Blueberry project taking root for SouthCoast Leadership grad
The Chronicle - VOL. XXXII, NO. 22
By MARY-LEE BARBOZA
Special Writer
June 3, 2009
Photo Details -- PHOTO BY TED JOHNSON/Special To The Chronicle
GREEN TEAM: Chronicle editor Bob Barboza waters some new plantings at the Westport COA senior center on Reed Road. The Leadership South Coast Class of 2008 graduate is planting blueberry patches at community centers throughout the area as a part of his Green Team Blueberry Project, using donated funds and labor.
Seriously, though... a student of horticulture since his youth on his grandfather's farm in Rhode Island, Barboza recently embarked on a one-man campaign to raise awareness about the many health and nutritional benefits of blueberries-- by planting free berry patches at senior centers, public gardens, and community centers throughout the region.
The project is the result of his time spent as a member of the "Green Team" of the Leadership South Coast (LSC) Class of 2008. The three-person group (including The Trustees of Reservations coordinator Jennifer Holske and former Big Brother/Big Sister manager Rich Couse), undertook the task of collecting information and preparing a report on the local agricultural resources available to Community Garden planners setting up cooperative garden projects in their communities.
When the LSC program ended, Barboza decided to continue helping community gardeners looking to supplement their annual vegetable plantings with the nutritious fruit from easy-to-grow perennial bushes. The berry bushes require a minimum of care, can easily be grown organically, and will produce a bountiful harvest of tasty berries for decades.
The initial focus of his post-grad project was to establish plantings at places where seniors live, because of the special benefits elders can enjoy by eating the fresh fruit.
"Blueberries are one of the fruits with the highest levels of antioxidants on the planet-- and full of vitamins C, D, and E," Barboza noted. "Antioxidants help the body fight every kind of cancer-causing disease, improve mental function, and counteract many of the effects of aging, both physically and mentally. It's the perfect food for senior citizens-- low in fat, high in fiber, and full of vitamins to help you stay healthy," he added.
"It's also the perfect 'sustainable' crop, because once you plant them, you just do a little light pruning every year, and you enjoy the organic harvest for a lifetime; a crop of fresh fruit every summer, all natural, and all good," Mr. Barboza suggested.
The first "free" blueberry patch was installed in April at the Autumn Glen assisted living facility in North Dartmouth, where Leadership South Coast Class of 2009 member Lois Spirlet arranged for the facility's "adopted" elementary school students from the nearby Potter School to help plant a dozen hybrid and native bushes.
Started last week was the planting of a dozen blueberry bushes at the Westport Senior Center on Reed Road, where Barboza was assisted by COA volunteer Ted Johnson in the first phase of work.
Barboza said special thanks go out to the Westport Permanent Firefighters Association (Local 1802) and treasurer Paul Duhon for a $100 donation to kick off the project; BankFive’s Charitable Giving Committee contributed additional funds, thanks to bank employees Andrew Guilbeault and John Cooke; and the Portuguese-American Civic League of Westport added another $100 donation to purchase plants. An anonymous senior center benefactor also contributed money for plants and landscaping materials for the continuing project.
Next, Barboza would like to meet with the director of the Dartmouth Senior Center to plan a blueberry patch there, or at the adjacent Bullard Wellness Center. Plantings of some berry bushes at the UMass Dartmouth community garden on campus, possibly in the fall, are also in the discussion stages, he noted.
The berry project is going slowly, with each project being planned as donors are lined up to finance it, and willing volunteers recruited to help with the planting and landscaping.
While he makes light of the occasional comparisons to Johnny Appleseed, born John Chapman (1774–1845) in Leominster, Barboza does draw some inspiration from the pioneer nurseryman who became famous for introducing apple trees to large parts of Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois two centuries ago.
Chapman became an American legend because of his generous ways, his conservation leadership, and his efforts to communicate the symbolic importance of apples to a new generation of farmers expanding westward after the Revolutionary War.
Johnny Chapman's nurseries had trees big enough to transplant on the new farms of veterans heading west after the war. By 1806, after years of traveling along the Ohio River with a load of seeds to give away, he was known far and wide as Johnny Appleseed, an expert itinerant horticulturist-- and sometimes-fiery preacher.
"I've been growing blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, and grapes on my little farm for a long time, and I've been giving away extra vines and berry bushes to friends and coworkers for years," Barboza said. “The Leadership South Coast program helped me solidify a plan for taking that one-man giveaway program to the next level," he said.
" The only thing I'm asking of the facilities where I plant berry patches is to pay the favor forward by finding me a donor to help with the next project," he explained. "The next planting place will be asked to help finance a berry patch somewhere else; and with a little luck, the project can go on for years."
The public planting sites will be used as outdoor classrooms to teach amateur farmers how to plant, prune and care for their berry bushes. His ultimate goal, Barboza said, would be to someday have thousands of South Coast residents educated about how to plant and care for a couple of blueberry bushes in their back yard, workplace, or local playground, where everyone can enjoy a taste of summer-- a harvest of fresh, tasty fruit to share with friends and neighbors for decades to come.
Not to mention a freezer full of fresh berries, waiting to be thawed and baked into hot muffins, and pancakes and pies for your family when the winter wind is howling outside.
(Editor's Note: The writer may lack complete objectivity-- she is the subject's daughter, and a blueberry lover.)
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