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Killingworth to Get Community Garden

Area Resident Says Produce Could Be Donated To Food Pantries

By CHARLES STANNARD
Courant Staff Writer

May 30, 2007

KILLINGWORTH — The town may at last have a use for the 133-acre Bosco property on Route 81.

Peg Schofield, a website designer who edits the Killingworth Today website, told the board of selectmen Monday she is looking into the possibility of establishing a community garden on a field behind the vacant 19th century farmhouse on the front section of the property.

Schofield said the field could support up to 24 plots, each one about 20 feet by 20 feet. The vegetables grown on the plots could be donated to food pantries in Killingworth and surrounding towns, Schofield said.

She suggested the nearby Haddam-Killingworth Middle School could become involved to provide an educational component, while older residents at the Jensen’s mobile home community could be offered a plot for their own garden.

“If it starts small and stays small, that’s fine,” she said. “If it starts small and grows, that would be all right, too.”

The town acquired the Bosco property for $640,000 in 2001. The property, a former turkey farm, was the subject of two failed bonding proposals for a $5 million community recreation complex in May 2003 and November 2004.

The town office building study committee is investigating the possibility of building a new town hall or some other municipal building on a section of the property while setting aside the rest of the land for hiking trails and other passive recreation.

Schofield said the community garden project would require fencing, to keep deer and other animals out, and a pump to draw water from a well on the property. She said several volunteers, including Peter Venuti of Venuti Enterprises, have offered to help complete the necessary site preparation work this year for planting in the spring of 2008.

First Selectman Martin Klein, who helped organize community gardens in Hartford as a Vista volunteer, said he supports the project. Klein said the items needed, such as the fencing and a pump, could be “scrounged up,” at minimal cost to the town. Prospective gardeners would have to sign a hold harmless liability waiver to satisfy the town’s insurance carriers.

The board urged Schofield to continue with her efforts on the community garden project.

In other business, the board again discussed in closed session the public works foreman position that has been vacant since December.

Klein said earlier Monday that the town has received nine applications for the job. One of the applicants is Walter Adametz Jr., a town resident and 12-year road crew employee who has been serving as acting foreman since December.

Contact Charles Stannard at cstannard@courant.com.
Copyright 2007, Hartford Courant

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