NEAR WEST SIDE- With winter closing in fast, there’s only so much time left for gardening, and the Maxwell Street Community Garden is scrambling to find the volunteers they need to prep the plot for the cold months ahead, garden members said.
“The last two months have been just so dismal with turnout,” said garden representative Janet Cornelius in an interview. Cornelius recalled a Sunday afternoon when she was there by herself. “It was very discouraging and disappointing seeing as we’re not getting as big a turnout from our membership as I would have anticipated,” she said, “Normally if you see more than one or two other people on a Sunday afternoon, you have to be happy with that.”
One year ago, a group of community leaders came together to construct a public garden that would serve residents of all ages in the various neighborhoods of the Near West Side, garden member and community outreach activist Nancy Plax explained in a phone interview. This garden became known as the Maxwell Street Community Garden and has laid down its roots on a plot of land at the intersection of Maxwell Street and 13th Street.
While the garden grew immensely in membership throughout its first season, now boasting approximately fifty members and forty sold plots of land, attendance at garden workdays began to decline after the big harvest in September, said Mike Hrzic, one of the gardens founders. This leaves much to be done before what garden members call, “the freeze,” hits Maxwell Street, Hrzic explained in a steering committee meeting Monday night.
Weeds need to be pulled, mulch and woodchips need to be spread, trash needs to be picked up, equipment needs to be properly stored, boxes need to be cleaned out and repaired – and all before snow hits the ground, Cornelius said to the committee. Committee members are hopeful enough volunteers will be available to complete the majority of these tasks Sunday afternoon, one of the last garden work days of the year.
“If you’re out in the garden, you’ll see that a lot of boxes have been ignored for the whole summer,” said Cornelius in an interview prior to the meeting.
The garden is able to function financially on its own by seeking donations of time, material and “actual dollars,” said Hrzic. Individuals can obtain a membership in the garden by donating a minimum of $80 for a four by eight foot wooden bed that will be raised for his or her private use during each growing season.
As the garden grows, the committee hopes to disperse plots of land to new members and create a friendly, safe environment “where all ages can find a place to play,” said Hrzic. The committee also hopes to build a clubhouse and a stage to add to the existing children’s garden in the coming season.
“We have a big lot, we have a lot of opportunity, we have a vision of what it could be,” he said.
The Maxwell Street Community Garden has open workdays every Sunday from 2 to 4 p.m. and welcomes any individual looking to volunteer their time.