If one community-builder has his way, a new community garden at the Jack Purcell Community Centre on Elgin Street will soon be in the works.
Sean Simpson, 34, spends most of the winter maintaining Jack Purcell’s outdoor rink, a volunteer job that keeps him busy from December through February, waking up early on frigid mornings to shovel, scrape and flood the ice. Being a small-business owner, he has the time to devote to community projects.
He is looking to extend his commitment through the rest of the year by starting a vegetable and herb garden, free for anyone to use.
“Some gardens charge membership fees, but I want to do this without fees,” Simpson says. “If we could get a few businesses in the area on board, and maybe a construction company to sponsor the garden to get the ground ready for planting, it would help. The idea is for this to be affordable.”
After seeing how much value the outdoor rink provides to the community during the winter, Simpson says he wants the garden to also serve as a communal hub during the warmer months of the year.
Simpson faces a few obstacles before he can even consider breaking ground. The deadline to apply for funding through Just Food, the organization that allocates city funds for gardening projects, was in early February.
“I know February is pretty early to be thinking about gardens,” says Terri O’Neill, a project co-ordinator with Just Food. “But it’s not just a matter of digging into the ground and putting in your tomato plants.”
The next hurdle is to have the soil tested to determine if it is suitable for growing food.
But with all the obstacles he faces, Simpson is quick to point out there is some momentum behind his ambitions. There is already a water source in the park that gardeners can use, and he says he has received a lot of encouragement from people and organizations in the community.