The Advancing Crystal Beach Community Greenhouse hosts The Crystal Beach Growing Collective

Christine Whelan FEO, May 14, 2022, VOL. 3 ISSUE 19

Chante Chevalier, of Crystal Beach, has been recognized for her volunteer efforts. “I’ve been asked to be a spokesperson for the Niagara Garden Network and they wanted to spotlight me, during National Volunteer Week, as one of their top volunteers for United Way. I was really honoured.” Some of her story has been posted on the United Way website.

Chante, the mother of grown children and a five-year-old autistic son, is fairly new to the area. A little over three years ago, she came to Crystal Beach with her children to start over after overcoming some major obstacles.

Chevalier describes herself, not as a beacher but as a transplant. “I rode the Comet when I was little. I always came here, to Crystal Beach. We used to come here in the summer. I grew up in Welland, leaving Welland when I started going to post-secondary school,” not making it back to Welland until she was in her thirties.

Chevalier talked briefly about her past educational accomplishments. “At first, because I was adopted, all I knew was that I was part native. So, I went to school for Native Studies, Business Administration.” She has attended Trent University, Fanshawe College and just recently, Niagara College.

It Began With One Garden

Four summers ago, Chante was offered the opportunity to plant a vegetable garden just outside her front door. And so, this new journey began.

“When this project came up, I had this revelation. I hadn’t realized how gardening had been in my life all along and how I was missing it. I had no idea just how therapeutic gardening was.”

Providing healthy food choices for her family, she grew, harvested and canned that first summer.

“So, at the beginning of the second year, when Orma Bleeks of Advancing Crystal Beach asked, ‘Do you know anyone else who would like a garden bed?’ I, myself, took on a second one.”

It was after the second bed was created, decorated and thriving, that another opportunity came to Chante. “Then Orma told me about the collaboration with Niagara Garden Network and United Way to do a  greenhouse project. I was excited and let her know, I really wanted to be a part of that.”

The Greenhouse

Chante reflected on the days her life began to shift and take shape. “My first time working with Niagara Garden Network, United Way and Orma was when we were building a greenhouse.”

She shared a story that really touched her. “I bring Jory with me everywhere.” Jory is Chante’s five-year-old autistic son. “They saw Jory is sassy and bossy and right away they said, ‘Ok Little Foreman, let’s go.’ And put him to work. They treated him just like everyone else, which is exactly how I treat him. These women made me cry.” Jory’s nickname remains Little Foreman.

This was so important for Chevalier. She felt that she and her family were understood and she was on the right path. She could feel that she belonged. “I can now carve out a little piece of a life for me and my family.”

The Crystal Beach Growing Collective

Chante found a possibility to move forward in meeting her goals with a program called Homeward Bound. “It’s a program for women who are returning to school. I said, ‘Great. Let me take Horticulture.’ Within two weeks I found out about this program, I was in school.”

The greenhouse was built at the Crystal Ridge Community Church by Chante, Orma, students, community members, Niagara Garden Network, United Way and Jory.

Temporary Setback

“Within two weeks of the greenhouse being built, it was burglarized. Because they had kicked in the panels and damaged the stability of the structure when those big winds came, everything got blown out,” Chevalier stated with some frustration. “It would have been worth more to the community members who broke in and made money off the metal that was stolen if they left it alone and let it grow, reaping the benefits from the garden.”

The volunteer group will first be working on repairs, replacements and adjustments, resulting from the break-in.

“I have pushed the escape button on school,” Chante explained the options of the program, “you can take one year and get certified, two years and get a diploma, three years and get extra such as beekeeping.” She decided to stick with the one year certification.

Chante is stepping forward, into the next focus. “And now I’m liberated to go and work with the greenhouse. Now I have to think about how we are going to operate and make adjustments to the community’s reaction to the greenhouse.” She has taken on the role of steward of the ACB Community Greenhouse

Adjustment number one, Chevalier bought a small greenhouse for her living room with her own money, her own donation. “While we’re trying to figure out what to do with the greenhouse to keep it safe, I’m growing the food in here.” She showed me the seedlings growing on the shelves under the fitted plastic in front of her living room window.

Chante gave me a tour of the plants growing in her indoor greenhouse. “Jory brought his three-year-old and five-year-old friends who live in the neighbourhood and who are also autistic over to help plant.”

Pointing to one row, “These are all native flowers that will bring the butterflies back. The boys planted those themselves.”

The Seed Library

Showing me the library, “All the seeds we collected last year, I have. I’ve been slowly but surely organizing them since February.”

Chevalier explained her intentions. “Right now, it’s just a collection of seeds. I’ll be looking for a collective of community members to take these seeds, take them home and grow them, with the plan that, if they are successful, to donate half back to the greenhouse.

“And when I collect the seeds off of what is grown, we will then have a collection of seeds of what we already know grows well in Crystal Beach.”

Chante is still working out the details of the seed library.

Ideally, she would like to form a collective that doesn’t actually run at the greenhouse. “It would run at community members’ homes and the greenhouse becomes a meeting place where we swap, store and learn together. People who want to learn how to grow something would come to the greenhouse to learn.” Then they would go back home to apply what they learned.

Chevalier talked about what she saw growing in the greenhouse. “I want to grow watermelons in there. Something big that, if we went to the market or the tourism booth, we could take a watermelon, cut it up, and let the community help themselves. Or if the community soup kitchen is running, I could donate some watermelons.

“Mostly, I would like to use the project as a jumping-off point to inspire other people who are like me. We’re not experts. We’re enthusiasts. And I just want it to be a safe place for people to come.”

Chante listed some of the vegetables already planted. “We’ve got zucchinis, cauliflower, lettuce, beans, tomatoes. There’s garlic in there I planted in November. We’ve got a start.”

This Year

The gardens outside Chevalier’s front door are going into their fourth season. There are four beds now. “All the seeds from the pumpkins I grew last year and gave out to the kids in the neighbourhood for Halloween will be planted in one of my gardens in front.”

One garden will be a fully concentrated hummingbird and butterfly attracting garden. One garden will be turned into a guild. A guild is a garden with specific planting that all feed each other. It will fertilize itself. This year’s new addition is a Jubilee apple tree.

Chante explained Jory’s garden. “Jory is given whatever he wants and he plants it inside the tire. Last year, he got to pick out whatever statue he wanted for it.” Jory built it himself, planting anything he wants in it, as long as he stays out of his mom’s gardens. “One of the things about autistic kids is, they like wheels. It’s common.”

“Almost everything I got for free or at the end of the perennial season so I bought them almost dead for a dollar or two and brought them back.” She replanted all her old plants for Mother’s Days and Easters, along with their replanted Christmas tree. The goal is to see how little she can pay for her gardens.

The Friday prior to our interview, Chante had just finished her last exam in the Horticulture Course she’s been taking. On April 28th, she posted on Facebook, “So stoked. I completed my Horticulture Studies with an 83 GPA.”

Chante voiced her thoughts about the development in Crystal Beach, focusing on what she feels she can do to help the community during this change. “We need to take the small amounts of land left and do what we can within our own power to keep it sustainable.”

“So, if that’s growing flowers for butterflies or to have vegetables in our front yards, then that’s what we will do.”

You can find Chante Chevalier on Facebook by searching her name or the page, The Crystal Beach Growing Collective.

Photos by Chante Chevalier