By: Heather Holland | May 13, 2025
Veazie, ME – A new vegetable garden, a school bus shelter and safer streets for children, and a cleaner stream running through the park are just a few of the improvements made by the hardworking resident-owners of Grey Stone Mobile Home Park since they purchased the community more than 15 years ago.
“The community has improved 100% since we became a cooperative,” said Melony Stockley, a resident-owner of Grey Stone for eight years and Secretary of their volunteer board. “The last owners let people do whatever they wanted, so the trash really piled up. Now, we have stricter rules to keep the community clean.”
Other upgrades include an updated sewer system, repairs to the roof of the community building that the residents use for meetings and gatherings, new speed bumps and street signs, and last year, the residents with the help of a local nonprofit built a new community garden to grow vegetables, flowers, and even fruit trees.
“When I first moved here, I thought, ‘boy, would it be nice to have a garden here,” said Jessica who has lived in the community for two years. “It would be beautiful and provide food and security for our neighbors.”
Jessica talked to a board member about the idea and they reached out to a nonprofit called Food and Medicine, which helps communities build edible gardens for free. The nonprofit supplied materials like soil, seeds and lumber, helped the residents build vegetable beds, and provided space to grow seedlings to transplant into the garden. They’re also planning to help the residents build picnic tables.
“The goal of our gardens program is to empower folks to grow their own food,” said Johnny Sanchez, Volunteer Coordinator of Food and Medicine. “It’s been a rewarding experience working with the residents at Grey Stone. They wanted to grow their own food, but they also were thinking ‘how can we beautify our neighborhood for our neighbors and create a natural gathering space?’ That’s been important for them.”
However, maintaining a community garden isn’t easy. The first year was a learning experience, said Jessica. The plants weren’t growing as well as expected and there were few residents who got involved. But once the residents see the vegetables thriving this year, Jessica believes there will be more interest to get involved.
“Residents in the park had always talked about having a garden, but it takes someone leading to make it happen,” said Ms. Stockley. “Jessica was that person. If it wasn’t for her motivation and willingness to put in the work to get it started, the garden wouldn’t have happened.”
