By Hollis Crowe
It was a bright, crisp morning at the Sanctuary Garden on Court Street, a cheerful first day of December. The Changemakers Hub set up on site for a bit of a party with drinks, snacks, potatoes, and puppets during a family fun day to kick off the festive season. It was a day to learn a little bit more about what grows in a garden, to join How It Felt to craft a little friend, to get twisty with Simpli Yoga, or to just sit in the sunshine with a hot drink. It was a laid back day with classic Christmas bops playing in the background to get visitors into the spirit of the season!
It was a slow and easy going start, though the small group on the quiet residential street brought a little community spirit along for the season. It seems that a quiet start may be part of the appeal of a residential location for a community garden. Jacob, who popped in with his family just as Simpli Yoga’s gymnastics ribbons made an appearance, kindly shared some thoughts on Court Street and the new Sanctuary Garden:
Some of the smaller visitors to the garden enjoyed a mix of colouring in, exploring, crafts, and stretchy activities, sometimes a combination of these things at once! How It Felt drew in some excitement and a series of questions from young ones:
“Are you guys here a lot?”
“When will you next be here?
“Can you come back next week?”
And those are all excellent questions! Those are exactly the kind of questions that need to be asked when trying to build up a community around a new green space, and can sometimes be the most difficult to answer. It seems to depend on first answering: “what can this space do for people?” Jacob shared some observations on community connection:
So far, suggestions on what to offer next to attract visitors include a miniature library, karaoke, live performance, and more puppets. Some questions are always open: what would you want to see happening in your neighbourhood? What is it that makes a neighbourhood a community? What makes a space easier to hang out in?
Naturally, in a green space filled with planters, the discussion of food growing came up. One visitor said that she quite enjoyed growing, but was put off trying it in her back garden due to inconsiderate neighbours. Perhaps a community plot might be enough to deter some unruly individuals? Nevertheless, the importance of knowing where our food comes from, and getting hands on with it cannot be understated. Jacob, a former farmer, had some great insight on this:
...Couldn’t agree more!