A community grows in Lynn

LYNN – Beans, kale, cucumbers, peas, tomatoes ? Munroe Street has some pretty good options for produce. Not just in markets, but also in a vacant lot that is a community garden/urban farm.”The secret is you have to be here every day,” said Nancy Henderson, 72, a Marian Gardens resident who said she uses her yard at home for a flower garden. “This is my fun thing.”The Munroe Street Farm is located in between the buildings with Lupita Restaurant and Admiral Insurance. It contains 15 raised beds for community members as well as garden rows that are tended by The Food Project, a nonprofit organization where teenagers and volunteers provide fresh vegetables and produce for local farmer’s markets, community supported agriculture groups and hunger relief organizations. The organization also has farms in Lincoln and Beverly, and a garden at the Ingalls Elementary School. The gardens in Lynn total an acre, while the additional suburban and rural farms add 70 more acres to cultivation. The farms yield 250,000 pounds of produce annually, according to the organization’s website. The Food Project is growing beans, turnips, radishes, bok choy, arugula, salad mix, cherry tomatoes, sugar snap peas, cilantro, parsley, dill and flowers on the Munroe Street site, according to Alice Poltorick, an organization spokeswoman.But Henderson and the other community members have expanded the offerings. Henderson was planting cucumbers, roma tomatoes, red and green peppers, cabbage and basil Wednesday morning among a few marigolds to keep the bugs away.”I keep thinking I’m going to go vegetarian, and this helps.” Henderson said.This is Henderson’s third year in the garden, she said. Kale was the notable result of her first season: resulting in kale sandwiches, kale salads, kale as a side dish …”It’s really so tasty,” Henderson said. “I couldn’t believe it when I tried the kale and it was so fresh.”She also plans on trying eggplants.”I’ve never grown it,” Henderson said. “But I buy it to make eggplant pizza.”Henderson said the Food Project prepares the beds with compost each spring, and the organization provides water at the site (and a key to the lock at the gates).Her neighboring gardeners plant flowers in addition to vegetables, hoping to attract butterflies and other colorful pollinators.Meanwhile, Henderson is hoping that she hasn’t missed out on the early growing season. But all gardening is an experiment.”I’m late getting started,” Henderson said. “I put my house plants outside too soon, then I thought that I lost this plot because I waited too long.”