Brooklyn Community Garden is a growing outreach

​       Steve Rhoads, overseer of the Brooklyn Community Garden, plants carrots during a recent early spring planting. Located at 305 Jefferson St., the BGC has more than 20 different types of vegetable and plants and is run entirely by volunteers. Rhoads and his wife, Melia, donated the land the garden is on to the Brooklyn Community Foundation. A number of corporations and community members invest into the garden with donations, plants, seed, mulch, fertilizer and volunteer their time.
       “The kids in town really love our strawberries,” said Rhoads, who was busy planting vegetable seeds with volunteer Kathy Hash. “That is what we like to see.”

By J.O. Parker
 
        The Brooklyn Community Garden at 305 Jefferson St. is growing in popularity and gaining ground each year.
        Run entirely by volunteers under the direction of Steve Rhoads, the garden is open to the public in the Brooklyn area who are looking for fresh, locally grown produce and foods.
         “The kids in town really love our strawberries,” said Rhoads, who was busy planting vegetable seeds with volunteer Kathy Hash last week. “That is what we like to see.”
       The garden was started about six years ago after Brian Manatt with Manatt’s Inc. approached Rhoads, who owned the land at the time, to see if it was available for use as a community garden.
        Manatt was an acquaintance of Chad Nath, the founder of the Grinnell Giving Gardens, and together the two wanted to start a community garden in Brooklyn.
        Rhoads was onboard with the idea and gave it the OK. The first year, the garden started with one 20-foot by 40-foot bed and one water hydrant by the road.
        “We used to have to drag hose all over the place,” recalled Hash of the early days.
      Rhoads, his brother-in-law, Jeff Thompson, and Manatt employees, along with the help of Nath, planted the first crops and took care of the garden the first year.
       “We provided the garden with all the seeds and vegetables that first year to help them get started,” said Nath.
        Since then, the garden has evolved into a wider group of local volunteers.
        “Currently there are about 10-12 volunteers who help off and on tend to the garden,” said Rhoads.
Rhoads, who is owner of Jasper Construction, and his wife, Melia, decided to donate the land to the Brooklyn Community Foundation for use as a community garden.
        A number of improvements have been made at the garden since those early days including the addition of five more water hydrants, two of which were added this last year, seven raised garden beds and a couple hoop trellis arches for growing vine crops. There is also a strawberry bed, herb garden and flower bed. 
       And this last year, a number of trees along a fence row to the south of the garden were removed to give the garden area better sunlight.
     The garden features several varieties of onions and peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, pumpkins, squash, cucumbers, zucchini, red cabbage, green beans, brussel sprouts, kale and kohlrabi, cauliflower, okra, broccoli, rhubarbs, tomatoes, lettuce, carrots and more.
     “Last year the garden really grew and people knew we were here,” said Rhoads. “If someone needed a pepper and an onion for supper, they could come pick whatever was ripe.”
       He said the garden benefits many of the elderly Brooklyn residents who live in apartments and can’t have their own garden.
       “They will come gather food,” he said. “Not much went to waste last year.”
    Rhoads said he and the volunteers like to grow produce and foods that can be eaten right out of the garden. 
       “It is open to anyone in the Brooklyn area and is free for residence to come pick whatever is ripe.”
      Rhoads said it cost about $1,000 a year to purchase supplies such as seed, fertilizer, mulch and plants for the garden.
     He said the garden is made possible thanks in part to a number of corporate sponsors. They include Manatts, who keeps the ground around the garden mowed and provides the water. Hall’s Feed and Seed tills the garden beds and donates cattle panels, posts, natural compost plants and seed for planting. Minturn Construction on Front Street in Brooklyn provides used lumber and labor for the raised beds and Jasper Construction employees helped build the raised beds for the garden during down time.
    “We couldn’t do this without the support of the Brooklyn Community Foundation,” noted Rhoads. “The Brooklyn Community Foundation supports many groups like the Brooklyn Community Garden in the Brooklyn area with grants and donations from local donors.”
      “We are glad to be a part of the community garden,” said Greg Hall, owner of Hall’s Feed and Seed with his wife, Sandy. “Anytime Steve has questions, I try to help him. He stops in and we talk about how to make things easier and more economical. He deserves all the credit and spends a lot of time taking care of the garden.”
    “The community garden is for a great cause for anybody who needs it in town,” added Hall. “It’s a wonderful project.”
       "We couldn't do this without the gardening expertise Halls Feed and Seed gives us," said Rhoads. "Their help is invaluable to us."
       For those interested in supporting the community garden financially, donations of any amount can be left at Hall’s Feed and Seed at 100 Brady St.
      “We keep growing a little at a time,” said Rhoads.
      “There is nothing like seeing communities grow their own sustainable food,” said Nath.
       “It’s going to be nice this year,” added Hash.