Mill Road Grows – a growing concern
August 15, 2024
MILL ROAD GROWS
In previous issues, I’ve introduced readers to the Mill Road Grows Food Security Program. It includes Mill Road Social Enterprises’ Mobile Meals and Community Garden and Greenhouse, projects that are always ‘growing.’ Here’s some detail on our Community Garden and Greenhouse.
Where – our community garden is located at 20 Mill Road, Inverness, NS.
Who – Mill Road Social Enterprises, and a great group of volunteers and YOU are a part of Mill Road Grows. No matter if you’re a local, a tourist, or a visitor in from another corner of the county, come by for a visit and get involved if you like.
What – Mill Road received a grant for a community greenhouse and expanded garden, and now accessible surfaces, so that we can provide barrier-free food, activities and a recreation space for our participants, and our communities.
When – There’s already lots of rhubarb, and asparagus, mint, greens, herbs, and chives. Each spring the plastic will go on the greenhouse frame and heat-loving plants will go inside, so there’s a series of goodies all season in and out of the greenhouse.
How – It’s a community space, open to all. Come visit. You’ll see signs to guide you on what is ripe, and how to harvest. There is a Facebook page, ‘Mill Road Grows,’ where what’s ripe, workshops, and activities will be posted. Watch for ads and posters. Come to hang out, socialize, learn a thing or two, or even join a work party.
Why – This space is a place to encourage healthy activities and healthy eating, community, and even growing our own—all of this so that our region has a greater capacity to feed ourselves well.
Mill Road Grows exists because a part-time coordinator focuses on the initiative. The support of Mill Road Social Enterprises participants and staff, and a great volunteer base makes it all happen.
A part of the coordinator’s job is to approach government, and charitable and private sources of funding. For the public, there’s a donation box on site for those who’d like to chip in for their harvest, and there’ll be some special products developed as fundraisers. In partnership with Frank Macdonald, the ‘Hector Doink Sessions’ honour our amazing story telling heritage, while also gathering proceeds for the program. They’re setting their sights on Inverness Gathering Week.
Like every other good initiative in our county, Mill Road Grows puts in time and energy, and hopes that it will translate into participation and support towards shared community goals. They are half of the magic, and the community is the other half.
If you’d like to be part of it, you can come by, visit Mill Road Grows on Facebook, call Caroline Cameron at 902-258-5768, or email mobilemeals.mrse@gmail.com.
WHY FOOD SECURITY?
Mill Road Grows is a food security program that serves Mill Road participants and our community with broad goals. These are the main points that won them the support of 100 Women Who Care in 2023. You can ‘give a man a fish’… or rather a zucchini, and they’ll eat for a day, or you can teach someone how to grow a zucchini and they’ll eat for their lifetime. This program allows our community to share food and knowledge.
Another powerful potential of this project is that people are provided an active physical outlet to explore. We are not all athletes, and children benefit from a variety of ways to be active and engage in the real world. Physical activity that connects directly to healthy eating, mental health benefits, and that demonstrates a clear reward for effort, is a great support for our community.
Aside from important life skills learned, there is a deep sense of personal satisfaction gained in this self-reliance. But thinking bigger, it is inspiring to know that during the last half of the 20th century Quebec built their agricultural production from supplying 15% of their food to 85%. Vision. Commitment. Action.
Inverness County has great agricultural potential, with at least one pocket of the best growing conditions in the province, lots of moderate soil, and an agreeable climate. For nearly a century, our land fed the fishers and miners who stoked our economy. Those farms also generated the financial means to educate a whole generation of achievers, who (unfortunately) were encouraged to move away for a better life. It is regrettable that we did not have a greater vision then, so that our many cousins could have supported our local economy and enjoyed the luxuries of life here that we have really come to appreciate over the last few years.
Garden notes
The sun has just begun to get our soil warmed up, but the days are already beginning to shorten. A short season indeed, but gardeners can make the best of every bit of it. Here are a couple of useful pointers for the June garden.
Bolting – Some plants are starting to put their energies to seeds now because they can sense the changing day-length. Spinach and lettuce will begin to ‘bolt,’ meaning they send up a shoot which produces seeds. They are switching from ‘vegetative’ leaf production to ‘reproductive’ seed production. Their leaves become more bitter and tough, reducing the chance of being grazed upon, since producing seeds is critical to their life cycle.
Bolting is a natural process, but poor growing conditions encourage these plants to go to seed more quickly. In order to enjoy leafy greens longer, a gardener can delay bolting by making sure that they get lots of water and well-nourished soil, and you can buy ‘bolt-resistant’ varieties, which go to seed later.
Planting seedlings – Start seedlings in mid-April, so that they are about eight weeks old in mid-June, ready for planting after the risk of frost is past.
- Before planting, introduce your seedlings outside gradually, at first for an hour, and then progressively longer periods, to ‘harden them off.’
- You can make a ‘collar’ by cutting the bottom out of a paper cup to protect fleshy- stemmed seedlings from being lopped off by cutworms.
Happy Gardening!