Sarah Lacombe sits down with Izabela Daszkiewicz on this episode of Locally Yours, to discuss the community garden initiative for Rockland, Ontario. “The mayor has been a big influence in the success of this project,” says Lacombe. She said that the community  has been very involved in making such an undertaking possible.

The garden is meant for day-to-day use as well as to contribute to the Rockland Food Bank. “We planted tomatoes, peppers, eggplants, we have two fruit trees for apples as well,” says Sarah in regards to the kinds of produce that are being grown for donations. “It was really important for the city and for us to make sure we were using organic sustainable practices at the garden.” Sarah explains how the garden is environmentally conscious for both consumption, and in its operation. “There’s no use of chemical pesticides at the garden, and we work really hard at being conservative with our water.”

The garden itself is not-for-profit, and is meant as a lifeline for lower income families. “Our biggest focus was to make sure it was accessible to everybody.” The garden’s location is also ideal, especially for its accessibility. “The garden is open to the public. It is in a public park so we’ve decided to leave our fence open.” When asked how the garden itself works, Sarah elaborates: The donation garden is all volunteer-based, however there is a fee to plant and tend to the garden beds.

The fast turnaround for creating a community garden like this is unprecedented. “I’ve spoken to other community gardens in the city, and some of them take three, four years before they can even find a space for it, so we’ve been really lucky that it went this fast.” The importance of the garden extends beyond charitable efforts. “It’s just bringing everybody together and getting out of that pandemic solitude,” says Sarah on how the garden has helped connect residents.  

 “We’re really excited to be able to give back to the community.”

Sarah and her team are already planning for the next season and trying to anticipate the number of new gardeners who would like to participate:  “Through our website, we plan on having our 2024 waitlist open in the fall.”  The garden is located at 2637 Raymond St (Patricia St.) in Rockland, Ontario.