This year we started a church garden to supplement food resources to our Storehouse. The Storehouse is our community outreach food bank that our church has on site. This is a co-op group of several community churches effort to provide food for the poor, homeless and others in time of need. The garden project will provide fresh fruits and vegetables in addition to everything else we collect for distribution. We have planted a lot of varieties of vegetables and fruit bearing types of trees. There is a lot of land to expand the garden as we determine how much we can grow/maintain & use. The back area is being prepped for future growth at this time so all the "heavy" work can be spread over time. Nothing better than seeing 30 or 40 people lending a hand putting plants in the ground. Is there anyone else doing these kind of community/church type projects?
No but on occasion I fix what the are unable to spend mass amounts of money on ... right now I am going through all the ballasts and bulbs on the grounds... waiting on bigger ladder lol...
I tried to get the ball rolling on a community garden when I worked for the city. Got the land for it, got donated seeds, equipment, even a $5000 gift card from Home Depot for stuff. Never could get it off the ground tho. Couldn't get volunteers, couldn't keep people from stealing everything we took out there. One guy even stole dirt. DIRT. After I left, some of the city council members stole the lumber and bagged garden soil that was left. As I am not bearing the correct last name nor affiliated with an area church, my input in such things is rarely welcomed. Having been made aware of that, now I just haul our excess garden stuff to people I know are in need and call it a day.
more It sounds like a town to keep clear of. I have had a different experience with establishing a community garden (Graceville Community Garden)...the garden is now some 4 years old and has developed well as a community project over time (despite some negligible but none the less, vocal opposition). The garden was established in a relatively affluent area of Brisbane, and had strong local community support. Welcome to the Graceville Community Garden | Graceville Community Garden http://blogs.abc.net.au/files/bfast-060410-graceville-garden.mp3 Many churches have land that consists of unproductive lawn....I think that time spent on one's knees in the garden, growing food, communing with nature and one's fellow humanity, is more productive than polishing a pew with one's butt. A community garden on church land...what a splendid idea.
I have to agree with Chell, sounds like a town worth steering clear of. When the city council members will steal this kind of stuff now, imagine what they could do when the SHTF and they are the sole authority, with no check and balance from county or state officials..... the people would be at their mercy, or the "people" stringing up the council...either way it will not be good for the community.
I don't work there any more and you couldn't pay me to live there. Shame too... me and one of the county deputies used to talk about how it would be the PERFECT retreat community. Four good, deep water wells, only one road coming in or out, set well back from any major road and far from any city. The only downside to it was the population, an unhealthy mix of around 400 thieves, tweakers, and self righteous hypocrites. I mean, this is a community that elected a registered sex offender and pedophile as mayor. Twice.
Oh man.....that says it all. It makes the town in The Book of Eli look like Mayberry (Andy Griffith's home town).
The church garden project is plugging along just fine and reaping a nice harvest. We are not tracking weight or amount of produce being generated since some folks are picking it right off the vine most times. We also have volunteers in the Storehouse collecting ripe produce to hand out for walk ins at our food-bank. I talked to a family after church on Sunday as they were picking a yellow squash, some tomatoes and misc to take home for dinner... they said it helped with their food bills (they had contributed labor early on during the planting- bonus for teaching their two young ones how to garden). We have even noticed some coming off the street and picking the food (homeless most likely).... and that works for us. Current pics:
A small patch of perennial herbs might be a nice addition next year. (I don't see any in your pix, but might have missed it.)
The plot behind the brown building is the herb garden.... lots of different types were started in the spring and doing well.... The plan is to expand the area along the fence towards the back of the property next spring to almost double the garden foot print. We are getting more funds together & planning a labor party, to extend the water lines and buy additional materials for that area, to start prep work soon.
The project went really well and as a church body.... we provided a lot of food towards those in need!!!! I have posted the link to the fall progress pics if interested. Fall 2014 Church Garden | Survival Monkey Forums We are all satisfied with what we did this year.... next year we hope to double the production..... we have a lot of land and have started prep for expansion during the dry weather. Anybody else have something like this going on...or in planning stages?