Hampstead’s Crossroads Church will be the site of a new community garden next spring, with plans for produce to be donated to those in need.
“We want to, first and foremost, feed our underprivileged community,” said Jennifer Lleras, 41, of Hampstead, who is coordinating the project. “That is the main focus, to give back to the community.”
The 6,300 square-foot garden on the church’s property at 1041 S. Carroll St. will also support educational programs and provide locally grown food for Hampstead restaurants, Lleras said.
About half of the space will be used for about 40, 4-foot-square raised gardening boxes. About 800 square feet will be a native plant garden, while the rest will be dedicated to growing larger produce such as corn and pumpkins.
“I just kind of saw the need for it,” Lleras said. “I’m already really involved with the community through a bunch of different stuff, but I just I saw this need and I wanted to fill it.”
Lleras envisions local families and community members tending to crops grown in the boxes, though businesses and organizations can also apply. The gardening enthusiast said she hopes to generate enough interest that a lottery system will be required to assign boxes.
“I would like to see most of this being community-driven by families, by local residents,” she said.
Although no partnerships have been formalized, Lleras said the Northeast Social Action Program is located across the street. While NESAP offers non-perishable items, the garden could help the Christian nonprofit offer fresh produce. The garden could provide produce at Hampstead’s little free pantry during a monthly event that gives bread, eggs and meat to those in need, she said.
“I envision it as a farmers market that is free,” Lleras said. “So if you’re in need, you come in and you have access to a certain amount of produce per family.”
The garden will focus on crops that provide a higher yield, such as cucumbers, potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini and onions. The cost of participating as a grower has yet to be determined, but Lleras said all funds will support the garden.
“Everybody would be assigned to grow certain things,” Lleras said, “and then produce would be harvested and given back to our community in need. We do also plan to set aside some of the garden plots for our local restaurants, so that the restaurants can have access to fresh herbs and vegetables and stuff like that, so they can advertise certain things as locally grown.”
About 5% of the garden will be intended for growing produce for restaurants, Lleras said.
The garden will also grow flowers to be donated to elementary schools in support of Mother’s Day fundraisers that benefit parent-teacher associations, and tree saplings for Earth Day celebrations, Lleras said.
The garden could host education programs, Lleras said, including a junior gardening program to help kids learn the significance of growing their own food. Adult education might come in the form of masterclasses on growing food for cost-effective sustenance.
Growing native plants will be a big part of the garden’s educational component, Lleras added.
“Lots of people don’t understand how important it is to have space for our native plants to grow,” she said. “It sustains our local wildlife, our local insects, and restoring our native plant growth in Maryland is really, really important.”
Opening the garden represents the culmination of four years of work, Lleras said. The community garden was originally going to occupy some of the previously vacant space at the former North Carroll High School building, which closed in 2016, but plans changed when Coppermine acquired the property. After the original site fell through, Lleras found a new partner in Crossroads Church.
“The church felt as though it really aligned with what they wanted to do,” Lleras said, “and they also felt like the Hampstead location has a lot to offer, but it’s under-utilized. So we came together and made an agreement, and they are our biggest benefactor right now, providing this very large piece of vacant property for us to build and grow things on.”
Providing the land free of charge is in line with the church’s motto, “for Hampstead,” said Hampstead Campus Pastor Michael Strine, 52, of Westminster.
“It just exactly fit the DNA of what we were trying to do,” he said, “so it was a real easy match, and it’s just a great way for us to be able to link arms with the town of Hampstead and support them, and support the folks in the community around, because I know it’s a great need.”
The new garden could present Crossroads Church with the opportunity to distribute food through the its pantry in Westminster if it is determined it is most needed there, and to build relationships with community members, Strine said. The land is a great spot with ample sun, access to roads, parking and a water source, he said.
As the owner of Hampstead Marketing & Design, Lleras said community involvement is well within her wheelhouse. Though the community garden is separate from the marketing agency, Lleras said she knows other Hampstead business owners.
The garden will be the second-largest community garden in Carroll County, after Westminster’s, according to a news release.
Anyone interested in more information, including how to participate as a gardener, can reach out to info@hampsteadmarketinganddesign.com or follow Hampstead Community Garden on Facebook.
“I love this town and the community so much,” Lleras said. “We’re all really excited to break ground this spring.”
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