be a lot to give to each family,” she said.
“Sometimes, now, we have to cut a cauliflower into four pieces because we just don’t have enough.”
Peddar said the group is almost done prepping the garden and they hope to be able to plant seeds and have edible veggies by next season.
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