A Season of Growth:
St. Ignace Garden
To Offer More Plots, Classes This Summer
By Paul Gingras

Fifth grade students help prepare the community garden behind St. Ignace Middle School, on the last day of school Wednesday, June 6. They are forming earthen mounds to plant with corn, beans, and squash, a Native American method called a "sister garden." Pictured here (left, front to back) are Caleb Leveille, Zach Major, Kelsey Will; (right) Dakota Obeshaw and Don Gallagher.

Growth has always been a theme at the community garden behind St. Ignace Middle School, but this summer, not only will garden plants emerge for a third consecutive year, there will be more of them, more classes on site, and more families working their own plots.

"The seeds were planted a long time ago," said Sue St. Onge, who began the garden. "Now it's coming together."

With $2,500 from Michigan State University, the Mackinac County Extension office is working with the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians Youth Education and Activities program to expand opportunities at the 90- foot by 90-foot garden.

Up to five plots are available for families interested in growing and harvesting their own food.

Fifth grade students pose at the St. Ignace Community Garden Wednesday, June 6. Behind them are newly planted tomato, rhubarb, and cucumber plants. Pictured (from left) are Jacob Sjogren, Kai Waara, and Savannah Smith.

Two-thirds of the garden will be planted and maintained by volunteers and youth enrolled in the community garden summer program. The rest is divided into 15- foot by 15-foot plots, which are open to families, free of charge.

The organizations seek to generate interest in gardening and to promote environmental awareness, Ms. St. Onge explained. The garden is organic, which means no pesticides or other chemicals are allowed. Natural fertilizers and pest deterrents are available to the gardeners, as well as information on how to use them.

Creating young entrepreneurs is part of the project. Some produce will be sold at the St. Ignace Farmers Market, where youth will distribute information about the garden and organic food, and some will be donated to people who need food assistance through the Tribal Elders Center in St. Ignace and the St. Ignace Food Pantry.

Native American culture will be a significant part of gardening classes, she added, including stewardship, respect for the earth, and creating useful items from local materials. Children will learn how to make corn husk dolls, and next fall, they will create rattles and bird houses from gourds.

MSU experts may conduct large community workshops at the garden this summer, Ms. St. Onge said, and area Master Gardeners are encouraged to take part in the project.

The MSU grant will build a "hoop house," featuring a skeleton of bent poles covered in durable plastic to enable gardeners to keep plants alive outside later into fall and earlier in spring.

"A hoop house is not a yeararound thing, but it is a step closer to what we want to achieve," Ms. St. Onge said. Eventually, she would like to build a year-around greenhouse at the site.

The grant will also help expand the number of plots available for family gardens and create more raised beds, which are accessible to people in wheelchairs, said Mary Swiderski, one of the project's coordinators, who works for MSU Extension.

There are two raised beds and sufficient resources to build one more this summer. Next year, there will be room for five more.

"We're doing cool things at the garden," Ms. St. Onge added, including saving on water expenses by collecting rainwater in 75-gallon to 100-gallon drums to water the plants.

The idea for the community garden is the result of her participation in a similar project in Kalamazoo, and part of the reason she chose to return to St. Ignace and create a community garden here.

"It's amazing. People don't say 'no' too often," she said of the community's willingness to contribute to youth projects.

Ms. St. Onge used a $500 grant to begin the garden in 2004. At the time, the soil behind the school was relatively poor for growing plants. She could only afford one truck load of soil, but Art Huskey and Sons Excavating provided five loads. Since then, volunteers and youth have steadily improved the soil base.

Elementary school students took part in activity at the garden Wednesday, June 6, the last day of school in St. Ignace. They planted onions, corn, and cabbage, adding to the rhubarb, strawberry, and cucumber plants already growing.

Some of the students will return to work on the garden this summer, and, this fall, there will be a harvest celebration.

"We hope to be a model for other communities throughout Michigan," Mrs. Swiderski said.

Planting and gardening classes will be from 8:30 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, beginning Monday, June 18.

For more information, contact Ms. St. Onge at (906) 643-7262 or Mrs. Swiderski at (906) 643-7307.