The Sprague Community Garden Attracts All Ages

Ida Volpe was savoring every moment picking rosemary and basil, zucchini blossoms and a variety of lettuces at the “farm” at where she said the rich, black soil reminded her of the gardens she planted as a girl in Italy back in the 1920s and 30s.

She was at the community garden with her granddaughter Isabella Reeve, who is entering 5th grade at Sprague.

Earlier that morning Dave and Jane Nielson had been at the garden picking fresh vegetables and herbs to deliver to the Wellesley Food Pantry where Cynthia Scott, the pantry’s president said she’s delighted to be able to pass out fresh produce along with canned goods on Tuesday mornings to the 208 local families receiving assistance.

Everyday Sprague students and their families are watering, weeding and eating from the garden which started as the brainchild of the Nielsons, Phyllis Theermann and a group of likeminded parents who had the idea of an “outdoor classroom” for the students.

Jane Nielson said with the support of Principal Stephen Goodwin and the staff, the group went into action late last winter with the goal of getting things growing before school was out.

And with help from the entire school community, students and parents were selling fresh produce after school at the end of June to raise money to maintain the garden.

“(Physical Education teacher) Margaret Flitsch was instrumental, ...and we had tremendous support from the staff,” she said.

Art teacher Jen Stabnick designed the walkway and patio through the garden which was  built with bricks handmade by parents and decorated by 3rd, 4th and 5th grade students.

Dave Nielson used his contacts as a general contractor to borrow a concrete mixer and parents made the bricks with cake pans, handing them over to the students who followed order forms filled-out by families who had paid in advance for the custom-made bricks.

“It was really a lot of fun,” Jane Nielson said.

Dave Nielson built raised beds with organic soil, fenced in the garden and started many of the plants from seeds early in the spring before planting them in the garden.

Family farmers volunteered to maintain the garden for one week each, making sure it’s watered and weeded in exchange for being able to pick and use as much of the fresh produce they’d like all summer.

In August the Nielsons plan to plant some fall squash and other things the students can harvest in the fall.

The hope is that the garden will continue to be used as another classroom where students can go out and sketch plants during art, third graders can look at bugs and  kids can pick vegetables and weed the garden as an alternative recess.

Plans are also in the works to add some benches to the garden that can double as tables.

In the meantime, the rosemary and basil are making Ida Volpe’s summer.

They are key ingredients in her meatballs and sauce and she hasn’t been able to pick them fresh since she gave up her backyard garden in Quincy and moved to Wellesley to live with her daughter and her family.

“I haven’t seen my mother this happy since she moved to Wellesley,” Diana Volpe said as she watched the 90-year-old put a zucchini blossom into her bag.

“I’m going to put some egg and breadcrumb on this and cook it at home,” Ida Volpe said as she eyed some lettuce ready for picking.