Fifteen years after its start, Antigo Community Garden thriving

ANTIGO — When Patrice Flock thinks of her time in the Antigo Community Garden, one memory that stands out to her involves family.

It happened roughly two years ago, in a season when Flock had planted green beans. She’d replanted them twice already, but, try as she might, just couldn’t get them to grow.

Then, one day, she decided to go to the garden with her four-year-old granddaughter, who she was babysitting.

“The two of us were working up the soil again and putting the beans in the ground and we were just talking together,” said Flock. “You’ve got to dig a little trench a certain depth, and then you put your beans in and you have to give them space so they have a chance to grow and they’re not overly crowded. She was just so eager to help and to water everything. Fortunately, those were the beans that grew. It was one of those moments that stick with you.”

Jaci Brown, meanwhile, who with her husband has tended multiple plots in the Antigo Community Garden for the past five years, associates the garden with traditions.

“I like watching the deer come out in the morning to the little orchard they have — it’s the same one every year,” Brown laughed. “She does the same things every year: comes and eats the apples.”

But maybe the best tradition, according to Brown, are the harvest dinners, to which gardeners will each bring a dish to share.

“Those are the best potlucks ever. I usually make pizza, because I usually have tomatoes at that time, so I make pizza sauce. I’ve made a chocolate zucchini cake. Some people make soups,” she said.

“That’s what’s so fun about it — It’s ingredients you use from the garden, and everybody’s garden are so different.”

Presumably, these types of simple, warm experiences are part of what has kept the over 40 families that now have plots at the garden coming back each summer. The other, more practical part, is the garden itself.

Established by several members of the Antigo United Methodist Church including Garden Coordinator Barb Mcllquham in 2009, the garden has by now become large, with 70 separate 240 square foot plots, all of which are rototilled by volunteers in advance of planting time. There is a shed chock full of every tool you could ask for, from shovels and wheelbarrows to buckets and kneepads. A water line and several hoses have been there for years, and, like many other features of the space, are being improved.

“One lady said, ‘I’m tired of the hose going across my garden when some other gardener waters their plot,’ so we put stakes in to guide the hoses,” Flock said. “So Barb’s very receptive to the ideas of the gardeners, and if it’s possible, she tries her best to make whatever they request happen.”

This convenience is, according to Flock, perhaps the garden’s best attribute.

“My hometown has a community garden,” she said. “But it had no water available. It was full of weeds. It looked like people had to do their own tilling to get the soil ready for the spring planting. I just thought, ‘Oh my gosh — who wants to go through all of that work?’ In my opinion, our garden is a lot better, especially when you consider the shed is there. You can literally ride your bike to the garden, dig out your hose or whatever you need for the day, and then ride your bike home. You don’t have to bring anything with you, and I think that’s very rare. Between the water and the tools, it makes it a unique garden, and it’s a gem I think when you travel around the state.”

McIlquham, who actually does often tour community gardens throughout Wisconsin, also spoke highly of the Antigo Community Garden, explaining that its location behind the Antigo United Methodist Church is ideal.

“Some people in Antigo live in apartments and can’t garden, or they have small yards with shade. But this space behind our church is so perfect. It’s sunny; there’s no trees. The participants grow great crops every year,” she said, going on to note that 6,000 to 10,000 pounds of produce are harvested from the garden each year. “We have many gardeners that have been gardening with us for eight or nine years in a row. They come back each year, amend their own plots, and take good care of them and enjoy the experience I guess.”

Flock and McIlquham suggested that one underrated aspect of the Antigo Community Garden is that it truly has become a community.

“Lots of times, a young gardener can learn from an older gardener,” Flock said. “When I started growing brussel sprouts, I didn’t really know how to harvest them. One of the older gardeners told me, ‘You have to start from the bottom and don’t let them turn black on you, because you waited too long.’ So it’s the things you learn that you pick up as gardeners speak with one another.”

“You don’t have to be an experienced gardener to participate,” McIlquham said. “Many years we have novice gardeners and they learn from the people that are gardening beside them…if you know gardeners, they’re willing to share their ideas about what works and what doesn’t in the garden.”

Flock encouraged new members to sign up for one of the community garden’s over ten plots that are still unclaimed for the upcoming season.

“There’s a lot of rewards that come from growing your vegetables,” Flock said. “A lot of people say, ‘You get good exercise hauling and weeding.’ That’s true. But I have three kids who live in a large city and do not have the kind of garden that I have. Because of that, they’ll say, ‘Mom, do you have beets? How are the onions this year? Are they looking good?’ Even if I can’t get to them when they’re fresh, they will take frozen green beans and brussel sprouts, so it’s a nice way for me to give to my family. You also get to be out in the sunshine. A section of the garden has deer that come to visit it at sunset. The birds are singing. It’s kind of a nice place to sit back and listen to nature.”

Note: Each plot in the Antigo Community Garden is just $20 for a season, and all are welcome. To sign up for a plot in the Antigo Community Garden or for more information, contact Garden Coordinator Barb Mcllquham by Sunday, May 12 at 715-219-3436 or cabam12@gmail.com.