Gardening in the Greenway

Gardening in the Greenway Meeting

Saturday 11/15 at the Wildflower Café

Present: Nick Baily, Peter Christine, Gwen Colegrove, Peter Gaughin, Danelle Hakim, Annie Hasz, Darlene Heller, Daniel Hunter, Steve Hoog, Maureen Lynch, Lynn Nonnemacher, Dave Porter, Javier Toro, Gary Warren, Michelle

Those present included representatives from the city, the South Bethlehem Neighborhood Center, the YWCA, Holy Infancy School, the Wildflower Café, the Maze Garden Community, the Victory House, and the Alliance for Sustainable communities.

Darlene Heller summarized the Greenway project. Phase I will begin this spring with the trail section from New St. to Filmore. Workers will grade the land, add topsoil, seed grass, install the pathway and electrical conduits and establish basic landscaping. Once spots are selected for gardens, the city will do further soil testing but plans to import most of the growing medium after removing the gravel/cinder that composed the railroad bed. The city will use all $800,000 alloted for this site in this part of the transformation. Gardeners looking for funding should contact the Health Bureau, the Parks Department, and also look to independent sources like Rodale.

Gardens already growing in Bethlehem that may serve as models and resources for Greenway gardens include the Maze garden (all produce grown collectively, donated to New Bethany Ministries), the Victory House Garden (produce donated to the Neighborhood Center – Dave Porter contact), the Westside park garden (allotment gardens- Holly Heitmann contact), the MLK garden on Carlton Ave (started by Lehigh – allotment gardens – Dale Kochard contact) and the Calypso school garden (a garden as outdoor classroom).

So far, projects proposed for coming seasons include a garden near the Greenway that would be tended by children in the Neighborhood center's homework club and summer bridge program with collaboration from the YWCA. Maureen Lynch, a teacher at Holy Infancy, is working with Lehigh architecture classes to design an outdoor classroom including native plantings in the section of Greenway behind the school. Dave Porter hopes to expand already growing gardens in the Victory House G-way section.

These new garden projects have differing aims and needs, but can be connected through the following infrastructure:

• compost – establish centrally located compost that can double as demo

• greenhouse – shared propagation center (perhaps located behind Victory House)

• seed bank – we can begin saving more seed and holding regular seed and transplant exchanges

• classes – on seed saving, planning a season of gardening, cooking with the harvest, etc.

• growing protocol – establish "beyond" organic practices and share (for pest management, soil fertility, etc).

• food preparation + storage facilities – cold storage, demo kitchen (partner with LV Food Co-op?)

• farmer's market – we discussed moving this to the Greenway once phase I is completed – perhaps greenway gardeners could sell collectively

• interpretive trail – signage, tours

• the Landscape Framework – we all are interested in native, edible landscaping

• Parties + theater – regular events to encourage the use of gardens as a community gathering space

Here's some more ideas for themed gardens + different garden models: a peace garden (involve LEPOCO); allotment gardens (rented plots); science gardens (perform experiments – use to partner youth with college students); art gardens (sculpture); garden therapy (incl. Possibly very high raised beds for elderly); ethnic gardens (the tastes of Puerto Rico, of Bulgaria, of the homeland of Bethlehem residents); for-profit gardens, providing job training and entrepreneurship opportunities for youth, etc.

Other organizations and institutions not present but interested in supporting and partnering on gardening in the greenway projects include the CADC and Lehigh University. Others we should reach out to: LEPOCO peace center, Touchtone Theater, Hogar Crea, Unity house, New Bethany, Boys + Girls Club, the Fire Company, the NCC Culinary School.

Remember, gardens...

• can be beautiful AND productive

• feed people and save money

• can be playgrounds and classrooms

• grow leaders

• recycle "waste" materials (Waste = Food!)

• increase the lung capacity of the city

• give cultural heritage a place to thrive

• are fertile ground for healthy communities

Bethlehem needs a healthy green infrastructure to restore torn ecological and social fabric. A thriving network of gardens can be at our community's heart.