Urban farmers are growing in H.P.

Not so quietly, a grass roots movement is sweeping through the borough to grow food on the lawns, balconies, and even roofs of private homes and in public places. According to organizers from the Edible Gardens Project, each garden helps undo climate change, builds community, and brings healthy, fresh food in to local homes.

 

You might have seen the raised bed gardens in flower last summer at some thirty homes, at three borough churches, or in front of the Highland Park Public Library. Some of the produce from all of these gardens was enjoyed by the growers; some was traded, while others donated to the Highland Park Food Pantry.

 

On the first night of March, as the last mounds of winter snow melted to just a trace of spring in the air, members from "the Edibles," including co-founders Leigh Davis and Bruno Oriti, Sustainable Highland Park member Tina Weishaus, and Michelle Reasso, HPPL Teen Librarian, welcomed Deb Habib and her Grow Food Everywhere presentation. Habib, who grew up in Highland Park, has gone on to co-found Seeds of Solidarity Educational Center in Orange, Massachusetts.

A crowd of more than fifty gathered at the Highland Park Public Library Monday night to learn, share, and coordinate their garden plans for the coming months. The Library will continue to host workshops through the spring and summer to nourish this community movement to grow food locally.

Last summer Sustainable Highland Park received a $10,000 grant through Sustainable Jersey, a statewide environmental coalition, to create four raised bed gardens within the borough schools. The grant will organize students, teachers and parents to create, farm, teach, and maintain the gardens over the summer.

"Last year with the help of Edible Gardens, the Library Green Teens built a garden in front of the library and many took an interest," Michelle Reasso said. "This year the schools are getting involved and many more people will be coming to workshops and be drawn to growing their own food."

Earlier in the day, Deb Habib, herself a 1980 graduate of Highland Park High School, had visited the schools and gave a presentation to the teachers about working in a community food movement with goals that all people will have access to healthy, fresh food. She continued the discussion at the library, where she spoke about Seeds of Solidarity, started with her husband as a working commercial farm and later as an educational center.

"As a lot of the most fertile land was lost in Massachusetts, we had to figure out where to grow (that) was less fertile," Habib said."We had to build the soil from the ground up in parking lots and other spaces."

One set of slides showed her 10 year old son covering a few feet of dirt with cardboard, which draws worms and insects to devour the material and produces a natural compost, leading to fertile soil.

The former Highland Park resident, dressed in rich earthy colors and speaking in a strong, melodic voice, praised the community's interest in the farm-to-school movement.

"(By) growing food locally and by restricting the number of miles food has to travel to people, you minimize the use of fossil fuels," Habib said. And beyond the technical considerations, "creating community around growing food is a profound experience."

Christina Stevenson, a sophomore at Highland Park High School, attended the workshop with her mother Lori. Both were already involved last year in the edible garden at their own church, St Paul the Apostle on Raritan Avenue. This year they are going to work on the school gardens, as well as encouraging their Girl Scout troop to join in the project.

"I've always enjoyed doing garding with my grandfather," Christina Stevenson said. "It's going to be a nice thing to do with more kids in my girl scout troop. I want the gardens to grow bigger and better this summer."

Habib reminded the participants that "kids will eat what they grow . . . we have to start feeding our kids better than we have fed ourselves. By growing gardens instead of grass on our front lawns, we can help to feed 80 food pantry families right in this town."