For the past few years, the Brunswick-Topsham Land Trust has visited Perryman Village twice in the springtime to plant seeds and then build raised beds for families to grow their own food.
On May 17th, Tom Settlemire Community Garden Coordinator, Lisa Martin and BTLT Program Manager, Jamie Pacheco, visited Perryman Village to start seeds with excited young residents. Lisa and Jamie guided the children through planting seeds in things you can find around your own house (like toilet paper and paper towel rolls) while explaining how plants grow and what they need to thrive.
On Friday, June 7th, a group of BTLT volunteers and staff visited Perryman Village to put together raised beds, fill them with soil, and plant seedlings with local kids. In previous years, BTLT spent this day building raised beds for families to have in their yards, but with construction happening around the neighborhood, it wasn’t feasible. This change, though, is a blessing in disguise, as it prompted the Brunswick Housing Authority to kindly purchased two raised beds to be used as educational gardens with kids in the neighborhood. This summer will thus be BTLT’s first year leading weekly programming at Perryman Village!
The raised beds swiftly were put together by some very capable young hands with BTLT volunteers and staff providing guidance and extra muscle. The beds were then promptly filled with 50/50 mix (a topsoil and compost mix from Country Fare in Bowdoin) with young, local residents happily getting their hands dirty pulling soil from wheelbarrows and planting seedlings (see photos).
Existing raised beds throughout the neighborhood were also topped off with nutrient-rich 50/50 mix and supplied with seedlings, including basil, peppers, herbs, and lettuce.
During the summer, Brunswick PD will be helping young Perryman residents grow food in these new raised beds and BTLT will be running educational programming each week there. Growing your own food is empowering and exciting and we just can’t wait to see how well these plants do throughout the summer!
A special Thank You to Whatley Farm for donating seedlings, and to our volunteers, staff, Officer Kerry Wolongevicz and Officer Heather Brown for all helping with this event!
