'Truly powerful places' | Boston's gardening season kicks off with annual Gardeners' Gathering
The ceremonial start to Boston’s gardening season kicked off with the annual Gardeners’ Gathering, in its 46th year. The virtual event featured workshops and talks for every interest and experience level, and began with welcoming remarks from Boston Mayor Michelle Wu and Trustees President & CEO John Judge.
“Gardens are truly powerful places,” said Judge. “First they’re an affordable source of produce with real impact...but gardens are also hubs for resilience. These green spaces absorb heat and are places of respite. They absorb rainwater runoff and help to prevent flooding. And they contribute to the social resilience of a neighborhood by strengthening community bonds. Not only do they nourish our bellies, but they nourish our souls—and they connect us.”
Thanking Judge, Mayor Wu also reflected on the importance of these spaces, noting, “This is truly about much more than even the very important core focus of community gardens—around food, and nourishment, and growing and community—It truly touches every single generation, every demographic, every part of our city.”
Officiating the annual Gardeners’ Gathering awards, Mayor Wu spent time recognizing the achievements and contributions made by several gardeners and garden teams around the city. This year’s awards went to:
Rookie Garden of the Year: Edgewater Food Forest at River Street, Mattapan
Most Valuable Gardener: Nasreen Latif, Symphony Community Garden and Roxbury Community College
Hall of Fame Garden: Norton Stonehurst Community Garden, Dorchester
Above: The Gardeners’ Gathering awards recognize people who work to improve their neighborhoods, food access, and open space.
A discussion on indigenous food sovereignty followed the award ceremony, with special guest speaker Kristen Wyman delivering a keynote presentation on the work of the Eastern Woodlands Rematriation Collective. The Collective, led by indigenous womxn and two-spirits, is reclaiming the right to food and relationship to the earth for indigenous peoples, as an intentionally decentralized grassroots collective, working in partnerships with agencies, institutions, and tribal governments.
Programming this year included workshops on a variety of topics, including vegetable gardening, composing, seed starting, and much more. Find the recorded sessions below to get your own gardening season started! (Click here for the full playlist).
The Trustees own and operate 56 community gardens in Boston, spread out across eight neighborhoods. At these gardens, 4,000 plots feed an estimated 16,000 people directly, in addition to an estimated 5,000 who receive donated food from our gardeners. A recent study by Dartmouth College found that Trustees community garden spaces grow over $2 million worth of fresh food each year.
“As the largest owner of community gardens in the city, The Trustees will continue to support and value these spaces,” noted Judge in his opening remarks. “It’s certainly a priority of mine. Another one of those priorities is the Boston Waterfront Initiative, starting with Piers Park III in East Boston...Piers Park III will offer unique and exceptional public space and access to the harbor, and is located just across the street from the Joe Ciampa community garden in East Boston.”
To learn more about Trustees gardens visit thetrustees.org/boston.
Trustees garden programming is supported by TD Bank, through the TD Ready Commitment (td.com/tdreadycommitment).