1Elk Rapids NewsJuly 30, 2020

NEWS NEWS ELK RAPIDSELK RAPIDS

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ELK RAPIDS, MIPERMIT NO. 10

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SERVING THE ELK RAPIDS ALDEN KEWADIN RAPID CITY EASTPORT TORCH RIVER BRIDGE WILLIAMSBURG ACME AREAS

BY BARB MOSHER , CONTR IBUT ING WR ITER

Volume XV Issue No. 10

75¢

July 302020

Lexi Moore is learning all kinds of things this summer as she tends the vegetables and strawberries she and her mother, Trisha Moore, planted this spring in a ten-by-ten-foot plot within the Elk Rapids community garden on the village’s west side.

The Cherryland Middle School eighth grader learned that, during an extraordinarily sunny and hot growing season, watering the plants almost daily is a necessity. She also quickly discovered — the hard way — what happens when weeds aren’t dealt with swiftly.

“Growing a garden is really fun, but you definitely have to keep up with the weeding,” she said. “I accidentally let them go too long one time, and it took a while to get back on track.”

Lexi decided to try her hand at growing food after walking past the community garden on Bridge Street this spring. School had been closed for weeks due to the Coronavirus pandemic, and she was bored.

“We were looking for anything to keep busy at that time,” Trisha said. “We really don’t have a sunny enough place in our yard to dedicate to a garden, so this has been great. I helped her plant, but this is her interest, her baby.”

The community garden has been thriving for 12 years now under the watchful eye of Elk Rapids resident Dianne Richter. Her daughter, Lisa, a University of Michigan graduate with a degree in environmental sciences, had

started similar gardens in Detroit and challenged Dianne to do the same in Elk Rapids.

With land donated by the village and support from its parks and recreation commission and department of public works, Dianne marked off an initial plot of about 1,900 square feet in the spring of 2009. A newspaper announcement and word-of-mouth publicity brought together a dozen local folks eager to share tips, tools, and a hunger for organic fruits and vegetables.

“At first I wasn’t sure how much interest there would be,” Dianne recalled. “I started out by asking what people wanted, what their reasons were for wanting to garden there. Everyone wanted it to be organic. That was really important.”

Michigan State University Extension did a suitability test on the soil, a volunteer offered to till it, gardeners pooled money for fencing to keep rabbits out, a water pump was added, and the land was divided into 100-square-foot plots. “Over the years, the soil has really been improved as people have added organic fertilizers,” Dianne said.

This summer, 16 of the 18 available plots are bursting with bounty from the earth. One of the spare plots serves as a pollinator garden, luring bees and butterflies with an array of wildflowers. Close by, the plot of seasonal residents Barbara Summers and her husband, Tom Sliwa, is filling up with radishes, cabbage, cucumbers, beets, carrots, and four kinds of tomatoes.

“One of my grandmothers always had a heck of a garden, and I don’t know why we didn’t pursue it ourselves sooner,” said Tom, now in his second summer at the community

garden. “It’s fun to grow things, but we don’t have space at our condo. We stop by in the mornings to water and check things out. It’s a nice routine.”

For 2006 Elk Rapids High School graduate Anthony Dart, gardening in a community setting started while he was a student at Central Michigan University. “That’s what got me excited about gardening,” he said, “and then I’d come back here in the summer and do this one.”

Anthony, who now lives in Grand Rapids with his wife, Melissa, recruits family and friends to help with

his Elk Rapids community garden plot. He invites local pals and his three sisters (Lidia, Julia, and Alexandra) to a planting party in the spring and a harvest party in the fall, and depends on his parents, Jim and Linda, to keep the tomatoes, cucumbers, zucchini, squash and giant pumpkins watered in his absence.

“It started out just me and one sister,” he said. “But it’s almost like a reunion now with everyone else. I don’t own a house, so the opportunity to plant and grow things is really awesome. I love it.”

Dianne says a camaraderie naturally develops between gardeners every summer, describing how they drop off extra plants and fertilizer, leave harvested produce behind to share, and water plants for those who are away for more than a few days. “It really brings people together,” she said. “It’s fun to see how much people enjoy it.”

Community garden produces bounty of goodnessCommunity garden produces bounty of Community garden produces bounty of goodnessgoodness

Howard and Dianne Richter. Photo by Barb Mosher

Lexi Moore picks green beans in her plot at the community garden. Photo by Barb Mosher

Alexandra and Julia Dart help with 2019’s fall harvest at the community garden. Courtesy photo

Community garden bounty. Courtesy photo