AMC Partners Up for Community Garden

SARANAC LAKE – New community gardens are being established in Saranac Lake to allow people to grow their own food and enjoy the social and health benefits of working the land. 

By providing garden space as well as instruction in sustainable practices, the project aims to help families and individuals grow and eat healthier food.  There will be a special focus on encouraging young people to garden and, in the process, learn where their food comes from.

The Steering Committee of the Common Ground Garden has announced the initial site for gardening this spring will be located on lands owned by the Adirondack Medical Center on Old Lake Colby Road.  The garden consists of 21 tilled plots measuring 12 feet by 20 feet, which will be offered by Common Ground Garden for a full season for $25 plus a $15 cleanup deposit.  The area will be fenced against deer, and gardeners will have access to water. Thanks to donations from members, subsidies are available for those who wish to garden, but cannot afford the $40 fee.  A second garden site at the former village landfill will be prepared this spring and summer for planting in 2010.

Common Ground Garden is a project of Adirondack Sustainable Communities, Inc. in partnership with the Adirondack Medical Center, the Village of Saranac Lake, and the North Country Healthy Heart Network’s “Eat Well Play Hard” program.  “Eat Well Play Hard” provided a mini-grant for improvements to the Old Lake Colby Road site.  The garden plan grew out of an idea proposed by The Green Circle, a grass roots organization encouraging environmentally responsible local projects, and has moved forward through the involvement of numerous volunteers.

The long term goal of the Common Ground Garden initiative is to create many hands-on opportunities for gardening in and around the Village of Saranac Lake. “Bringing people together to garden in one place allows us to share tips and techniques, as well as tomatoes and lettuce seeds,” said Ellen Beberman, Project Coordinator and Steering Committee Chairperson. “We plan to create several gardening locations around Saranac Lake so people will be able to find a plot that is convenient for them to use.”  

“Adirondack Medical Center is thrilled to be involved in this important health-related initiative,” said Chandler Ralph, President & CEO of AMC.  “This is a win-win situation that allows community members to eat well and to live well.”
For more information about the Common Ground Garden, log onto www.commongroundgarden.org, or e-mail Ellen Beberman at beberman@verizon.net.

CAPTION:
Young gardeners Zoe Smith White and Henry Robin Smith helped till the soil at Common Ground Garden’s community garden behind Adirondack Medical Center on Old Lake Colby Road in Saranac Lake.

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