Community Garden

Growing up in rural Ontario, Les has always considered the great outdoors to be his favorite classroom.

After leaving school, Les worked several years as a diesel mechanic before returning to farming. After returning to school to study engineering, Les ended up working at University of Waterloo. It was while working for U of W that Less first became involved with the germination of seeds and developed a passion for learning as much as he could about this aspect of gardening. After retiring from U of W, Les moved to Yarmouth. While out walking on Brunswick Street, he noticed the vacant lot attached to Beacon United Church and decided to approach Rev. Jim and Vicky Bragan with the idea of planting a Community garden. Ground was first broken in the summer of 2012 when 50 lbs of potatoes were planted. The following year a large area was plowed and 36 raised garden beds were Built. In 2014 the number of beds was increased to 84, and in 2015 there were 108 plots along with a new garden shed, and a number of fruit trees. Numbers in 2016 continue to grow to meet the community’s demand. All organic waste from both garden and church is now recycled back into the garden through our composting program.