Join UMass Urban Mentor Farm on August 18 from 4 – 6 as part of its Summer Series. Learn How Nubia is charting its next chapter as it scales up operations at a larger site and tackles pests in the new environment. The event takes place at the Nightingale Community Garden pavilion, 512 Park Street in Dorchester Center. RSVP at a.sayed@nubianet.net.
Join The Trustees on September 28 for the free Urban Agriculture and Climate Fair at Nightingale Community Garden. This is a day of hands-on demos and activities showcasing urban agriculture and climate justice work across Boston. Fun and learning for all ages, with garden and cooking demos, live animals, and resources for building a climate resilient Boston.
Enjoy food for sale from Fresh Food Generation, music by Tjovi Ginen, and fresh produce sold from local urban farms. Submit your most impressive harvests to our urban vegetable competition and win a prize! Fun and learning for all ages.
Harvest Competition Details:
Please bring your submissions by 12 PM
Bring produce from community gardens, urban home gardens, and urban farms to the fair this fall! Win prizes in each category listed below.
-Preserved Foods (canned, fermented and pickled foods)
-Fruits & Berries
-Flowers & Herbs (bouquet)
-Honey
-Oddly Shaped Vegetable
-General Produce
-Junior Category
Rain date September 29. Pre-register for weather-related updates.
Pickles are an easy and delicious way to preserve the flavors of summer. In this Trustees of Reservations event on Saturday, July 16, we’ll harvest veggies and herbs right from the Nightingale Community Garden, 512 Park Street in Dorchester, and make quick and easy pickles. Free for TTOR members, $5 for nonmembers. Register by calling 617-542-7696, x 2115, or email mdelima@thetrustees.org. Image from www.sunset.com.
So you have planted some new fruit trees. What do you do now to ensure fruitful trees for future seasons? This informative program on Saturday, August 25, from 10 – 11:30 am, will illustrate the training, pest control, pruning, soil building and fertilization techniques required to grow healthy trees and delicious fruit. The class will take place at the Nightingale Community Garden, 512 Park Street in Dorchester. Co-sponsored by Boston Natural Areas Network and Boston Tree Party. Email info@bostonnatural.org or phone 617-542-7696. Photo from www.apartmenttherapy.com.
As the interest in community gardens continues to grow rapidly nationwide and around the Boston area, Boston Natural Areas Network (BNAN) will celebrate the grand opening of Nightingale Community Garden — the largest community garden to open in Dorchester — on Saturday, August 6, from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon at 512 Park Street in Dorchester. Mayor Thomas M. Menino will join gardeners, neighbors, partners, and supporters to celebrate the first planting season of this remarkable new 1.5-acre garden in the heart of the city’s largest neighborhood. All are invited to come learn more about this new community treasure and enjoy music and refreshments. The event is free and open to the public.
Once the site of the former Boston Public Florence Nightingale School, and long gardened by a small group of local residents, Nightingale Garden was acquired by BNAN in 2006 as a permanent community garden. BNAN is a Boston-based nonprofit that works to preserve, expand, and enhance urban open space, including community gardens, greenways, and urban wilds throughout the City of Boston. After years of advocacy efforts and a thorough community planning and design process, renovations to Nightingale Garden began in earnest in late 2010 and were completed in June.
BNAN has significantly expanded Nightingale Community Garden from 30 to 132 plots and raised beds under cultivation by more than 150 resident gardeners who represent a wide array of cultures and generations. The new garden features healthy, nutrient-rich soil, fully accessible paths, a complete irrigation system, benches and picnic tables, a tool shed, bulletin board, and a common gathering area with gazebo sun shelter that also captures rain water in barrels. The gardeners began planting on July 1, and even with the late start due to construction constraints, Nightingale Garden is already demonstrating its bountiful potential. Blueberry bushes were saved from the old garden and fruit trees will be planted in the fall. Nightingale is quickly becoming the hub of community gardening and urban agriculture in Dorchester, hosting programs focused on cultivating fresh healthy food, including gardening, cooking, and fitness workshops, as well as concerts throughout the summer. All programs and events are free and open to all gardeners and the public to enjoy.
“Nightingale Garden is a real community success story,†says Valerie Burns, president of Boston Natural Areas Network. “The project represents years of steadfast efforts by residents, the city, BNAN, and many donors and partners to create a permanent garden where the community can gather and grow healthy food for years to come.â€
This garden renovation is part of a Dorchester-wide program called Boston Is Growing Gardens (BIGG), which BNAN founded in 2009 for the purpose of doubling the growing capacity of community gardens in the neighborhood and promoting the health and wellness of its residents. The BIGG program combines improved and expanded gardens with no-cost programs to build interest, participation and skill in growing fresh vegetables and inspire healthier eating and more active lifestyles. Through coordinated outreach and skill-building and mentoring programs, BIGG works to connect Dorchester residents to these new gardening programs and resources.
“The opening of the Nightingale Community Garden in Dorchester signifies a big step forward in community-building, neighborhood renewal and preservation for the City of Boston,†Mayor Menino said. “Community gardens add many dimensions to our open urban space as they provide a viable source of inexpensive and healthy food and also promote regular physical activity and a rewarding personal experience.â€
Major funders for the project include the Boston Public Health Commission through its Community Putting Prevention to Work program, Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development Grassroots program, the Manton Foundation, the Claneil Foundation, the Amelia Peabody Charitable Fund, the Towards Sustainability Foundation, the American Heart Association, the Cabot Trust, and the Boston Foundation. Boston University School of Public Health provided in-kind services to insure healthy soil.
If you would like to learn more about BIGG or how to get involved in community gardening in your Dorchester neighborhood, please contact BNAN at info@bostonnatural.org or call the BIGG Project Manager, Grantley Payne, at 617.542.7696 x21.
