'It's healing': Residents of Labrador women's centre to take care of garden

Some residents of the women's centre in Happy Valley-Goose Bay will be getting their hands dirty this summer.

They will be looking after vegetables and flowers that have been planted in a new garden, located in a sunny spot at the Mokami Status of Women Council building.

The 9 by1.5-metre plot is a first for the council, and residents will be responsible for tending it, said finance manager Faye Goudie.

Goudie says women are full of smiles after wanting a gardento be put in for some time. She joined the Community Food Hub as a board member a year ago, and was able to get some help to make the raised gardenhappen.

It's just one of the gardens the Community Food Hub a local group that promotes food security is supportingin the area.

Ed Mesher, who co-ordinates the organization's outdoor projects, constructed the raised beds, as wellas planted vegetables and seeds at the women's centre.

Cabbage, radish, rhubarb, potatoes and broccoli are just some of them.

Mesher hopes the garden will be a relief for residents who face difficult circumstances in life.

"I know they're in a kind of rough spot. Like growing up, I wish there was something like this for my mother. That's why I really try to do a good job of it, to help lighten their thoughts whatever they're into," he said in a Labrador Morning interview.

Gardening helps, Goudie agrees.

"I guess it's soothing for them. It takes away from the issues that they deal with, gives them something else to think about. It's healing. Anything outdoors, I believe, is healing," she said.

"There's loads of benefits [that] comewith this garden," she said, noting the high cost of food in Labrador.

The region produces less than oneper cent of the food that people thereconsume,Mesher adds, and learning how to garden is beneficial.

Residents at the women's centre who already have a green thumbwill be teaching others how to do it, said Mesher

"The more we can do stuff like this, and the more people learn about it and realize they can do it, the better, I think, and healthier fresher food too."

Thewomen will be responsible for takingcare of the plants over the summer after Mesher shows them how it's done.

Goudiehopes residents and staff of the centre will have a meal with freshveggies from the garden come harvest time.

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