Local gardener creates Canton Family Garden

Sharon resident Kathleen Banfield has many years of experience as both an educator and a gardener. And beginning this spring, thanks to the generous support of the Paul R. Matthews Foundation, Banfield will combine these two aspects of her background to create the Canton Family Garden at Pequitside Farm — a place where local children and their parents will be able to plant food at a community plot and care for it to harvest time.

Kathleen Banfield with gardener Saida Ramirez

Banfield, 30, presently works in the Office of Community Partnerships at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Before that she spent eight years at the Food Project, where she worked with children in the Boston Public Schools and the Boys and Girls Club, using a hands-on garden and nutrition curriculum to teach kids about food accessibility and nutrition. It was while spending time gardening in a plot that her in-laws have at Pequitside Farm that she noticed families with young children at the playground and thought of a way to build a connection with children and fresh food.

“I want to help them build a garden and teach families how to grow food,” explained Banfield.

She plans to use the square-foot method for the Canton Family Garden. She will build raised beds for each one-foot-by-one-foot planting grid in a large plot at Pequitside. The raised beds will have wooden frames on all four sides as well as on the bottom.

“You grow things in it,” she said. “You never step on the soil.”

At “Family Garden Day: Service Build” on Sunday, April 14, families and high school students will fill the raised beds with soil and decide what they want to grow. “I have tons of different seeds,” Banfield said. “I want kids to see where food comes from. Everything you eat has a source.”

Garden activities will be held twice a month from April through September. Participants will enjoy gardening activities and taste garden vegetables on “Taste It Tuesdays.” During the three “Family Drop-In Days,” families are invited to drop in to the garden, ask questions, tour the garden, or harvest vegetables. “Helping Harvests” will include activities and the idea of sharing with the community. Banfield hopes to donate harvested vegetables to the Canton Food Pantry. Compost and Garlic Day on October 20 is for closing out the garden.

All Canton families are encouraged to register for the Canton Family Garden. The activities are geared toward children in grades K-5, and each child must be accompanied by an adult. The garden sessions are free, but registration is required. Banfield emphasized that families are not obligated to continuously attend the sessions, although they are encouraged to attend as often as possible.

To learn more about the Canton Family Garden or to register, go to cantonfamilygarden.eventbrite.com.

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Posted by Mary Ann Price on Mar 28 2013. Filed under Features. Both comments and pings are currently closed.