BTLT in the News, “As the growing season approaches, community gardens look to new safety rules”
Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust’s Tom Settlemire Community Garden and BTLT Program Manager, Jamie Pacheco were recently featured in a Bangor Daily News article about local community gardens adapting to COVID-19.
“Etiquette is always important in communal spaces. For community gardeners in years past, being considerate of others meant keeping your bed neat, treating communal tools with care, chatting with fellow gardeners about their summer plans and resisting the urge to snatch a tomato from your neighbor’s plot.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, though, the rules for being a good garden bed neighbor have changed. Community gardens across the state have established new rules for the growing season in accordance with the governor’s orders, the Centers for Disease Control’s recommendations and the University of Maine Cooperative Extension guidelines.
“Garden guidelines provide a framework for people with different experiences and viewpoints to work within a community space respectfully,” Jamie Pacheco, program manager at the Brunswick Topsham Land Trust, which runs the Thomas Settlemire Community Garden.
If you are wondering what the best practice is, the first step is to check the rules for your community garden. Keep abreast of any changes that the garden might make over the course of the crisis.”
…
