Elmsdale Community Garden - Our 2022 Grant Recipient

ELMSDALE, NOVA SCOTIA — Elmsdale is in the East Hants Municipality District in gorgeous Nova Scotia, Canada. It is proud of a “rich history of shipbuilding, forestry, railway construction and preserved natural surroundings.” With a well educated population and over half of its residents aged 15 and up possessing a post-secondary certificate, diploma or degree, the region is proud of a “rich history of shipbuilding, forestry, railway construction and preserved natural surroundings.” Their community garden has no core funding, but is supported by multiple grants each year. Gardening Know How was pleased to support this great effort in Elmsdale through our 2022 garden grant program.

Nova Scotia is renowned for its lobster fishery, its mix of Mi’kmaq, Acadian and Gaelic heritage and the beautiful Cabot Trail. Elmsdale is located in the centre of the province and is a rapidly growing community about 30 minutes outside of Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia.

We spoke with two Tanya’s at Elmsdale Community Garden. Tanya Burke is the executive director and Tanya Ashley is the garden coordinator. Elmsdale is a rural area that’s on the brink of becoming more urban with a recent influx of residents. Still, the infrastructure remains rural, with one food bank, no homeless shelters. There is still a degree of food scarcity and unemployment, with basically no public services, making this project incredibly important to the people in the community. Based on surveys collected in 2022, the Elmsdale Community Garden learned that 10% of their users have eaten less or missed a daily meal.

Elmsdale Community garden has 12 wheelchair accessible garden beds. These and the cold frames are cared for by Tanya Ashley and her team of volunteers. All