Coordinator likens garden to family tree

By LINDA M. LINONIS

linonis@vindy.com

youngstown

Mary Bobersky, coordinator of Jubilee Gardens, used an analogy to describe the community gardening project.

“It’s a family tree that Jubilee grows ... the roots are in the community; the stem is me as coordinator; the branches are the gardeners, and the leaves are the produce that family and friends share in,” she said.

Bobersky, who is in her fifth year with Jubilee, said about 30 gardeners tend 32 plots on 13/4 acres on Lafayette Street. Each plot is about 20-by-30-feet.

Bobersky acknowledged history is sketchy but believed the building on the property was a one-room schoolhouse dating to the 1920s-30s. It houses equipment, provides water and electricity and a restroom. Remnants of a ballfield, an old batting cage and fence, remain.

Pat Lowry is president of Jubilee, a nonprofit organization. “It’s unique in the fact it’s a 501(c)3,” he said, noting it received that status in 2005. Jubilee Gardens has existed since the 1980s, he said, before community gardening became trendy.

Bobersky said children to seniors participate at Jubilee; the area has a youth garden as a teaching tool for youths and a public garden from which Bobersky gives out produce to neighbors, those in need and Gleaners Food Bank.

Gardeners come out early or into the evening to avoid the heat of the day. Bobersky said 80 percent are from the city and the others from surrounding areas. Recently, a few gardeners took in the sunshine as they weeded and watered their plots.

Michelle Wade of Youngstown, who has gardened before, is in her first year at Jubilee, where she likes the space available. “I’m doing this to grow my own fresh produce,” she said, adding she “takes pride” in the effort.

She’s gardening along with her 4-year-old daughter, Lila, who said she “liked to plant stuff” including sunflowers. The Wades are tending tomatoes, peppers, Mexican green tomatoes, sweet potatoes and squash.

Diana Bunetta of Youngstown is in her second year at Jubilee. Though she gardened at home, Jubilee gives her more space. “The location is ideal,” she said. She emphasized the bonus is fellowship with gardeners and their expertise. “Their assistance and advice is invaluable.”

Bunetta also said the non-profit is “so generous” with seeds and plants and has tools for gardeners to use. She and her son, Steven, take a Western Reserve Transit Authority bus to the site, where they are tending eggplant, tomatoes, peppers, potatoes and corn. “It’s to augment our food budget,” she said.

Though gardening is sweat and hard work mixed with successes and failures, Bunetta said the intangible pluses make it worthwhile. “It’s how I recharge,” she said. Through Jubilee Gardens, she has made new friends and “learned life lessons.”

“It’s enrichment, it’s challenging physically, and you’re testing yourself,” she said.

Sarah Buggs of Youngstown was working with Greg Bowman, executive director of Goodness Grows, an outreach ministry of Common Ground Church Community in North Lima, on a reclamation effort to improve a plot of poor soil. Buggs is an apprentice at Goodness Grows, a faith-based food and farming nonprofit venture. Bowman said a cover crop such as clover, alfalfa or beans helps rejuvenate the soil.

“I want to teach people how to revamp, rejuvenate and restore,” she said.

“When you grow it yourself, you know where it comes from. It’s fresh, you can pick it and eat it that day,” she said.

Buggs said working the land makes her happy, and that translates into a good life for her and her daughter, Passion, 9.