Bringing People Back To The Earth

By Nancy K. Crevier

There are pieces of land lying fallow, yearning to be burst forth with a fruitful harvest, with no one to sow the seeds on the soil. There are people who yearn to dig into the earth and create an oasis, but have nowhere to do so. What would happen if the two longings could be brought together?

As Cindy Miller, founder of Trinity Productions, an interfaith, nonprofit organization designed to inspire and help people grow, and Jeanne Foege surveyed Jeanne’s vast garden on Shepard Hill Road in Newtown one day last fall, they mulled over that very idea.

“I needed help in my garden and had always wanted to do a community garden,” said Ms Foege. “Cindy knew someone else interested, and Back to the Earth sort of sprouted from here.”

“You think that everyone has a place to garden who wants one, but they don’t,” said Ms Miller. Back to the Earth, an offshoot of Trinity Productions, brings together land and people and provides the resources needed to develop a garden for groups or individuals who want to get “back to the earth.” The six gardens planted by Back to the Earth this spring, in its pilot year, are in various parts of Fairfield County and Putnam County, N.Y., including two in Newtown.

One is located just off of Riverside Road in Sandy Hook and is named “The Children’s Garden,” not so much because children planted it, although some did assist, as that it was designed with children in mind. The main section of the garden is divided into a pizza shape and features vegetables and herbs that might be found on a pizza. Sprawling tomato plants grow next to pepper plants and onions, with fragrant basil and oregano blossoming nearby.

As an educational tool, curiosity plants take up other portions of the Children’s Garden, which is planted on the land donated by Peter and Julie Obre. Where does cotton come from? How do gourds grow? Does popcorn look like corn on the cob? Back to the Earth hopes to answer questions like these when children come to visit the garden. Newtown gardener Ed Turco, 14-year-old Sammy Panzarino of Danbury, and Dawn Ludlum, also of Danbury, were instrumental in the creation of the Children’s Garden, working with tools, fencing, and plants provided by Trinity Productions, Lexington Gardens, Agway Agri-ventures, Harvey Cushins of Middlebury, and other generous donors. Volunteers from 6 years old on up have donated their time to care for the garden.

Mr Turco, who has also claimed a piece of earth to garden near Liberty of Newtown off of Route 6 where he lives, issued an open invitation to children of all ages to visit the Children’s Garden.

“Every garden worth seeing in Newtown should be seen,” he said. “Gardens are educational and they bring joy. Peace and tranquility is guaranteed through gardening,” he said. Botany classes from the high school would do well to visit the garden, said Mr Turco, as a way to see firsthand the plants that they read about and study in the classroom.

Early in the season, children from the Waldorf School visited the Children’s Garden. Ms Miller and Ms Foege were on hand to guide the group through the plot of newly emerging plants, teach them about the seedlings sprouting there, and answer questions.

“What does ‘Back to the Earth’ mean to you?” they asked the children, and the children responded through drawings and paintings that later decorated the cedar pole teepee at one end of the plot.

Over on Shepard Hill Road, Ms Foege worked with a family of three and, periodically, other volunteers this summer to develop her large plot into a feast for the eyes and mouth. She believes that the power of positive thinking can extend to the smallest molecule of nature, and so the garden was planted on raised beds that spelled out “Think Loving Thoughts.” Despite a pruning by deer and woodchucks, the garden has flourished and produced a plethora of vegetables and flowers. Cabbage, peppers, celery, onion, kale, chard, radish, lettuce, rhubarb, carrots, greens, and squashes mingle with cleome, marigolds, and herbs. The volunteers will take home the harvest as it ripens, and some of it will be brought to homeless shelters and food pantries around the state. The sharing of the wealth is an adage that Back to the Earth is quick to promote.

“We encourage a sort of ‘tithing’ of the harvest,” said Ms Miller. “We encourage giving to others in need.”

Back to the Earth does not only work with group gardening. It also tries to accommodate individuals who prefer to work alone. Property owned by Ms Miller on Hanover Road is divided into garden plots of 15 feet by 10 feet and the plots have been actively gardened by people this summer who otherwise had nowhere else to plant a garden.

On the top of Storm Mountain in Stormville, N.Y., Back to the Earth was able to help Kathanna Knapp of Brewster find a place to plant her “Rocky Heaven,” where she is growing produce to supplement her groceries.

“It’s not just about growing vegetables, though,” emphasized Ms Miller. “Whatever people want, we try to help that happen, whether it is a cutting garden for flowers, a patch of sunflowers, an herb garden. We ask, ‘What’s your dream?’ We want to make that happen.”

Back to the Earth is also not about providing landscaping or doing private gardening for individuals, she stressed. “We have helped some elderly people rejuvenate their gardens, but they in turn gave us plants for use in other gardens.”

Back to the Earth has also planted flower gardens near an AIDS shelter for the enjoyment of the residents there and has worked with a homeless shelter in Danbury to create a garden for the residents of that shelter.

Back to the Earth is able to provide start-up materials to gardeners through the generosity of others, but in order for the project to grow, more volunteers are needed, as well as funding. The group relies on private and public landowners to share property for gardens, but what Ms Miller would love is a piece of land that could serve as headquarters for Back to the Earth. If a greenhouse for starting seedlings in the spring were to come their way, that would be a bonus, she said.

People interested in volunteering or in need of a garden for next year can call Ms Miller at 426-9448 or email her at trinity@trinityproduction.org. Jeanne Foege can be contacted at jlfrla@aol.com or 270-1565. More information on the program and the gardens, as well as gardening tips and resources can be found at BackToTheEarth.net.

What they are growing along with flora and vegetation is a sense of community, said Ms Foege, who serves on the board of Trinity Productions. The gardeners have gathered together for picnics and cookouts, extending their family of friends in work and play. Ms Miller and Ms Foege point out that the youth of the area can gain community service hours by planting, weeding, and doing other garden upkeep for the Back to the Earth organization, and hope that many will do so. They encourage children and adults to contact them to view the gardens, and to join them in maintaining the plots and sharing in the harvest.

A fall harvest party is planned, said Ms Foege, and it is hoped that many of those who were involved in this first year’s effort at reconnecting the earth and people will be able to take part in a pickling, preserving, and canning day at Bethel Agricultural Center one day this fall.

For the people involved this year, “It is more than a community garden provided for individuals,” said Ms Foege. “It has expanded into people gardening as a group and we’ve created a community that way.”