A Message From our Board President, Lindsey Smith

Sweet potatoes. That humble root crop has been part of my community gardening story from the very beginning. And in many ways, they remind me of the Community Garden Coalition itself. Just as a sweet potato vine spreads its leaves to nourish the tubers beneath, the Coalition stretches its support to each member garden, supplying the compost, seeds, plants, water, and supplies our gardeners need to grow.

A Unite4Health gardener

I didn’t even like sweet potatoes as a kid—perhaps because they were tied to a marshmallow-covered holiday casserole I really didn’t like. But fresh sweet potatoes dug right out of the garden just before the first frost? That’s an entirely different story.

More than a decade ago, I joined the Windsor Street garden as a somewhat novice gardener. I had two very small kids, and we commuted everywhere by bike and trailer. The garden sat a mile uphill from our house, so I knew I needed to choose something easy to care for because I wouldn’t get there every day. The Community Garden Coalition was giving away sweet potato slips, so I went with those. The kids helped me tuck the slips into the bed and mulch with straw. We visited every week that long, hot summer—watering occasionally but mostly watching the vines tumble and stretch across the bed. A little garter snake took up residence under the cool straw. When there wasn’t weeding to do in our own plot, I’d weed the community herb area while the kids ran around or played in the trees nearby. We met a few gardeners—Kathy Doisy, of course!—and Kip Kendrick, our neighbor and garden leader, who let us borrow tools from the shed across the street. One gardener introduced me to a heat-loving green I had never seen before: New Zealand “spinach,” which I still grow today.

Unite4Health gardeners

By late October, as the days shortened and the kids started talking Halloween costumes, it was time to harvest. I biked up that hill one more time and we pulled back the thick mat of vines. I had never harvested sweet potatoes before, and tracing each vine to the cluster of fat, rust-colored tubers felt like uncovering buried treasure. The kids were thrilled to dig into the soil and pull out not one, not two, but sometimes five large sweet potatoes all nestled together. And it truly was treasure—we harvested nearly 50 pounds from that 4 x 8 plot of black gold. I had to leave them in a box to pick up by car because I couldn’t possibly bike home with two little kids and all those sweets!

We’ve grown sweet potatoes at our community garden plot (now at Friendship Garden Club) every year since. When the harvest is abundant, we share. When deer get at the vines or our attention is pulled elsewhere, we savor a smaller crop at Thanksgiving. No matter the year, the plant amazes me. Tended well, it reliably yields so much food.

Ninth Street gardeners

Our gardens do the same. They give us community, nourishment, healthy routines, and unexpected discoveries—of courage when challenges arise, of commitment to our food-insecure neighbors, of support when it’s needed most.

This time of year, as we participate in the COMO Gives campaign, we look to our larger community for that same support. Our all-volunteer board depends on community donations and small grants to keep our gardens growing. Every penny you give goes directly to seeds, plants, tools, mulch, compost, lawn mowers, sheds, and everything else that keeps our gardeners thriving.

Please consider a donation of any amount to the Community Garden Coalition through CoMoGives or through the donations page of our website during December, and help keep our sweet potato vines growing—both literally and figuratively.

A warm and happy New Year to you and yours, from all of us on the CGC Board.