Established over the summer of 2014, in partnership with the Hazelwood Senior Center and New Bedford Community Services, the Hazelwood Garden has been a great addition to the local neighborhood. Members of the Weekly Garden Club, 
took responsibility for deciding what to grow, caring for the plants, and eventually harvesting the gardens. The garden encourages physical activity and socialization among seniors and even attracted children from the nearby daycare to come over and learn about growing fruits and vegetables while interacting with the seniors.
With much appreciated help from a volunteer farmer and other city departments, we built five sustainable raised bed gardens, and planted a variety of produce, including kale, tomatoes, parsley, oregano, lettuce. We also later planted blueberry bushes, strawberries, and pear trees.
As we began to harvest produce from the garden, we coordinated healthy cooking demonstrations with a local dietitian who showed the group how to make simple and delicious meals using the produce harvested that day. We look forward to future growing seasons, and increasing the number of participants.
Click here to read more about the Hazelwood Garden, to see more pictures, and to watch a video of one of the cooking demos.