The Pleasant Street Community Garden in Greenfield broke ground 25 years ago when local farmer Rich Pascale volunteered to till some land at the corner of School and Pleasant Streets, making it possible for locals to create a community garden on the grounds of a former elementary school. (When the garden started, the building housed school department administrative offices.) A few years after the creation of a dozen 10-by-20-foot plots, another generous local farmer, Everett Hatch, used his tractor to convert more of the land, resulting in a total of 40 plots.

That old building is gone, replaced by the John Zon Community Center, which opened in 2018. The land that neighbors transformed into garden plots is now the site of the senior center, and a spot where locals of all ages can attend meetings. The good news, however, is that the community garden continues. It’s easy to miss, though, given that it’s tucked behind the building and smaller than before.

Since this year marks a quarter-century of cooperation and abundance, I’m pleased to share this story from the perspective of the community garden’s original instigator. But such projects exist thanks to the dedication and energy of many, so this column is a celebration of human generosity in addition to an ode to the magic of soil, seeds and sunlight.

I dreamed of starting a community garden when I moved to Greenfield in the late 1980s. A decade later, two things nudged me into action: first, my friend and musical colleague Pete Seeger gave me a book caled ”Seedfolks,” in which author Paul Fleischman depicts 13 fictional characters who help transform a vacant lot in Cleveland into a horticultural haven. (Seeger loved the book so much, he bought copies of it by the case and handed them out like candy.)

Around the same time, the Great Falls Community Garden in Turners Falls won the distinction of most beautiful community garden in the state. My dear friend Suzette Snow-Cobb and others spearheaded that project, and their success inspired me to search for suitable land in Greenfield with decent soil, ample sunlight exposure, and maybe even a water source. I was advised to approach the DPW to inquire if anything in town might fit the bill.

After DPW staff directed me to a dozen sites of unused town-owned land, I visited each location by bicycle over the course of a long day. The next day, I returned to the DPW office covered with mosquito bites from swampy sites, poison ivy from gullies filled with discarded tires, and scratches on every exposed inch of skin from brambles. I must have resembled an accident victim when I dragged myself back to the receptionist’s desk. Sunburned and dejected, I muttered one question: “Surely, there must be something else?”

The staff took pity on me and suggested another option: they said that if I was willing to run the double gauntlet of the school committee and town select board (this was before Greenfield switched to a mayoral system), perhaps I could get permission to use land outside of the school admin building. I attended numerous meetings and was sent back and forth between committees and supervisors, but after several months, I got the green light, enabling me to invite folks to form a group and go forward. Neighborhood response was overwhelmingly positive, leading to nearly two decades of glorious community gardening.

“The community garden was one of my first gardening experiences,” said Greenfield resident Dorothea Sotiros, who over the years became an avid, knowledgeable gardener. “By growing my own, I have some control over what goes into my food. At the community garden, we worked as a group and collaborated with local farmers, so I learned a lot.” In the early days, Greenfield agricultural luminaries like Everett Hatch and Bob Martin — as well as some from farther afield, including Rich Pascale of Colrain and Pete and Lin Diemand of Millers Falls — offered encouragement, tips and materials.

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Sotiros first grew lettuce in her plot: “It thrived! Then I planted alyssum, because I heard that it attracts beneficial insects. That was another win.” But she remembers failures, too: “We tried growing a communal squash plot, and not one of the squashes was edible. We just kept learning along the way.”

Social events and celebrations took place at the community garden — potlucks, birthday parties, and bocce tournaments — as well as work sessions and planning meetings. The place became a draw for participants and visitors alike. Workers from the admin building took breaks or ate lunch outdoors, lured by shapes, colors and fragrances. The Pleasant Street Community Garden thrived thanks to folks like Sotiros, Peg Pucino, Clara Lopez, Gregg Crawford, Suzy Polucci (rest her soul), Erin Bohannon, Cheri Knight, and many others. Other great volunteers arrived later, like Alice Timmins and Elyse Moore, both of whom helped usher the project into its next phase after the new senior center went up.

