...FROM MAYOR KIP WALBY (reprinted from Inside St. Clair Shores October, 2014 issue) You see them sprouting up all over the country in cities large and small, in schools, even in corporations. What are they? They’re community gardens. Volunteers…young and younger…are getting their hands dirty and building a sense of community by working side-by-side to grow locally produced, affordable and nutritious fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Closer to home, the students at Jefferson Middle School have been tending to their Community Giving Garden for a couple of years now. After a season of planting, weeding. watering and nurturing, student gardeners were able to give away their bounty free to those in need. The Garden showed students not only where food comes from, but also provided a living lesson in sustainability and generosity. I believe that the time has come for the City to lend a helping hand and create a community garden for our residents. I’m willing to make a pledge to our residents that the City will launch its community garden in the spring, 2015. But, I need your help! I want to organize a committee of resident-volunteers to spearhead this effort. I need people who love gardening, who are knowledgeable about gardening and are willing to share their knowledge with other residents. I need volunteers to literally get this project off the ground, to design and decide what type of community garden we want to offer to offer to our residents. Will we create a farm area where vegetables are grown and harvested for distribution? Will we create raised, trellised, and square-foot beds where residents can demonstrate various gardening techniques and landscaping possibilities? Will we create formal raised beds reserved for herbs and blooming plants to demonstrate the wide variety of plants that are successfully grown in the Southeast Michigan area. Gardens need water for irrigation and amenities such as picnic tables, parking, toilet facilities, garbage cans, and fencing. Where is the best location for our community garden? The Community Garden Program Committee will make these decisions and many, many more. And, above and beyond the steering committee, we need resident-volunteers to tend the gardens. Remember, gardens take time. Realistically, gardeners usually spend a minimum of three to five hours per plot each week to keep on top of a growing garden. We need volunteers that can give us as little as a day or as much as an entire summer. We even need volunteers who have a green thumb, but do not have the yard space to cultivate their talents. We need men, women, teenagers, children, organizations, and fraternal clubs. In short, we need YOU! If I have perked your interest in helping us launch this new and exciting venture, then, please, contact me by phone at 445-3983 or email me at [email protected].
Posted on: Wed, 22 Oct 2014 15:47:36 +0000
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