Jamie and Moe were once unhoused but now live in the transitional and supportive units at the Northern Pines campus, located on Chippewa Street West.
They like to help out around the facility, and the two especially relish the warm summer sunshine. Come planting season, they take on what they consider to be important roles at Northern Pines: head gardeners.
Jamie and Moe agree working in the gardens gives them a sense of accomplishment and belonging.
Much of the cooking is communal in the semi-independent living section of Northern Pines. "If I want to do a pot roast, picking your own vegetables that you've grown is more satisfying," says Moe. "They always taste better for some reason. And you can pick what you want. I can go get potatoes, beans, whatever. I love cooking. So I do a lot of cooking."
The two spoke as community partners visited Northern Pines and joined forces to plant annuals on Thursday in the front flower beds and to tend to crops in the extensive side gardens. Clean, Green, Beautiful North Bay and the staff and management of Northern Pines operator the Crisis Centre teamed up to enjoy a barbecued lunch prepared in-house and to do some gardening with the facility's residents and various other community groups who made donations toward the initiative.
Clean, Green, Beautiful's Hariett Madigan says her grassroots organization continues to evolve from litter pickups to tree planting, and now community gardens.
"Northern Pines has a beautiful space for community gardens and we had a talk with the owner and the Crisis Centre and the many, many contributors who thought this was a great idea," Madigan says. "Why shouldn't this be a welcoming space for the people who are going to live here? It should be a place where they feel at home. It's not just a bed."
Sue Rinneard is the executive director of the Crisis Centre North Bay. Northern Pines is operated by the Crisis Centre and overseen by the District of Nipissing Social Services Administration Board. She agrees that sprucing up the grounds has been a goal for the Crisis Centre since it took over operations. And, she knew the interest was there for the green thumbs living on-site.
"During the pandemic, I think our focus had been finding homes for people. We really haven't had the manpower or the time to beautify the yard. I do have to say, however, that even last summer, there are people who live here who planted their own gardens. So, we planned for a community garden we just didn't know how we were going to get there."
Rinneard gives credit to Madigan and her team. "I am so amazed by Harriet and her volunteer team at Clean, Green, Beautiful North Bay. They have made this happen, they have pulled community people together to make this happen.
"For the people who live here, it's simply amazing. You can see how much this means to them. It's very important to management and staff that people feel respected, and that they care about the places where they live as well."
"There's something that happens to people when they put their hands in the dirt and connect with nature," agrees Madigan. "Clean, Green, Beautiful is about raising the bar of kindness for nature and people. Where you create beauty people gather and socially connect in a positive way."
See related: New Northern Pines model to address 'root cause' of homelessness
Rinneard says Northern Pines offers under-housed folks a continuum of care.
"We are looking at folks coming to see us at the low-barrier shelter who will at some point be ready to live in the first stage, which is semi-independent living. We have that staffed 24 hours a day. And, we do have folks that have come from the low-barrier shelter and gone into that program. And, they've been working with the staff on life skills, right down to cooking, cleaning, meal planning, budgeting, financial literacy, as well as the support and crisis management skills that they need."
Eight people are living in the first phase and are ready to go into the independent living apartments. Those units won't be staffed but they will still have support from the staff in phase one. That space is nearly ready.
See: Northern Pines transitional housing project to fully branch out this summer
"We can really see this phased approach and the supports that are being offered is working," Rinneard says. "We have had some folks that have left from the first phase to their own apartment. We have folks that are living with us right now that have jobs that are supported by the staff to work on their resume and all the things required for employment.
"You know, people just need a place to be before they can move forward and get a job. If you're you're living rough or living homeless, how can you get a job like that?"
Trever Leblond is the program supervisor at Northern Pines and interacts daily with the residents.
"What you have to remember is they're regular people. They're someone's son or daughter. They're someone's mom or dad or grandparent. You see Jamie and Moe and the other clients taking pride in ownership, whether it's through gardening or salting and sanding the driveway and keeping things clean. It's been a vision of ours for a long time to have gardens here and now it's coming to fruition, which is great."
Leblond says the gardening program has been a success with everyone at Northern Pines, especially the residents.
"They all kind of chip in in their own little way. So I mean, we have some clients with some accessibility issues who can't necessarily garden but they helped out with the lunch they served by cutting up vegetables. We had a great spread and they cut up the fresh lettuce and tomatoes and pickles for all the burgers to feed everybody."
The food budget at Northern Pines will dip thanks to the eventual harvest.
"It's gonna make a big difference, just tomatoes alone," Leblond says. "When you're cooking meals, and you're a non-profit organization, you're pretty budget conscious. So things like tomatoes and cucumbers and potatoes, those are all things we count on to feed a lot of people. In the fall, we'll talk about canning things and freezing things. One of our clients makes an excellent lasagna, so I know she is looking forward to some fresh tomatoes."
These are all life lessons that will come in handy once clients are ready to venture out from Northern Pines, Leblond agrees.
"Absolutely everything we do is a teachable moment. Whether it's gardening, whether it's taking care of your yard or taking care of your room. Everything here is meant to be a life lesson to support people moving on to being more independent and self-sustaining."
According to Jamie and Moe, both dusty and sweaty from a day spent working in the garden, there are blueberries, strawberries, tomato plants, and "everything you can imagine planted in the yard." The two were especially touched by the donations to their community garden — a place the residents have started referring to as "our garden" — from community partners Clean, Green, Beautiful North Bay, Community Garden Coalition, Canadore College, City of North Bay, Crisis Centre, Eagle Tree Service, Parkers Your Independent Grocer, Home Hardware (Algonquin and Seymour), Northern Pines, and RONA.
"It's really gratifying to see somebody cares enough to get to donations and stuff like that," Moe shares. "It is heartwarming, as well. It's people who care who make the world go round."
