Gardens of Compassion

Home
United States
Niagara Falls, NY
Gardens of Compassion

Call Directions Website Contact the organization

The Gardens of Compassion is a community gardening initiative created through a partnership between Community Missions and St.

James United Methodist Church in Niagara Falls for: Good Nutrition, reduce stigma around mental Illness, help care for creation.

10/26/2026

Today marked the last day the gardening season for the Gardens of Compassion 💔 Our gardeners gathered together for a group photo before going and cleaning up the garden beds.

We had a special guest visit the gardens today, Mr. Lee Clark! Lee is a longtime member of St. James United Methodist Church and he was the designer and builder for the first of the garden beds over 15 years ago! He enjoyed seeing how the garden beds have expanded and our new watering system.

Thank you to all of our gardeners & volunteers for another successful gardening season. See you all again in May 2027 for seed planting!

10/19/2026

Today marks the second to last Monday of the gardening season for the Gardens of Compassion 🌱 Participants & volunteers started to clean out the garden beds and picked a plethora of tomatoes, hot peppers, carrots, beets, ground cherries and green beans.

As a special treat, Carla L. arranged for Ed Koban, a member of the Mohawk Tribe, to come play his flute and bless the end of our gardening season.

Ed also shared a story of how the flute was created. As the story goes, the flute started as a hollow tree branch. When a woodpecker pecked holes in the branch, it became a flute. A man traveling through the forest heard the beautiful sound of the branch and began to play it as an instrument. He used it to win over the heart of a girl he loved. How beautiful!

09/29/2026

The cherry tomatoes keep on coming! Our gardens are still producing in their final weeks. Check out the watermelons and ground cherries!

A special thank you this week goes out to Volunteer Phil from OLIN. He has been watering our gardens for us and keeping them well hydrated. Thank you, Phil!

09/25/2026

We have a few more weeks to go in the growing season and the gardens are still looking good. There was a lot of produce to pick. Plus, our gardeners got to see pictures and get information about the Scottish landscape from Pastor Mark’s recent trip there.

08/25/2026

There was lots of produce at the Gardens of Compassion this week!

Our presentation from Cornell Cooperative extension was about Healthy Eating on a Budget and how to shop smart by using unit pricing and buying seasonal produce. We then tried a blueberry smoothie recipe 🫐

This was our last presentation from Cornell this season and we really want to thank them and especially Snap-Ed Nutritionist Susan Newkirk. Susan has shared such useful information with us and lots of simple and nutritious recipes. Thank you Susan!

08/17/2026

Our bounty had all the colors of the rainbow this morning 🌈

Our lovely program participants, staff & volunteers were happy to show off the fruits and vegetables of our labor. Check out those watermelons, tomatoes and yellow beans! We especially love the colorful indigo tomatoes.

There are only a few more weeks left of gardening left. If you are interested in joining for a gardening day or volunteering to water during the week, please email KaShawn at [email protected] ❤️

07/28/2026

Check out our new watering system! We're still in the early stages but we think the gardens love it so far.

Everything is sprouting up beautifully. From eggplants to watermelons to tomatoes. And check out the onion haul!

Our volunteers and program participants worked up an appetite for veggie pizzas after! Delicious!

07/15/2026

The gardens are doing really well! Program participants, staff and volunteers harvested the first few green and yellow zucchini and a bit of Swiss chard.

A few small eggplants were harvested, even though it was a bit early to do so! The early harvest was prompted by the discovery of potato bug larvae quickly chewing through the foliage. Last year, all of the potato plants were lost to those voracious beasties.

The advice received for this was to not plant potatoes for a couple of years. They also like eggplant when there are no potatoes.

So next week in that bed, radishes will be planted instead... which Potato Bugs don’t like at all.

Stay tuned! 🍅🌽🥒🍆

07/06/2026

Today was a day for weeding! Participants, staff and volunteers all worked together to tackle the weeds in our garden beds. We are also very happy to report that we have watermelons and eggplants making their appearances!

Afterwards, Deacon Martha Farone from Christ Episcopal Church gave a presentation on the importance of trees in the environment and the web of creation. Participants and staff enjoyed creating a craft to go along with the presentation.

06/29/2026

Look at our gardens GROW!

What a difference that 4 weeks has made already. We are especially proud of our beans & tomatoes, they are all thriving!

Speaking of beans, Susan from Cornell Cooperative Extension of Niagara County gave a helpful demonstration on the importance of having proper fiber and grains in ones diet. She then cooked a delicious Stovetop Tuna Casserole for participants & volunteers to share and enjoy, yum!

Address

Niagara Falls, NY

Telephone

+17162853403

Website

http://www.communitymissions.org/gardens

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Gardens of Compassion posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.