10 Feb The Pawling Community Garden: Where Neighbors Grow Together
Under the snow at Murrow Park in Pawling, the new garden beds of the Pawling Community Garden lie dormant, but the volunteers who run the garden are busy planning and organizing for the spring season. Recently, we met with one of the co-chairs of the Pawling Community Garden, Angela Jobe, to learn more about this new community initiative.
Although the Pawling Community Garden broke ground just last summer, it has been in the works for about five years. Founder Gabrielle Semel (who also founded Pawling Yoga and Wellness) got the idea for the community garden during the early days of the COVID pandemic. During those days of social isolation and a scarcity of food and other supplies, Gabrielle taught her classes online and heard her students talking about their anxiety and uncertainty about the future. At a time when people were being urged to mask up and remain six feet apart for the foreseeable future, the idea of a place outdoors where folks could nourish their bodies with healthy food and fresh air while socializing seemed ideal. Gabrielle presented the idea to the Pawling Town Board in 2020, but after a bit of back and forth, the initiative ran out of steam and sat idle, except for a mention on the Pawling Yoga and Wellness website.
Fast forward to 2023. Angela Jobe, a semi-retired landscape designer,and fairly new to Pawling, saw the Pawling Community Garden mentioned on the Pawling Yoga and Wellness website and reached out to Gabrielle about it. “I didn’t know many people here yet, and since my background was related, I thought it would be a great way to get involved in the community. Coincidentally, at the same time Angela began her conversations with Gabrielle, another Pawling neighbor, Sam Petersson, (now co-chairing the PCG with Angela) also inquired about the community garden. The idea that had slept quietly for a few years was suddenly awake again.The three began putting together a master plan and laid out their vision for the garden.
In December of 2024, their first big breakthrough came when they received approval from the town board to transform the old volleyball courts at Murrow Park as a space for the garden. That space had good drainage, plenty of sunlight, and a good “foundation” to install the garden beds. They also saw an opportunity to create a 200’ long pollinator garden along the fence by Lakeside Drive, which would support wildlife and also provide more pollination for the vegetable garden beds nearby, as well as an opportunity to add an educational component to the garden.
More successes quickly followed. In addition to some fast and fierce fundraising, the PCG also received a generous grant from the Pawling Community Foundation. Ring’s End Lumber of New Milford donated all of the wood to build 30 raised beds. Pawling Middle/High School teacher Zsolt Vass guided two of his senior woodworking students, Anthony Riina and Scott Sheridan, through a project to build the first two garden beds in the school workshop just before summer break last year. The building project was then taken over by a local retired building engineer, Bob Donaldson, who cut the wood pieces for the rest of the garden beds at home, brought them to the site, and oversaw a team of enthusiastic volunteers to build them.
Meanwhile, the pollinator path also became a reality, thanks to more volunteers and donations. The Quaker Hill Country Club loaned their sod cutter to clear the path and Wendell Weber, Pawling Building and Grounds Supervisor, and his team hauled it away for composting. Next, a team of twelve volunteers from the community planted native trees and shrubs to attract birds and other pollinators. Finally, a group of 80 fifth graders from Pawling Middle School planted hundreds of smaller perennials. According to the garden’s newsletter, “The PCG Dirt,” almost 1,000 plants went into the ground in about four hours!
When the vegetable garden beds were ready to be claimed, the group put out invitations to the Pawling community to sign up for a plot. There is a modest annual fee to claim a plot, but there are also “donation” plots for those who have limited financial resources. The PCG welcomes all and turns no one away due to a lack of finances. Almost all of the plots have been claimed, except for a few Tall Beds for those with limited physical ability. Several gardeners planted fall vegetables and cover crops before winter took over. This first group of gardeners joined the community garden for a variety of reasons–some folks don’t live on a property with room for a garden, some are complete novices eager to learn how to garden and grow their own food, some are experienced gardeners with beautiful gardens at home who want to socialize with others while enjoying their favorite hobby. The community garden is bringing people together, just as they had hoped.
Among her many PCG hats, Angela is the editor of “The PCG Dirt” which comes out bi-monthly, and includes news about the Pawling Community Garden as well as gardening tips and recipes. She is also enthusiastic about the educational initiatives that the community garden is developing in partnership with the Pawling Central School District and the Pawling Library. On February 28th, the library will be hosting a talk led by PCG team member Trevor Granger about how pollinator gardens and companion planting supports vegetable gardens. The PCG is looking forward to more programs with local students and the library this year. They are also hoping to host community events in the garden, including participation in an Earth Day celebration and a Grand Opening at the garden. They are additionally planning for Phase II of their master plan, which includes building more plots.
“The garden isn’t just a place to grow food and flowers,” said Angela, “it’s an opportunity to grow a strong sense of community–a place where people of all ages and backgrounds can connect outside in nature, garden together, and maybe even bridge the gaps that might otherwise divide us. Gabrielle had a vision. It was a really smart and beautiful way to bring people together:
The PCG is looking for interested people to join the Planning Team. To learn more about how you can help without even getting your hands dirty, or to sign up for their newsletter the PCG Dirt, please visit https://pawlingcommunitygarden.org/
–by Amy Emke