By Edward P. Noga
YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – For several years, I planted hundreds of garlic starts in the community gardens just south of St. Patrick’s Church in Youngstown where I served as pastor for 36 years. Why? Well, first off, they were relatively easy to plant. Second, they were planted in autumn, took a brief nap during winter, then jumped up and sprouted in early spring. On those rare winter days when the temperature climbed a bit and the sun was out, there were the early garlic shoots, up a few inches, seeming to announce, “We’re almost ready!”
After retiring as pastor, I did my garlic thing for a couple years but finally hung up my overalls. I still get the notices from some of the websites I searched back then. Last week, the annual catalog arrived from the garlic farm I purchased from for several years. It’s located about 100 miles from Seattle, and has been around for almost 50 years.
Who would have thought that some of the earliest discussions about community gardening would happen at a local transit meeting? Well, in the early years of the 21st century, I was part of the Western Reserve Transit Authority board and was blessed to serve with other community members from the city and county. One of those board members was a local Springfield Township farmer, Lee Kohler. During our time on the board, there were discussions circulating in the city about the possibility of urban gardening.
Our parish was viewed as a possible location since we had acquired several contiguous properties around the church, rectory and school.
The Ohio State University Extension Service in Canfield was a key player in those discussions, guiding us as to how to test and determine the quality of our soil, how to enhance its gardening potential and what it would take to keep the momentum going.
The early conversations about urban gardening were quite exciting; they included stories shared from around the country about how to reconnect city dwellers to the land and gardening. There were also the local stories from generations ago when families often had large gardens in their backyards.
Early on, the Extension Service suggested that we plant some corn, as corn is a natural filter for cleaning soil (you learn something every day). We did that, and the accompanying picture shows what happened.
The folks from the Extension Service also suggested that in March and April, cool season crops like spinach, lettuce, peas, kale and radishes, could be planted.
The early stages of this urban experiment got a huge boost when Lee from the WRTA and his cousin Ross brought their plows from their farms to turn our acre. The plowing dug up a lot of the acre’s urban past; this debris was picked up and tossed into the trash bin.
I remember vividly the day when I walked out of the south entrance of the church and saw and heard the sights and sounds one would experience when traveling through the countryside. It was quite a spectacle and drew attention from the neighbors and passersby who stopped along their way and took a few photos of what was going on.
Our elementary school jumped on the bandwagon (tractor?) from the very beginning. Several of the teachers were thrilled to have such a hands-on, “natural” classroom so near the school building.
I remember one day walking up into the garden patches when one of the classes was working on its plot of snap peas. It was a beautiful sight as the peas covered a large trellis.
The teacher was talking about the peas and their nutritional value. Of course, she included a mini-course about the “snap” of the peas. When finished, she encouraged the students to pick a few and taste them. One young fella cautiously approached the trellis, picked one pea, “snapped” it and placed it in his mouth. I will always remember him chewing a bit, then looking at the teacher and exclaiming, “I thought these came from Sparkle or Giant Eagle.” The teacher glanced at me, and I could almost put words to the expression on her face: “What a learning experience!”
In the years that followed, I remember the Extension Service helping us form the first 4H program in the city. Eventually, many of our urban “farmers” brought the fruit of their labors to the county fair in Canfield. How proud they were!
The memories shared in this article always come into my mind when I stop at a country roadside stand or take the time to purchase items from the many outdoor farm markets in our region.
That young man’s comment from his “epiphany moment” long ago still brings a smile to my face: “I thought these came from Sparkle or Giant Eagle.”
