With Chapter One of Altona's community gardens' story drawing to a close, the man behind the effort is stepping back for a new generation to take over.
Driven by a desire to have a garden and grow their own food when he and his wife moved from Steinbach to Altona in 2017, Jack Heppner took the reins of the small grassroots effort started by Jim Perry-Hill in 2015 and came on as manager of the gardens.
"He was living in Gretna and he was doing it on his own, but there was difficulty," explained Heppner. "He had difficulty renting all the plots and he had difficulty keeping the all the plots weed-free and stuff. I mean, hats off to him. He had a really good idea, and he did it. He gave it his best. But working alone and from out of town, it was difficult. So, he pulled back after two years."
Already a member of A-CAN (the Altona Community Action Network), Heppner had the idea to offer the Town that the organization would operate the garden.
"That's a little bit stronger than just one person. So, I said, 'if you give me a task force, I'll lead the task force'. So, they give me Joel Martin and Jason Peters and the three of us started meeting regularly and dreaming about how we could do things."
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Growing like a weed
Not only did Heppner and his three-person task force, which later saw Stephen Foord replace Joel Martin, turn just a few plots into 180 over the last 7 years, including accessible gardens but, with help from the Town and local businesses, they were able to outfit the space with all of the tools and supplies gardeners need to be successful. They also led the charge in creating a central commons area featuring a timber frame pavilion and washrooms.
"I'm so thankful for the taskforce members. If I had tried doing it alone, it just would not have happened," said Heppner.
Now, at 77-years-old, he says it's time to pass the torch onto younger volunteers.
"I noticed my stamina and my energies aren't what they used to be," he confessed.
And with just a few projects to be completed this fall, Heppner says the space is fully constructed, making it the right time to step back.
"With the new person, the new leaders, they won't have to fundraise, they won't have to build and all that. Now the vision will be to work with the gardeners (like) build mentoring programs. With new gardeners, match them with other gardeners and do some workshops about how to garden regarding techniques, so it's more of a programming chapter, building on what we have."
"Grow food, connect to the Earth, connect to food, connect to the community. And if you can do it in such a way that you actually create community or build community in the process, that's been wonderful to see."
Over the years and with the creation of the commons area, the community gardens have turned into more than just a place for locals to grow their own food. It's become a place for people to come together and build relationships. This, said Heppner, is something he could have never imagined.
"It is wonderful to grow food close to home. That's kind of our model. Grow food, connect to the Earth, connect to food, connect to the community. And if you can do it in such a way that you actually create community or build community in the process, that's been wonderful to see
Almost half of the gardeners are newcomers to Altona [...] and so, you are always gardening with somebody from somewhere else in the world. (It) could be Syria. It could be Ukraine. It could be Africa or wherever, and just to watch how they interact with each other, with the gardeners, they learn from each other.
So many of the newcomers have told me that this is their connecting place in the community. They have their jobs, but they don't really know how to meet people on the street. But here. it's different. It breaks the ground, literally. But it also breaks the barriers to communication. There's intercultural, intergenerational, interfaith."
The gardens are also connecting Altona to other communities as small towns across Manitoba hear about it and even come for a visit to see it themselves.
It's the initial reaction that people have when seeing the gardens for the first time that's most humbling for Heppner.
"They say, 'wow. I just had no idea. I had no idea it would be so beautiful'. And sometimes they kind of are lost for words. Sometimes (they) even get emotional. I remember one lady, I put my hand on her shoulder and said, 'it's OK, ma'am, you can be happy. Beauty is the thing'. Beauty is something that's much deeper than our ethnicity, our culture, our religion. And that's what I sense has happened here because it touches people somewhere deep inside, they don't quite know what it is, but it moves them when they see the beauty of it."
Not only has Heppner's passion help turn the gardens into a crown jewel for Altona, it has also been singled out by Recreation Manitoba, earning the 2024 Nature award that highlights the passion and achievements of individuals, groups and organizations that steward recreational, natural, and green spaces that enhance community quality of life.
As for what's next for Heppner, he says he'd still like to be involved in the gardens, but at a smaller level.
"Maybe volunteering for some aspect of the garden, but I don't want to be in charge of the whole operation anymore."
Listen to Candace Derksen's full interview with Jack below.