"Community Garden"

[ragdall]

In the middle of July I noticed a sign on a vacant lot near where I live



There are a few pictures of the rest of the garden here: flic.kr/s/aHskgbTUBf

Occasionally I've seen people in there taking produce, but I never see a gardener. Someone has done and is still doing a lot of work in there.

A greenhouse was added in recent weeks. I need to make time to go back and take some updated photos. It's a very restful place to be.
I often think of this verse:

The kiss of the sun for pardon,
The song of the birds for mirth,--
One is nearer God's heart in a garden
Than anywhere else on earth.

Dorothy Frances Gurney

[maeve]

That's such a worthy project for a community! We tried hard to entice a local church to do something of the sort, for there are many going hungry here, but they were not interested.

[ragdall]

It's a great idea but I suspect that the people who take the produce are not the most needy. This area is far from any poor areas of town.
In my humble opinion, it would be better to distribute the produce through the food bank or one of the churches who currently feed the homeless people downtown.

On the other hand, someone is proving that it's possible to grow a variety of food crops in our climate. That may be the goal behind this and the fate of the crops is not as important to them? Someone put a lot of money into developing that piece of ground. Early this spring, there was an excavator working in there, but I didn't check on what it was doing. At some point, they brought in a truckload of wood shavings for the pathways. They must also have brought in topsoil because our natural soil is glacial gravel and sand.

[ragdall]

I went to the garden to get some recent photos and found that much had already been removed. We'd already had some frost.
I was able to speak with the man responsible for the garden, though. He has a website: www.pgcommunitygarden.com/ and a Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/pgcommunitygarden?fref=ts
He told me that everything including a rototiller, was donated. He's on disability and has the garden to give him something to do. Other people come to help him with weeding, etc.

[maeve]

Good project! He may benefit from reading about extended season gardening, especially books by Eliot Coleman and Barbara Damrosch. www.fourseasonfarm.com/

[maeve]

Here's another form of  community garden:
A Visionary's Quest...

[ragdall]

Thanks for showing us that, maeve.

Their hope is that developing green spaces and producing food will develop community, lower crime and reclaim decaying neighbourhoods. It looks like a very worthwhile project, but one that may not be sustainable because of the need for financial support from others. I hope that they can find it.