Profile: Jill Bader
It is said that the more we give, the happier we feel. If that’s the case, then Jill Bader might be the one of the happiest people around. Jill coordinates the onsite pantry garden at the Civic Garden Center. During the growing season, beautiful fresh produce from the garden is harvested and delivered by Jill and other volunteers every Friday to local food pantries.
From Composter to Garden Coordinator
Jill first came to the CGC for a Master Composting class more than 10 years ago. She learned about the CGC’s many volunteer opportunities and signed up to do a spring cleanup in the Walnut Hills Community Garden. Over the years, Jill has volunteered with THE Plant Sale, Compost Kids, Youth Gardens, Dirt Crew, classes, and, finally…the pantry garden!
A couple of winters ago Jill realized her yard was becoming too shady for vegetable gardening, so she approached Greg Potter (CGC’s Community Garden Coordinator at the time) about finding space in a community garden. Since she had already been helping Kylie Johnson (CGC’s GLS Coordinator at the time) in the veggie garden at the CGC, Greg proposed that she garden there.
Jill knew she wanted to do something along the lines of a food pantry garden and was keeping her eyes and ears open for the right opportunity. When she learned that the CGC hoped to turn its veggie garden into a food pantry garden, and we asked Jill if she was interested in leading it, she said yes. The next thing she knew, she was planting vegetables all over the place without a lot of planning and with a few other volunteer helpers (but it was fun!).
“I love the real life conversations that happen when you are digging in the dirt or kicking back over lunch after a morning in the garden. I have talked politics, religion, life paths, family, hobbies, travel, cooking, kids, grandkids, health, weddings, graduations, hopes, dreams, doubts, and, oh, sometimes we talk about gardening,” Jill said.
A Force for Good
If you ask Jill what she thinks the CGC’s greatest impact is she will talk about how it enables, teaches and provides an opportunity for everyday people who recognize that vacant lots can be a force of good in a neighborhood instead of another place for drugs to be sold, the ones who think food desert neighborhoods are not OK, and the ones who want their kids to know what it feels like to plant a seed, tend a vine and harvest a vegetable. Giving people who love to garden a place where they can come together to do something they love while developing amazing friendships along the way. Teaching our community how to be good stewards of our urban environment, which seems to her to be more important than ever.
Jill says she’s reminded of the CGC’s significance every time she drives by a community garden tucked into a random lot somewhere in the city and that the leadership and hard work of the CGC is making an impact in this city one garden at a time.
And now, every time she sees unused raised beds or an abandoned lot around town, she thinks, “that would make a great community garden, so there’s still much work to be done to motivate residents to make gardens happen.”
It all happens thanks to happy people like Jill Bader!