2024 Report for Friends Of Farmington Canal

Year

2024

Number of volunteers

9

Total volunteer hours

28

Number of events

8

Number of shrubs planted

8

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Greenspace: 6 andromeda / Oasis: 2 inkberries

Number of perennials planted

49

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Greenspace: 19 hostas, 3 coreopsis, 2 coralbells, 1 sedge, 1 liriope, 1 switchgrass, 1 feather reed grass / Oasis: 3 asters, 3 butterfly milkweed, 3 agastaches, 3 joe pye weed, 3 penstemon, 2 liatris, 2 sneezweeds, 1 geranium, 1 indigo

Yards compost spread

0.50

Yards mulch spread

3.00

Summary

The Farmington Canal’s Learning Corridor and Urban Oasis are a true success story for the Newhallville community. The space was once known as the “Mudhole,” an open-air drug trafficking space. Group leader Doreen Abubakar saw the space differently, understanding its potential to foster community. Over the years, she and the group have worked hard to transform it into a park space, dotted with trees, flower gardens, and lined on one side by a native plant Urban Oasis. The space even has benches and tables, gym equipment, a water fountain, and a bike fixing station! This season, the group worked to beautify the space by adding various new perennials–further “hastifying” the areas under the trees and by the water fountain, filling in spaces by the Farmington Canal pillars, and adding native flowers and shrubs–some from Doreen’s own Urbanscapes Plant Nursery across the street–to the Urban Oasis, expanding it northward. We watered all plantings consistently and added mulch to stave off the weeds. The core group, made up of Doreen’s paid interns, often welcomed volunteers from around the neighborhood and even another Greenspace group from across the city. This group is doing essential work in the neighborhood, cultivating a newfound sense of care in a well-known community space.