It’s amazing to see the East Lyme Giving Garden right down the street from the Flanders Baptist Church and Flanders Elementary School.
A group of people in town formed an organization with the goal of providing and growing food for people in need in the community.
It doesn’t matter what your origin is, what Party you belong to, or anything else. These people are united in the common goal to produce more food for the community!
So often we are told about the stories of the increasing number of people waiting in food lines, or the lack of local agriculture, or the dependence on faraway places for our food and sustenance.
Instead of complaining about the problems or just accepting them — this wonderful group of people went out with the goal of solving it as a community!
Right behind the church there is a nice sized plot of land that they use to grow, till, and provide some form of food for the community.
There is a barn there, and if you stop by in the spring, you will likely find some nice early stage plants there waiting to be adopted! There’s a nice chance to provide a donation, if possible, to the organization for the plants that you chose.
The East Lyme Giving Garden has also partnered with the Pollinator Pathway that has the goal of helping to alleviate the stressed environment by providing the needed bees and other pollinators that are attracted to the wildflowers.
The Pollinator Pathway is an amazing project that was started in 2017 in Wilton, Connecticut. Now just a few years later, the program has literally spread to over 200 locations in New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania.
Hummingbirds, bees, and butterflies are vital because the average span of a bee is about 750 meters. Pollinator Pathway seeks to create new and different pathways from town to town and state to state that help to overlap this limited range.
Think what we could do without pollination? It would be nearly impossible for any of our food to be grown and flowers to bloom and reproduce.
It is estimated that there are over 4,000 native types of bees to the United States. Increasing use of pesticide and fertilizer has been detrimental to the bees, as well as the amount of bees that are able to survive.
We never fully understand how complicated and complex our natural environment is; however, with the increasing growth, development, and environmental pollution there are many things that are happening that spark the need for organizations like Pollinator Pathway to be created!
If you are looking to become more involved with the organizations, they are always looking for volunteers, donations, and other partners in the community.