Elizabeth Wesolowskis watering the Westport Lions Community Garden. Photo credit: Lion Bob Reddick
Westport Lions Roar
By Lion Bob Reddick
With the high price of food these days, it is more important than ever to consider growing your own vegetables. The Westport Lions can assist you. The Westport Lions Community Garden is a space where local citizens can grow food for themselves, and Lions and volunteers produce vegetables for clients of the Westport Food Bank.
The garden is located next to Westport’s water tower, on property owned by the village of Westport. It consists of 20 garden beds, each measuring 4 x 8 feet, but there is room for expansion if needed. If you do not have space for a garden at your residence, you are welcome to rent a plot from the Westport Lions. To help offset the costs of building the beds, installing fencing, buying plants, and preparing the soil, the Club charges $20 for each 4 x 8-foot garden bed. The Westport Lions will gratefully accept sponsorships of one, or more beds that will grow vegetables for the Westport Food Bank.
Gardeners are responsible for maintaining their plots to a set standard. Rules for maintenance will be communicated to all gardeners, and they must ensure that their gardens remain organic. Gardeners can choose what they want to grow, except for marijuana, and they are responsible for planting, weeding, fertilizing, and watering their plots. A water hose is provided.
If you wish to obtain a garden plot or sponsor one, contact the Westport Lions at westportontariolions@gmail.com or call 613-273-5789 and press option three to leave a message, along with your callback number.
On Saturday, April 25, Lions and volunteers collected 21 bags of garbage along area roads. A couple of the participants commented that there seemed to be less litter than last year. Hopefully, this is a trend. The goals of organizing Pitch-In is to not only gather garbage along the roads, but to educate and bring awareness to the public that with very little effort, we can improve our environment.
After two hours of collecting litter, the crew gathered at the clubhouse where Lion Marty Hawkins provided a delicious lunch of pizza, salad and a delicious coconut cream pie.