By Mike Nelson | Photos by Viktor Budnik
Barrie Cohen spent most of her 20s working on farms and exploring America. During her West Coast travels she felt drawn to the Ojai Valley, where she chose to plant roots about two years ago.
“I kept on driving through Ojai and, you know, just landed here and stayed,” the native of New York City told Ventana Monthly magazine. “I really love the area because it has just a little bit of everything. It’s got the mountains, the rivers, the lakes, there’s tons of hiking, there’s tons of nature. And then you’re also really close to the beach and you’re close to some cities. I just love the neighborhood, small town vibe of Ojai.”
When a vacant lot came up for sale at 307 South Padre Juan Avenue in Meiners Oaks, just one block from Cohen’s home, she envisioned creating a community garden, and acquired the property using money she’d saved up that she wanted to invest in the community.
“I wanted to garden with other people and I was new to the area, and I wanted to meet people and wanted to find, like, public spaces where people could gather and garden together. And I realized that we didn’t have one in the area and so I decided to start one myself,” Cohen said of the 7,500-square-foot property in a residential neighborhood adjacent to a ranch. “It was kind of something I was tossing around in my head thinking about back and forth, and I was thinking of finding other programs. But then this property became available and I decided to just go for it.”
Meiners Oaks Community Garden opens soon
Cohen has made a lot of progress in recent months and is now planning a grand opening party on Sunday, Oct. 20, from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. before an official opening on Nov. 1 for Meiners Oaks Community Garden.
“It’s coming together. We started this project about a year ago, and it was an underutilized lot in the residential area that we are turning into a community garden,” Cohen said. “So basically, we cleared out the property from everything that was on it, put up a fence. There’s going to be 38 raised beds that members of the community can rent out bi-annually and grow their own fruits and vegetables. And then around the perimeter, there’s going to be native and perennial plants. And then in the back, space for workshops, events, community-minded, agricultural-minded, nature-minded programming to kind of get adults and children excited about gardening and learning how to grow their own food.”
Cohen, 36, said she’s always been drawn to community gardens, especially after taking a course at the University of California Santa Cruz Center for Agroecology on organic gardening. The course helped her understand the benefits of eating locally produced organic food, and also how much food is wasted by large-scale industrial food production. But aside from growing healthy food to eat, Cohen sees the social and psychological benefits that can come with community gardens.
“I think the benefits are getting people together. And I know that I have a much easier time connecting with people while we’re doing activities. So, I think it’s really important to get neighbors to meet each other and to engage with each other and to hang out outside,” she said.
“I think right now we’re in a time where we’re all just so, like, hooked on our phones and TV, technology, it’s really nice to just be outside and connect with each other and get back to basics.”
Signups start soon for MOCG
Cohen said signups will be opening up soon for the garden beds now that Meiners Oaks Community Garden is nearing completion.
“Out of the 38 beds, we have six that are higher off the ground, dedicated to people who have mobility issues and have a harder time bending over. And we’re also dedicating six to scholarship opportunities for people in the neighborhood who want to be a part of the garden but won’t be able to afford it,” Cohen said. “If we get more than 38, which is the number of beds, then it’ll be a lottery system.”
Cohen hopes her efforts inspire others to create their own community gardens in their own neighborhoods.
“It’s hard and it’s a lot of work, but I think it’s really possible, and it’s really a beautiful way to get people together towards a common goal,” she said. “Hopefully doing something like this will encourage people to find their own empty plot of land and plant their own garden beds and start gardening there with their neighbors.”
Ventura’s community gardens have thrived for years
The city of Ventura Parks and Recreation Department has three community gardens with plots and garden beds available to rent. The oldest and most popular is the Cornucopia Community Garden on Telephone Road near Ramelli Avenue with 150 18×20-foot plots built back in 1984. Kellogg Park Community Garden is the city’s newest and utilizes 47 garden beds that measure 3 by 6 feet. Westpark Community Garden was established about 20 years ago and has 22 plots of various sizes tended mostly by residents of the surrounding neighborhood.
Tom Musgrove, Ventura’s recreation coordinator, told Ventana Monthly that Cornucopia Community Garden is extremely popular, with a current wait list of about 80 people, so it can take well over a year for a plot to become available. He noted that budding gardeners are more likely to get into a smaller space at Kellogg Park, which is about 85% full, if people just want to try their hand at gardening before moving up to a bigger plot at Cornucopia Community Garden.
“Some of them just want to get their hands in the dirt. Then they come out and meet with us and we show them around Kellogg Garden and they will sign up for a garden bed at that time,” he said.
The price for a plot at Cornucopia Community Garden is $85 for every six months and there’s an $85 refundable deposit. The smaller garden beds at Kellogg Park cost $30 for every six months with a $30 deposit. Westpark has an annual fee of $25.
Musgrove agrees that community gardens are as much about creating community as they are about growing healthy food to eat.
“There’s definitely a lot of social interaction,” said Musgrove, mentioning how he loves to answer questions and hear updates about what people are excited about growing. “They want to share veggies and their fruit and talk about what their harvest is.”
“If you were to walk through our garden people will be offering you giant eggplants and squash. And we have a table that gardeners can share amongst themselves. They also have seed exchanges that they do. If one gardener is growing one particular veggie and they have a lot of it, then they’ll share it with their fellow gardeners. We have Food Forward that uses plots out there and they gather food. They grow the food themselves, but they also gather anybody’s surplus and they provide that to the families that are in need in Ventura County. So, there’s a lot of sharing going on if the folks have an abundance of harvest,” Musgrove said.
FEEDING STOMACHS AND SOULS
There are definitely health benefits from eating freshly grown local vegetables, Musgrove said.
“Gardeners are obviously able to grow their own healthy food. And it’s an organic garden, so we practice organic principles. And, the food is local, it’s nutritious, it’s safe. The gardens are great for their physical activity. They’re stress relief and a lot of community building and just overall positive vibes, I guess you could say,” Musgrove said. There are also many scheduled events at the Cornucopia Community Garden including picnics and gardening classes including one in October on container gardening with native plants.
Musgrove said Ventura residents are fortunate to have great conditions for gardening.
“Ventura’s climate is very forgiving because it’s warm but it’s not too hot. It kind of has that moderate temperature where you pretty much can grow your standard veggies,” Musgrove said.
“In the summertime, obviously it’s very popular with the tomatoes and the peppers and then as we’re reaching fall, people are getting their fall harvest ready for the greens and celery and the radishes and the arugula and all that. So, you could grow year-round and folks do. They take advantage of every season. They’re the experts. And you could pretty much grow any type of veggie or fruit you can think of.”
Meiners Oaks Community Garden
307 South Padre Juan Avenue, Ojai
meinersoakscommunitygarden@gmail.com
www.meinersoakscommunitygarden.com
Cornucopia Community Garden
Telephone Road between Ramelli Avenue and Johnson Drive, Ventura
www.cityofventura.ca.gov/1715/Community-Gardens
OTHER COMMUNITY GARDENS
Oxnard
Community Roots Garden
1801 Joliet Place, Oxnard
805.253.3717
www.communityrootsgarden.org
Thousand Oaks
The Las Flores Community Garden
1300 East Avenida De Las Flores, Thousand Oaks
www.lasfloresgarden.com
Ventura
Kellogg Community Garden
Ventura Avenue and Kellogg Street, Ventura
Westpark Community Garden
450 West Harrison Avenue, Ventura
www.cityofventura.ca.gov/1715/Community-Gardens
