Category: Community Event

Written by Jessie Barber

The 2014 “growing” season has been just that, in more than one sense of the word.  Currently spanning about one and a half acres and feeding the 45 people who call Heartbeet home, the Heartbeet gardens were bustling with activity and hard work this summer.  Regular workshop crews included as many as eight people, and on many a sunny Sunday afternoon 15-20 community members came out to the fields for weeding parties, complete with lemonade drinking, hose spraying, and of course lots of weed pulling.

Such a high level of community involvement was essential to the vitality and production of the gardens this summer, and was supported by the “Green Thumbs at Work Garden Grant,” which Heartbeet was awarded this past spring.  The grant program, aimed at improving employee health and increasing involvement in the gardens, is a partnership of the Vermont Department of Health, Vermont Community Garden Network, Charlie Nardozzi, and Gardener’s Supply.

Last week (September 8, 2014), Charlie Nardozzi paid a visit to Heartbeet to see how the gardens were growing, to lend his advice, and to learn how the grant has been supportive.  For this community, receiving the “Green Thumbs at Work” grant allowed the Garden workshop to invest in some much needed tools and supplies, tools and supplies which were put into the hands of the many community members who came together to help grow Heartbeet’s food this summer.  These nutritious vegetables will continue to feed the Heartbeet community into the snowy months of early 2015.

For more information about the grant program and the Vermont Community Garden Network visit VCGN.

Also, check out Charlie’s current newsletter here.

A truly remarkable and important community building experience.

 On Tuesday, July 8^th, which was a brilliant picturesque summer morning, everyone in the Heartbeet community gathered to help collectively “raise” a wall for our new barn addition.  The barn wall and addition is harvested timber of rough-cut spruce and fir from the Heartbeet property that was milled on site and completed with the beauty and magnificence of the traditional handcrafted timber framing of a local craftsman/builder and friend, Michael Waring.

 A barn raising was a collective community action, which was particularly common in the 18^th and 19^th century in rural North America.  A barn was and still is a necessary structure for any farmer, for storage of hay and for the keeping of animals.  Yet a barn is a large and costly structure and a barn raising addressed the need by having members of the community to assist in the building of neighbor’s barns.

The barn raising at Heartbeet was a collective effort of the entire community that connected us to the North American ancestral farming traditions and provided an opportunity to recognize our collective community potential.  The barn raising was a confirmation of a truly remarkable and important community building experience. I am thankful to be a part of such an incredible Community.   Again, we welcome anyone and everyone who wish to open a new doorway to discovery: a place of honest work, friendship and understanding and an opportunity to cultivate a genuine love for the Heartbeet Barn…for many years to come!

by Eric Tidblom