Idea conceived at Greater Fredericton Social Innovations’ Open Space Forum under the name “Fredericton Community Gardens Initiative.”

Inaugural Planning Committee Meeting at Ducks Unlimited. Over 20 people attended.

Developed Mission Statement & Objectives – “to grow food, to grow minds, to grow community”. Scouted and assessed potential sites.

Selected St. Mary’s Anglican Church as first site. Initial meeting with church members was very positive. We decided to incorporate as a non-profit.

Greater Fredericton Social Innovation added us as a page on their website. Applied for two of St. Thomas University’s Social Work Social Action Field Placements. Submitted grant proposal to Hellman’s. Initial meeting with City of Fredericton to discuss potential south-side site and support for St. Mary’s location. The City agreed to provide the St. Mary’s site with compost. Second meeting with City failed to produce a suitable south-side site.

Edee Klee (Co-Chair), Elizabeth Crawford Thurber (Co-Chair), Rob Palo (Treasurer) & Susanne White (Secretary) formed first Board of Directors. Hellman’s grant proposal is declined. Suggestions for name change for incorporation were requested – final name submitted “NB Community Harvest Gardens Inc./ Jardins de la récolte communautaire N-B inc.”. Draft website was created. Soil experts, Taumey Mahendrappa & Sherif Fahmy gave advice on plot preparation and did soil testing at St. Mary’s site. Testing revealed excellent pH but poor organic content. Our application for two STU students was accepted. Chose a gravity-fed watering system (rain catchment) in lieu of hook-up to City watermain. Chose site design that had plots radiating out from a communal “gathering” circle in the centre.

We were incorporated as a non-profit! Began draft of Land Use Agreement with St. Mary’s. Determine best plot preparation based on soil testing would be to hand rotor-till site, incorporated as much compost/mulch as possible and planted a winter cover crop (time permitting). Liability insurance was a requirement prior to the signing of the Land Use Agreement. STU students commenced outreach program in Devon area.

$1000 Grant was applied for and received from the Department of Wellness, Culture and Sport – Active Communities program. Liability insurance was purchased via a loan from St. Mary’s for the initial annual premium and the Land Use Agreement was signed. Finance Committee was formed. “Ground breaking” took place on October 16th but soil is too wet to rotor-till. Decided to adopt the “lasagne-layering” approach to plot preparation by distributing composted chicken manure, regular compost and mulched leaves all covered by large sheets of cardboard weighed down by bags of leaves – to be rotor-tilled under in the Spring.

Held a Community Garden Party to celebrate our journey so far, engage future gardeners and to thank our many sponsors & supporters. Our STU students submitted their community outreach report to use as a guide for future outreach programs.

Prepared and submitted grant proposal to the Environmental Trust Fund. Finalized membership application and garden rules & regulations.

NBCHG Membership Handbook and Application Form sent out to our 90-plus supporters. Prepared and submitted grant proposal to the Walmart-Evergreen Green Fund. Scheduled our first 3 monthly workshops on “soil”, “seedlings” and “transplanting” to begin in February 2011.