How Axil Gardens Is Helping People Develop Their Green Thumb During COVID-19
SAINT JOHN — With many New Brunswickers finding themselves with more time on their hands, some have taken the time to try to develop their green thumb — and a New Brunswick entrepreneur has been helping them do just that.
Kim Osepchook is the owner of Axil Gardens in Quispamsis. First opening in 2017, the business offers culinary and teaching gardens that serve as a hands-on gardening retreat.
“The idea with Axil Gardens was to not only provide restaurants with organically grown vegetables and herbs, but it was also that I wanted to add an educational component to the business,” says Osepchook.
Besides supplying vegetables and herbs to local restaurants, Axil Gardens also sells plant starts and seedlings to local home gardeners, fresh-cut flowers and weekly food baskets.
Before the Covid-19 outbreak, Osepchook also hosted workshops for adults and summer camps for kids, all with the aim to educate and empower people to explore the joys and possibilities of growing their own food at home.
But with large gatherings of people restricted, Osepchook has pivoted online to help people with their gardening questions.
“I was trying to figure out how on earth I can still provide some kind of educational component to the business because that’s the part that I really do love is the teaching,” she says. “Without having the workshops and the kids camps, I’m moving to a virtual offering, which is basically going to be through a private Facebook group.”
The private Facebook group can be joined through a paid membership. Through the group, members will get weekly how-to videos, weekly Q & A sessions with the members and monthly garden guides from Osepchook.
“What I’m finding and what I always found from the beginning, even in as a market gardener, was the questions,” she says. “That’s where Axil Gardens came from was that I know a lot of people are very interested in food gardening, even more so now. There’s been a huge spike in that this year, which is wonderful.”
The issue a lot of first-time gardeners run into is they start out alright, but as the garden grows, they run into problems and issues they don’t know how to properly address. Osepchook wants to help growers get through those hurdles.
“People go out and buy their seedlings or their plant starts and they have wonderful visions of how their garden is going to grow, and without some guidance and the background research, it’s not always that simple,” she says.
“This membership is basically designed to be able to help people throughout the season. It will run from May right until the end of September and I’ll essentially be acting as a personal garden coach.”
Though Covid-19 has meant a decrease in the restaurant supply side of the business as well as in-person workshops and camps, Osepchook says her business has grown during the course of the pandemic. She’s seen an increase in orders for her seed starts, as well as for her consulting services.
In addition to her new membership program, Osepchook also offers a service for schools, businesses, and individuals where she’ll help clients develop and plan their perfect home garden.
“[For] people who want to grow at home, they know they want to have a vegetable garden, they’re concerned about food security with Covid-19 in particular, but they don’t know where to start,” she says.
A home consult involves a site visit and a consult meeting with Osepchook, which is now offered virtually. After that, Osepchook puts together a garden plan for the client.
“There’s been an upswing in those which has been very encouraging,” she says.
For a lot of people, gardening isn’t only a way to grow food and flowers, it has become an outlet for improving mental health during a stressful time.
“Obviously people were at home and they were looking for things to do to keep their hands and their minds busy and I think seed starting and gardening, in general, is very good for mental health,” says Osepchook. “I was really happy to be able to provide that service very quickly and that it was a great response to it.”
Though she’s happy about the increased interest in gardening and her business, Ospechook hopes that people’s support and appreciation for local growers and for growing one’s own food continues after New Brusnwicker’s adjust to the “new normal.”
“There are so many scary, impactful, negative things that did arise out of Covid, but I see as an opportunity for us to take a moment and consider what kind of normal we want to return to,” she says.
“It is a very good opportunity for us to look at what we were doing wrong and what we can make changes in and how we can do better.”