Border city of Lloydminster united through gardening

Just a block away from the border of Alberta and Saskatchewan there's a garden uniting green thumbs in Lloydminster. 

The Lloyd Public Gardens Society has established a green space on the Alberta side on 49th Street at 51st Avenue where fresh fruits and vegetables are starting to sprout out of raised beds dotting a vacant lot. 

"I had never started a community garden before but I knew I didn't want to organize plots for people to rent individually," said Amy Roper of the society.

The goal was to be open to all, said the mother-of-two who's lived in the neighbourhood for the past 20 years and sits on the Downtown Redevelopment Committee to promote the city's core. 

"I wanted us to tend this land together, to have it very open and see what happens when neighbours just come together and practise gardening." 

The not-for-profit organization, established a year ago, rents the space for $1 a month from the local business next door, Red Bicycle Communications. 

Roper said getting the garden off the ground took about $40,000 in seed money in the way of grants and community donations.

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Then they needed to find volunteers to keep it running. Roper, an artisan weaver, enlisted a couple of friends, Brandi Hofer's and Stephanie Lindsay, who shared her passion for all things leafy and penchant for creativity to pitch in.

"There is something almost magical that happens when you get your hands in the dirt and you actually connect with the plant," said Lindsay, who is the operations manager at Pioneer Landscaping.

"It's just a really nice calm space to hang out in," she said, pointing to the apple tree in blossom, the potato patch and the garden trellis archway with twinkle lights perfect for selfies.

Lindsay extended that connection past plants, through a Kindness Rock Garden where you can take a painted stone for inspiration or motivation and leave one to help the garden grow. 

She's also established the Lloydminster Keychain Library where "you can leave a trinket or another keychain, or you can take them off the board there."

She takes things like toy cars and building blocks left behind and turns them into more community keychains, "in a revolving door of little art."

Local artist and educator Brandi Hofer contribution frames the space in the form of a colourful mural on the two-storey wall. 

"It's two little girls playing in the park, pretending to be fairies in a garden," said Hofer, who drew on the inspiration of Indigenous photographer Randi Noble for her work. 

The mother-of-three said it's art imitating life now that kids like hers are playing in the space while half a dozen volunteers putter, plant and water. 

"They run around and you hear laughter, it's the essence of play," she said.

The group also manages a number of flower boxes in front of businesses in the downtown core and has partnered with the Lloydminster Public Library to give gardening talks.

"It's a way for our community to slow down and step back into that togetherness," said Hofer.

Wallie Barnsley said it's not just children enjoying the space. 

The 86-year-old said the raised boxes are kid-friendly and senior-friendly.

"It means you don't have to break your back to help out." 

Barnsley says volunteering here takes her back to her youth when she belonged to 4H in Marsden, Sask. 

She says she often meets another senior in the garden for a coffee and a muffin.

"We pick up our deck chairs and meet here and have our visits. I think more of that will happen as the garden catches on."