Community

Wagmatcook First Nation has two community garden’s have been productively growing over the past couple years. One dream, one passion became reality when Elder Judy Googoo felt that preserving foods and medicines were needed holistically. The first location is a lakefront field about ¾ of an acre south facing slope with excellent sandy loam, class one soil and is the primary growing area based on a yield potential.  The second garden is situated by the Trans-Canada Highway with great public exposure that consists of roughly ½ acre of usable space and has a permanent 20 x 28 greenhouse. 

Both gardens produce an array of vegetables and fruits. You can find the basic’s such as cucumber, peas, various onions, potatoes to name a few vegetables. In the fruit section of the gardens, you can find tomatoes, an apple orchard along with a grape vine and the unpredictable plum trees that choose to grow not annually but every other year. The uniqueness of Wagmatcook’s community garden is the healing aspect as it displays a fairy garden with a walking bridge. Community members can also plant special trees in memorial of loved ones to spend some time as a part of healing. One of the many holistic attributes one can experience is the smell of the lilac trees or the calmness of the water from the Bras D’or Lakes to the relaxation of the memorial garden benches. 

Wagmatcook’s community garden is cared for by the community members all through volunteer basis. Most days you can find people of all ages gathering their foods or delivering baskets of the harvest to elders throughout the community.  Judy has become an amazing resource  over the years and  her  garden has become more than just a garden, it has become an educational hub for the community.