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Clairmont Community Garden (Supplied: Clairmont Community Garden Facebook)
By Abby Zieverink
Community

Clairmont Community Garden teaching youth about growing and harvesting

Aug 9, 2021 | 2:53 PM

With the help of community members, the Clairmont Community Garden has seen an exceptional amount of growth in fruits and vegetables over the past month and a half.

Founder of the garden Devin Bateman says he had two goals when starting the garden. One was to donate most of the yield to the food bank, with the second being to educate more young people about growing, harvesting and transplanting.

“One of the whole points of this garden is to inspire kids to grow up and want to garden, so I have to let the kids in there, and if they’re going to make a few mistakes, I have to teach them why that is a mistake and what they can do to respect it.”

Bateman says they have had to overcome a few roadblocks since getting established, including vandalism he found at the end of June. He says planters were tipped over and flooded, along with pre-mature vegetables dug up.

He says despite the difficult situation, he believes the vandalism brought a lot of positives.

“Honestly that vandalism was one of the best things to happen to that garden…I know it doesn’t make sense but a lot of positives were brought out of that vandalism that I’m almost glad it happened.”

“I found a big growth in the kid’s interest with this. The state of the garden right now, we’re in stage two of four, so next year it’s going to get bigger and the following year it’s going to get bigger again.”

With the garden being right next to the skate park, and kids always being near, Bateman says he is using the opportunity to teach youth about gardening and how to respect it.

“They’re not going to all want to garden, it’s not the cool thing for all the kids, but the kids that like it… they really like it.”

Bateman says a small group of girls has taken a shining to the garden. He says every time he goes to tend to the garden, the group is there wanting to learn more.

“When I come, they’re there. We’re in it, we’re talking about it, and they’re coming to see how it’s doing… They’re excited.”

Bateman says he has a partnership with the grade one students at the school in Clarimont. He says because of COVID, they couldn’t get the program running for this past year, but he is hoping to grow the garden for next year to help further the learning experience for the students.

“If I could have a greenhouse at the garden next year, it would basically be like a second classroom for them to start seeds and learn the early stages of planting and then things like transplanting.”

Bateman says he has over 14 planters of food growing that will be donated to the food bank once harvest time comes around. He says some of the long-term goals are to add an orchard and greenhouse to the garden.

Bateman hopes to continually grow the Clairmont Community over the next four years to help donate to the food bank even more.

by Abby Zieverink