Acton’s Community Garden – A hidden treasure
The Acton Community Garden’s year is growing to be a great one, literally and figuratively.
Garden coordinator Amy Sykes describes the garden, ‘Acton Community Garden’, as “A group where people interested in supporting the mission of food security and hunger. Through camaraderie and sharing we are growing a garden where we learn about the basic joys of life. This is a non-profit volunteer run community project and everyone is welcome to grow with us.”
The physical manifestation of this group is located by the Rotary Park soccer field and can be accessed by a path off of Main Street or from the park on Elizabeth Drive. It is run as a partnership between Halton Environmental Network, POWER (Protect Our Water and Environmental Resources), Halton Food, St. Albans Church, Food 4 Life and the Town of Halton Hills.
On July 14, Acton Community Garden hosted their annual tour with the Mayor and Town Councillors. Councillor Jon Hurst who is Acting Mayor while Mayor Rick Bonnette is on a two week vacation says, that a “community garden should be available to the community” which is why this garden is not fenced. “It’s a great opportunity to come together for a greater good.”
Councillor Mike Albano, also in attendance praised the volunteers saying “it’s amazing the group that’s taken on the garden and how they’ve transformed it….The best I’ve seen in terms of plants, really impressed with all the herbs they’ve planted and the variety of plants.”
Speaking with the volunteers and visitors, the significance of this garden is really highlighted by:
The lack of fencing, meaning anyone can harvest any time
The accessibility to the seniors who live across the road
The surplus harvested food is donated to Halton Food and distributed by St. Alban the Martyr Anglican Church
All the plants and seeds are organic and obtained locally (both donated and purchased)
Many children volunteer and have the opportunity to see what’s involved in producing food
The garden has many volunteer opportunities available. The ‘Bethel Church Garden Fairies’ were out in early spring weeding all the beds for planting. Weeding efforts continue with groups meeting on Monday and Friday mornings at 9:30 a.m. and Wednesday evenings at 7 p.m to harvest. Service groups are welcome to participate and there are also opportunities for business sponsorship.
“We are the only open space, volunteer run, open to the public garden in Halton Hills” says Sykes. Anyone interested in volunteering or donating can reach her through at actoncommunitygarden@gmail.com. The community garden runs from May 24 - Sept 24.
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