Construction of the senior center seemed to spell the end of an era for the community garden, yet thanks to folks like Timmins and Moore, who were joined by then-newcomer to town, Andrea Cohen-Kiener, the garden was reinvented. The women met with Hope Macary, senior center director, who Cohen-Kiener said, “has been very supportive.” Macary was open to proposals, and today says that she’s grateful for the partnership with the community gardeners. “It’s so wonderful to see what they’ve accomplished in the last few years with the relocation. It’s nothing short of phenomenal.” She added, “It’s so beautiful back there, and I’m also thrilled with the pollinator garden out front (maintained by a different group of citizens), as well as the chickens!”

Cohen-Kiener played an important role in the garden revamp after moving to Greenfield in 2015. “As a newcomer, I was able to approach the project with fresh eyes and no regrets. Of course, we had to start from scratch with soil that hadn’t been improved, so that was challenging. But we did it: we spent a couple of years amending soil, including by raising chickens onsite.”

Today, community gardeners benefit from Macary’s generosity and openness, as well as the grunt work put in by Cohen-Kiener, Moore, Timmins, and others. Community gardeners recently traded tips and shared produce while sitting on overturned five-gallon buckets and discussing options for cover-cropping. Acorns plummeted onto the nearby shed roof, punctuating the discussion. “It’s been a fantastic year for tomatoes,” said Cecily “Sam” Legg. “We’ve had so much sun and rain!” Longtime member Annie Hassett commented on the preponderance of flowers. “There’s so much color this year,” she said, and admired her fellow members’ creativity. She gestured toward where a fellow named Zeke constructed a beautiful fence around his plot, which was jam-packed with greenery and produce.

Ilyas Zileev, a transplant from Russia, used an app on his phone during the meeting to share an update about his efforts to fertilize the garden’s blueberry bushes. He spoke mellifluous Russian into his phone, and a fellow member voiced the English read-out, which explained that Zileev discovered the bushes weren’t thriving and remedied the situation through hours of hard work and supplies he purchased at the Greenfield Farmer’s Exchange. Members expressed gratitude, recognizing that the type of motivation demonstrated by Zileev is the lifeblood of a community garden.

Mo Hart, another recent transplant to Greenfield, said, “I’ve been making Thai curries with the Oriental eggplants I grew.” The retiree is instrumental in taking meeting notes, sending out minutes, and putting in many hours weeding, pruning, and putting down wood chips in the garden’s pathways.

Kayla Loubriel, who’s in her early 20s and works for the town of Hadley, has added gardening to her list of hobbies. “The other day, I made an entire meal from things I grew right here,” she said with a grin. “I’ve grown more vegetables than I thought was possible [in the allotted space], and I love seeing what other people grow. It gives me ideas.”

Ryan Nestor lives down the street with his partner Rebecca Rideout and their 9-year-old son. Their family is deeply involved with the community garden, and are also members of the adjoining chicken cooperative and egg share, where members pool efforts to care for poultry. Nestor’s forthright and calm demeanor inspires confidence in other gardeners, who admire his extensive knowledge of soil science, the mechanics of composting, and the ins and outs of cover-cropping.

“Organic gardening is a good way to keep carbon in the soil,” said Nestor. “Cover cropping sustains the land. It protects our investment.” He listed amendments gardeners can add, depending on needs revealed by soil tests: “Rock dust, bone meal, crab shell, biochar, and lots of other stuff, once you figure out what’s missing. You might need calcium, or magnesium, to help balance out the soil and establish a baseline.” In terms of cover cropping, Nestor said that seeding oats is one of his go-to methods.

Recently summing up her experiences, Cohen-Kiener said, “It can be challenging to tend a project as a group. In a community garden, it can slide into members each just taking care of their individual space.” She noted that people are drawn to community gardening for different reasons: “Some people are deeply communitarian, seeking a place to meet with others, exchange wisdom, and do shared projects. Others are mainly grateful for a place to garden. It’s a balancing act, but it’s worth the effort.”

Eveline MacDougall is the author of “Fiery Hope,” and musician, artist and mom. Do you have tips for Home & Garden topics? Email eveline@amandlachorus.org.