The first thing you notice about the Humanity House Community Garden is the smell.
Raw sewage and river bottom. Dead animals. Manure. Chemical runoff.
You can?t eat vegetables marinated for days in that combination, Humanity House?s Tracy Keagle said. It?s a potentially toxic mix that will take the garden out of commission for most of the season. The garden typically feeds about 1,000 local residents.
?We have to tear it all out and toss it away,? Keagle said. ?You wouldn?t wash your vegetables in the toilet and then prepare a salad.?
Recent floods swamped the community garden, located at First and Vine streets near Elm Creek. Humanity House has worked the garden for four years and owned it for the past two.
The produce and seeds in the ground can?t be salvaged, not even as compost, Keagle said. She?s been busy researching the topic and found, especially when it comes to sharing produce with others, her only option is to scrap everything. She?s been advised to wait at least 120 days before planting anything else. That will put the garden at late-August, still time for limited planting but well past the typical growing season.
Produce such as cauliflower and cabbage was nearly ready for harvest but now must be destroyed because it was exposed to stagnant floodwaters.
Humanity House offers garden plots for rent; Keagle has advised those renters to discard produce.
About 1,000 people benefit from the produce Humanity House grows and gives away. This year, Humanity House installed a kitchen at their new location at 110 East Street. Keagle and others had planned to use the produce and kitchen to teach cooking classes, specifically to teach those with lower incomes how to prepare healthy, low-cost meals.
Those classes may still happen, but they?ll rely mostly on the generosity of other farmers.
And much like the contaminated water that flowed through the community garden, offers for help already are flooding in. As Keagle examined the damaged cauliflower, broccoli and cabbage, a van pulled up on a street along the garden. It was Humboldt?s Pat Haire, who told Keagle he would soon have broccoli to donate and would give Humanity House whatever he could grow.
Others have offered garden plots and property, but Keagle said cleaning up the community garden won?t give her enough free time to start a new garden. She might be able to take advantage of some places that are ready for planting.
WIth the garden out of commission, Keagle said she plans to focus on soil and facility improvements. The Allen County Commission on Monday gave Humanity House $566 to paint and repair barns, sheds and other structures at the community garden.
The Humanity House Community Garden
