Barnard Brook Immediately after the July 2023 flood–note the high water. Photo by Michael Caduto.
Sustainable Woodstock hopes that you will join us for a picnic at 6:30 PM on June 26th to learn more about our Billings Farm Community Garden and a bank erosion project planned for this fall.
Since 2009, Sustainable Woodstock’s Billings Community Garden has sat adjacent to Barnard Brook across the road from Billings Farm and Museum. Barnard Brook’s streambank has eroded over the years, notably during Tropical Storm Irene. July 2023 flooding also caused a massive amount of erosion–we lost ~10 feet of bank just in that one storm.
Last year this bank erosion finally reached the community garden itself and began to destroy the plots Sustainable Woodstock used to grow food for the Woodstock Community Food Shelf, as well as individual plots rented by community members. We decided to abandon this section of the garden, losing~1/3 of our growing space as a result. If erosion is allowed to continue, the brook will continue to move, eventually eroding land up until it reaches Old River Road and possibly impacting the bridge that crosses the brook just downstream.
This erosion is also contributing to pollution in Barnard Brook. At the location of this project the bank is rapidly eroding, depositing sediment and nutrients in the brook. Sediment raises water temperature and negatively impact plants, vertebrates, and insects. Stabilizing the bank is one step towards a healthier brook.
This fall, Sustainable Woodstock will manage a project to restore the riverbank at this Barnard Brook site using WISPr (Water Infrastructure Sponsorship Program) funding. We have been working an engineering contractor, Ripple Natural Resources LLC, to develop a final design for the project, and now have a 60% design showing what the planned bank restoration will look like. We hope to complete all of this physical restoration work this fall, restoring the eroded riverbank using green infrastructure methods and reestablishing a vegetated buffer.
Losing ~1/3 of the garden is a big loss. Annually, 25 families grow food in our community gardens. Last year our Community Garden Coordinator grew over 300 pounds of food for the Woodstock Community Food Shelf. To make up for the space we have lost, we created a new garden space at the opposite end of the garden and planted pumpkins and squash for the food shelf. We also created a new garden space up at our King Farm Community Garden, where we can grow more produce for the food shelf.
New garden space added this year to grow food for the Woodstock Community Food Shelf
Confused? Curious? Hungry? We hope that you will join us for a picnic at 6:30 PM on June 26th to learn more about this project and our community gardens! Don’t want to picnic? Feel free to stop by just to chat and learn more. Matt, the intrepid engineer designing the bank stabilization project, will be on site to answer questions and explain the plan. You will also be welcomed in to tour our community gardens, including the new growing space we added this year to supply the Woodstock Community Food Shelf!
What to bring: A potluck dish to share and your own picnic essentials (plate, utensils,
cup, chair or blanket, and a sunhat).
What we’ll provide: Garden-grown herbal iced tea and a sweet treat for dessert
