Friendship, Charity Bloom At Belleville Community Garden

BELLEVILLE, NJ — It was eight pounds of lettuce – but an unlimited amount of love.

The folks running the Belleville Community Garden recently donated a payload of fresh lettuce to the food pantry at Little Zion Union American Methodist Episcopal Church on Stephens Street.

The leafy greens – which included five pounds of romaine and three pounds of black-seeded Simpson – were grown in the town’s community garden at Fairway Park.

The garden includes 21 above-ground planting beds and was funded by a grant.

The garden’s managers previously announced that they wouldn’t be renting beds for the 2024 growing season, instead asking for volunteers to help maintain it this year. The goal? To grow 100 pounds of fresh produce and donate half to local food banks.

Kris Scheufele, the garden manager, said it has been producing friendship among the volunteers as it also grows fresh fruit and veggies. But cultivating social ties is just one of the often-overlooked benefits of gardening, Scheufele says: other benefits range from the meditative qualities of intently working the soil to the physical exertion of digging and toiling in the fresh air.

“Food insecurity is a scourge plaguing our state and community, [and] the issue was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic,” Mayor Michael Melham said.

“We need to not only promote access to food, but access to healthy, nutritious food,” Melham added. “I applaud those who are tending to our community garden in their spare time, growing the fruits and vegetables that will be enjoyed by the most vulnerable that we care for.”

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