Along a certain stretch of the Connecticut River, a dirt track runs beside a strand of floodplain forest. Newly cleared overlooks on the high, forested banks allow visitors to catch breezes and water views. On the other side of the track, a rectangle of furrowed field unfolds.
By Jane Roy Brown
Here, over the ages, flooding has deposited layer upon layer of silty soil, the stuff that farmers’ dreams are made of. The birdsong and hawk shadows, the mineral smells of the fast-moving water, the sun-warmed dirt – all seem to belong to a different time, and, surely, to a place other than downtown Holyoke.
Yet this peaceful site, known as Land of Providence, lies less than a mile from the center of this city of 40,000 people, one of the state’s most impoverished metro areas. The Trustees’ newest reservation, which opened on May 1, 2010, offers an almost surreal respite from the dense urban center. It is also the setting for a unique partnership formed through an unusual convergence of Catholic nuns, The Trustees, and a nonprofit organization supporting community farmers.
Al Diaz, a firefighter in neighboring Springfield, is one of those farmers. In the growing season, he spends every morning at his farm plot at Land of Providence. “This is a crucial time, when the plants are just getting started,” said Diaz, 50, one morning in early April. This is his second year in the farmer-training program at Nuestras Raíces (Spanish for “Our Roots”), a grassroots organization that fosters economic, human, and community development in predominantly Latino Holyoke through projects relating to food, agriculture, and the environment.
On 12 leased acres at the 26-acre Land of Providence reservation and on its own neighboring 4-acre farm, Nuestras Raíces rents small “incubator” plots to local people who want to learn commercial farming, supporting an average of 18 farmers a season. The program helps the fledgling farmers develop business plans that will allow them to strike out on their own. Under the ownership of The Trustees, the leased land will continue to be farmed, providing an important model for possible partnerships across the state.
“Our plan is to support Nuestras Raíces’ agricultural programming, and we will work on the stewardship of natural resources – taking care of the riverfront, putting in walking trails, and creating a new property entrance,” says Jocelyn Forbush, The Trustees’ Director for the Berkshires, Pioneer Valley, and Central Regions.
The two organizations have agreed to share Land of Providence for the varied purposes of conservation, recreation, and agriculture. “It’s one of the only places in Holyoke where residents can interact with the Connecticut River,” says Daniel Ross, who served as Nuestras Raíces’ Executive Director until this June. “The Trustees are creating an example of how urban land can be conserved as wildlife habitat.” Forbush adds that the proximity to downtown offers other benefits as well. “We’re expanding our youth programs in Holyoke, and this land gives us wonderful opportunities for education, right in town,” she says.
For several years, The Trustees and the local Boys & Girls Club have offered nature education for kids at nearby Little Tom Mountain Reservation, which will open to the public in 2012. Now the river and the farm provide a complementary site that offers firsthand lessons in a host of interrelated subjects: ecology, industrial and agricultural history, healthy eating, local food. In this former booming mill city, about a quarter of the residents live below the poverty line. A third of the population is younger than 19, and most kids have little connection with nature. These programs literally introduce them to a whole new world.
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