May 2024 News - Cultivating Community

May News

Community Gardens Soil Testing

Earlier this month the City of Portland conducted soil testing at the Libbytown Community Garden and found elevated levels of arsenic and benzo(a)pyrene (BaP). Each garden has a unique history, and while testing had been done previously, this testing – which measured the levels of more than 90 potential contaminants – was more comprehensive. Based on recommendations from TRC, the environmental contractor the City has hired, additional testing will be done across the gardens, beginning with North St., Boyd St., Payson Park, and Casco Bay, which have been prioritized based on the historic land use at these sites.

We appreciate all of the gardeners’ patience as we wait for the results. We will let gardeners know as soon as we have the reports from TRC and the City. While we wait, we ask that gardeners at North St., Boyd St., Payson Park, and Casco Bay hold off on working in the soil, including preparing their plots and planting.

Volunteers Needed at Libbytown Garden!

Join us to fill the new Libbytown raised beds with fresh, clean soil and spread mulch around the garden. There will be music, free food, and drinks.
All are welcome!

June 1st, 9 am – 1 pm (drop in anytime!)
Libbytown Community Garden – Next to Dougherty Field, Portland

Portland’s gardens are a true community effort and labor of love. In response to the soil contamination found at the Libbytown Community Garden, the City of Portland, Libbytown Neighbors, Cultivating Community, and gardeners have come together to safely remediate the garden with new raised beds.

For more info or questions reach out to volunteer@cultivatingcommunity.org.

Community Concert June 1st

Sea Change Chorale, a local community chorus, will perform a free concert in celebration of the spring season and Cultivating Community’s work on June 1st at 4 pm at the Williston-Immanuel Church on High Street in Portland. Songs about spring, beauty, joy, and resilience will grace the hour-long program, which features Ola Gjeilo’s Song of the Universal, a beautiful and thrilling work based on Walt Whitman’s Leaves of Grass.

All are welcome and donations are accepted at the door, 100% of which will be given to Cultivating Community. Mark your calendars! Everyone who attends will also receive a seedling from Cultivating Community’s greenhouse in thanks.

Help Build the New OK Community Farm

Last year, Omasombo Katuka, a graduate of Cultivating Community’s New American Sustainable Agriculture Project and longtime farmer at our Packard-Littlefield farm, established OK Community Farm as an LLC run by himself, his wife Poya Ndjadi, and their children. For many years, they’ve been producing incredible volumes of beautiful fresh produce for the growing West and Central African community in Maine, all on small rented parcels of land across the state.

In April, OKCF purchased farmland in Wales, ME, which will allow them to continue to expand and meet the growing need for culturally important crops, like African eggplant. Being able to secure the land is an exciting first step, but turning the former hayfield into a thriving vegetable farm will require a lot of work and investment, including a well, farm equipment, a wash station, and repayment of the short-term loan needed to purchase the land.

We are so happy to Omasombo and his family! This is a community farm, and they need the community’s support to build it! Donations can be made to OCKF here.

Save Our Seedlings Success

In April, we announced the local greenhouse we partnered with to grow a portion of our 40,000 seedlings had closed and broken our contract without warning.

The response we received from our community was incredible, and in less than a week we had a new home for our seedlings! Thank you to everyone who made donations, offered growing space, and shared our call to action.

We want to share a special thank you to Phil from Phil’s Farm for taking on our seedlings and helping us get through this challenge! Seedlings have been planted and we are looking forward to a bountiful summer on the farms.

Meet Melanie, Hurricane Valley Farm’s New Caretaker

We are so happy to have a new volunteer on-site caretaker join our Hurricane Valley Farm team! Melanie (she/her) has enjoyed three glorious years out on Maine organic farms as a field worker. She gets through tough work with a song and loves the community and connection fostered by working hard together. As a birth and postpartum doula, she nurtures the community by empowering families to have safe and satisfying experiences. When Melanie is not in the elements with her crocs full of dirt, she loves writing music, performing stand-up comedy, and cultivating cabbage, kale, and empathy. She loves vulnerable conversation and cooking with the food she grows. Every year Melanie falls in love with a new vegetable. This year she loves parsnips!

We are a grassroots organization and depend on our donors to help make our work possible. Please contribute if you are able. Volunteer time and in-kind donations are always welcome. Reach out to info@cultivatingcommunity.org with ideas or to learn more about how to get involved.

Donate to Cultivating Community

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Our mailing address:
P.O. Box 3792, Portland ME 04104
(207) 761-GROW

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