Madison Park

Community Gardens Report Hello all, Email me if you would like an invitation to the Wedgewood Community Garden Google Group. seekritknitster@gmail.com Pat Farrell met with a few of us (myself, Juanita and Cathy) last week to discuss ideas and plans. With such a small group, we weren't able to get anything moved around, but we did get some very good ideas from Pat about how to proceed. I will update you on that in a moment, but first - WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS! Please spread the word. To be successful we need at least 10 volunteers who can put in a couple of hours a week. For the most part, after things are underway, we will do our "meetings" online, so those hours can be whenever it's convenient for you - daytime, evening, weekend - it's all good. The garden is open to all - members of the local community, friends of the church, ANYONE who is able and willing to put in the "sweat equity." As to what you get out of it - FOOD! And the awareness that you are becoming part of the solution to our depleted land, genetically engineered crops, and ridiculously overwork family farmers. With the existing group, we decided to go ahead and get started on a few things: 1. Composting. Pat showed us the area set aside for non-kitchen compost and we need lots and lots of leaves, grass trimmings, sticks - any plant matter that we can get. If you see someone's lawn trimmings bagged up at the curb, grab them and bring them over! Why? So we can make our own earth! Pat will meet with incoming volunteers to teach about the how and where, and as we grow, others can help with education as well. 2. Straw bale gardens. Because these are very low impact and easy to maintain, we decided that the three volunteers present last week would commit to working 3 straw bales each, and sharing the yield from them. We will place them close to the front of the garden area to serve as a visual draw, and hopefully get more people interested in what we're doing. The nice thing is that even if we don't reach a "critical mass" of people this summer, this is a project we can do successfully and build onto later. Currently the straw bales have been acquired, and we will be meeting soon to determine their exact placement and to prep them for planting. 3. What's Next. We have a lot of details still to work out, starting with our ground rules. Pat has a great deal of experience and will be sharing a lot of resources with us, which I will post to the Google group. Since we want this garden to truly belong to the community, we can hold off until more people have a chance to join us before implementing rules or doing further planning. So spread the word! Thanks, --Jet

Hi Jet, Has there been a time established on when we should meet up again with Pat to start planting, building a compost pile, etc.? Thanks Juanita

Jaunita, I have contacted Pat & Jet directly.  As soon as they respond I will post the answer. 

I mentioned the community gardens at the Meeting Monday night.  I am sure we have other neighbors that are interested in these gardens.   Community Gardens are something that residents asked to be included in Madison Centeral Park, but CMS would not allow us to add them.  They wanted us to help the children/school with their gardens.  Which some of our neighbors are doing.