Grow Your Own: Suburban Gardening: "The Holy Land is everywhere." Black Elk

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

"The Holy Land is everywhere." Black Elk

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden has been in existence as a "Garden" longer than anyone alive can remember. According to "the Old Timers", including Mr. Bacoat's own family, 206 Lafayette Place in Englewood has always been a garden. According to the 1942 "Old Man's draft registration records, Louie Bacoat was already in Englewood, New Jersey. According to his family, he was a farmer in his native Darlington, South Carolina and was already continuing to farm in Englewood, NJ.

Mr. Norman Gainey joined Mr. George Owens and his brother Kenny in the garden in the early 1970s. Mr. Owens and his brother ceased to farm the land in 2012. The land lay fallow in 2013, because of the damage done by the bulldozer and subsequent flooding. The Garden could not be planted in 2013. The County and the Bergen County Parks Department answered our pleas for help in 2014. They brought in heavy farm machinery that tills deeply. They donated 3 tandem truckloads of topsoil and shared the services of some of the County Park's employees. These men were invaluable in the restoration and transformation of the Garden into what it is today. In 2014, Mr. Gainey helped us transform the traditional row garden into a Community Raised Bed garden before moving his family back to his native South Carolina. He helped us all embrace the concepts of water conservation with his signs that demanded we not water his beans. His ideas paid off when his beans were ready to harvest in 35 days without faucet water.

We decided to name the garden after Mr. Bacoat since he is the earliest of the caretakers that anyone remembers. It is evident that the Garden would have had a totally different future if Mr. Bacoat had not chosen to farm the land at 206 Lafayette Place in addition to the land where the current Third Street Community Garden exists. Dozens of residents born and raised in Englewood in Mr. Baciat's time have been interviewed about the garden. Everyone remembers Mr. Bacoat and his horse drawn wagon, the collard greens, knife and lawn mower sharpening and the lands that he maintained in the 4th Ward. Coach Evans remembers riding on the back of the wagon, as a child and helping out in return for collard greens delivered to his Mother as payment.

It is now a Community Garden on City Land that is overseen by the DPW and ran by the Life Long Learners of the Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden Membership. We are a learning institution and embrace all who share our love of the land. We are also asking that the site be designated a Historic site and preserved as such in perpetuity by the Englewood City Council.

On December 15, 2015, the City Council (Resolution (#254-12-15-15, page 7 of 9) resolved to place the Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden on the Recreation and Open Space Inventory (ROSI) for a period of 5 years. This is a database maintained by the Green Acres Program of the State of New Jersey. This database includes municipal, county and nonprofit parkland encumbered by the NJ Green AcresProgram. It is our goal to have the site officially recognized as a place of Historical significance.

The African American Advisory Committee will recognize the site as Hallowed Ground on February 18, 2016 as part of the Black History Month Celebration. Join us in accepting this honor.

Place: One Bergen Plaza , 5th Floor - Hackensack, NJ
Time: 6 pm

The Garden is definitely a site filled with African American Memories. We agree with the concepts made immortal by the Indigenous people of the Americas, “all ground is Hallowed” and should be treated as such by humans. The Earth and the Sea are the Source of all life and must be revered and nurtured as such. There is only one PLANET. We must all nurture and care for it, because there is no Planet B.

Members of the Community have come together in support of the garden. 3,514 people from all over New Jersey have given their support by signing a Change.org petition. This petition asks that the City of Englewood designate the Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden an historic site. We all fear that if this is not done the bulldozers will return and the garden will become an "impound parking lot" as was the plan.

Update: The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden was on the December 15, 2015 agenda. Gardeners were officially given permission to Garden there as is documented in the minutes from that meeting.

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Original Garden Committee Members

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden was made possible by many different groups of individuals who worked hard, who donated money for materials that made the vision possible. The County Personnel was very responsive in the donation of soil, large machinery and labor. The Garden is sustained the same way. We are a group of lifelong learners. Left to Right: Betty Griffin, Esther Babb, Curtis Caviness, Kevin Lake, Richard Stanard, Wayne Hamer, Valerie Hamer, Lucy D. Walker, Crystal Brown, The Gainey Family

Teamwork = School and Community Together

This group of teenagers pitched in at a moments notice. Community donors and volunteers supplied all of the lumber and other materials needed to build the garden. City Council Members, A School Board Member, Members of the Environmental Commission and Families pitched in to build the garden. A construction firm noticed our dilemma and volunteered to build the first 25 boxes. Volunteers from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints contributed time and Carpenters to assist in building the remaining beds.

Gardening is the most rewarding manual labor on the planet

In July of 1990, I received a call informing me that my Mom had passed. It was raining. I went outside anyway. It was very warm and the smell of the warm earth was very soothing. I weeded my flower beds and thought about my Mother. She had left the hospital against Dr's orders. She wanted to die at home. She worried about her cabbage, beans, tomatoes and the various other vegetables that she was growing. Her physicians agreed that work in her gardens kept her spirits up. She was in her massive garden sitting on her little cart rolling herself up and down the row as she picked green beans and other vegetables daily for 3 weeks. She passed quietly late one night in the arms of her companion. She wrote her will on the back of an old envelope giving her small farm to whomever would live in the house and care for the land.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden

The Teaching Garden at The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is dedicated to contributing to the sustainability of life within Englewood and beyond. There is NO PLANET B. Our children must teach their children to preserve the one we have.

The Louie Bacoat Historic Community Garden is supported and maintained by a Village of Lifelong Learners who have volunteered to aid in the STEAM Education at a Community level of the children in Englewood. (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math) We support the concept of creating and maintaining a year round School Garden at each School in Englewood and work towards that end in a partnership with the School System.

Pre K and beyond are welcome as we share this journey of moving towards bringing residents closer to nature while incorporating elements that will help them succeed in school. We partner with the Schools and members of the Community to help children understand the value of;

- working together as a community,

- preserving the Environment while

- growing their own food,

- eating healthy

- fighting obesity

- malnutrition and

- giving to those less fortunate.

Everything that we are depends on maintaining a healthy planet. All life depends on the capacity of humans to grow and maintain the land in a clean and healthy way.

We are on a quest to improve the Environmental conditions on our School grounds and in our City. We hope to be instrumental in the formation of a sustainable NJ School System . We are encouraging EPSD to take constructive steps towards becoming a United States Department of Education Green Ribbon School District.

Cabbage: Another of the World's Healthiest Foods

Protection Outside

Be careful of the natural elements and other living things when working, entertaining, or playing in the yard. Chemicals & poison end up in the ground water. They kill the good bees, bugs and helpful garden life. use organic solutions and try not to change your ecosystem. Those same chemicals get back into your tap water.They may cause potential harm to you, your children, your pets and other wildlife. Protect your eyes, skin and hands while you work. Put "off" on your clothes, not your skin. If you have a small yard, use a manual mower.