Eastlake

History II: Garden With a View
(submitted by an Eastlake P-Patch gardener)

The Eastlake P-Patch has a long and active history and can follow its roots all the way to the Bronx. In 1980, Bunny Hirschmann, who had been active in a New York community garden, approached the City's P-Patch Program to see how she could help residents in Eastlake get into community gardening. Since there was a suitable site, the Shelby Street right-of-way, and no money to develop it, Bunny started with an ad in the Eastlake News to move the project forward. About ten families responded and joined in the work.

On Valentine's Day 1981, those ten families started work on a most formidable-looking task: clearing the site. It was covered in blackberries taller than any of the workers. Because the site was very wet from hillside springs, all the gardeners built raised beds and Eastlake finally had its own P-Patch. There was space for eighteen families to garden and the zucchini and tomatoes flourished along with basil and oregano, a happy pairing for all.

Because of consistent diligent community involvement, and against all odds, the land for Fairview Park was finally purchased in late 1995. We celebrated with a community-wide blackberry festival. The landscape architecture firm Nakano/Dennis designed Fairview Park with a lot of community involvement. Construction took place in winter of 1997-98 and gardeners moved into Eastlake P-Patch II that spring. 

In 2009, we were awarded $15,000 from the Neighborhood Matching Fund to expand the P-Patch. The project morphed as we went along and we added more plots than we imagined. Some additional funds became available for the expansion through the Parks & Green Space Levy, as well. The tale will be continued.....We welcome you all as the story tellers of our future.