The first planting party for the community garden will be held this Saturday, the 18th, at 2:00 pm. Please note this is slightly later than originally planned, but we had to push it back for various reasons. We are no longer planning on eating lunch together, however it will still be an awesome time to simply hang out, garden, and get to know one another.
What we are planting:
-Potatoes
-Different kinds of peas
-onions
-lettuce
Also if anyone has a garden hoe, please bring one.
If you are planning on attending, please reply to this post with what you will bring. Please look over what others are bringing so we do not have too much of any one thing. Thanks!
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Planting Party Canceled
Just letting you all know that the planting party for This Saturday is canceled due to rain and is rescheduled for next Saturday, the 18th, same time and place. More details to come.
Thanks
Thanks
Tuesday, April 7, 2009
Purpose
In continuing to explain the garden, I think it is extremely important that we all know and understand the purpose behind it. I would have to say that the main purpose behind this garden is threefold, service, community, and education.
Service: Obviously, as I have stated before, some of what is grown at this garden is for ourselves. I plan on bringing some of this produce home and eating it, (and I am very excited for that.) However, we have also made it clear that we want to utilize this garden to serve people whom otherwise would not have access to free fresh produce. That means, we will be giving them to places such as Manna on Main st, which selflessly feeds people twice a day seven days a week. Additionally, we all come in contact with people who are in need, bringing them to the garden and opening it up to them is an amazing way to serve them. Finally, the simple act of showing up and planting things in the garden, is the beginning of not only making service possible, but also serving all the people who may end up eating from the particular plants you plant. One final note that I don't believe has been mentioned before, is that in addition to planting food, we plan to plant flowers as well that can be given away for free. The thought behind that is that while the food can definitely serve peoples physical needs, in the right situation, the ability to bring flowers with the food, can begin to serve peoples emotional needs as well. It is just another fun simple way to love other people.
Community: Simply by spending time with people at the garden, people are going to grow in community with one another. We hope to have special days, (like the planting party) when we can have very intentional time of just hanging out and getting to know one another. Additionally, I think this garden has huge potential to grow community outside of the garden itself. If we can be intentional about bringing things from the garden to our places of work, or giving them out to neighbors, it is an awesome opportunity to grow or even start those specific relationships. This idea is especially close to my heart for the future as we hope to move the garden into Lansdale, as I believe it will serve as an awesome tool to grow the community of Lansdale even stronger.
Education: One of the quotes that has been thrown around a lot as we have been planning this garden is, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." This old Chinese Proverb is filled with wisdom and makes a lot of sense. I hope that through this garden, people simply learn how to garden. We learn how to cultivate this earth which we live on. Now if you happen to know me at all, I am by no means a super earthy person who has a thousand plants growing in my bedroom. Rather, I am still a student of gardening who knows very little about it. However, I believe so strongly in the two previous ideas of serving others and growing community, that gardening together became one of the most practical ways to live them out. Hopefully through doing this, people not only learn how to provide themselves with food, which is awesome, especially in the scary economy, but also learn the joy of serving others and growing community. If we can all truly learn that, this world will truly be a better place.
Service: Obviously, as I have stated before, some of what is grown at this garden is for ourselves. I plan on bringing some of this produce home and eating it, (and I am very excited for that.) However, we have also made it clear that we want to utilize this garden to serve people whom otherwise would not have access to free fresh produce. That means, we will be giving them to places such as Manna on Main st, which selflessly feeds people twice a day seven days a week. Additionally, we all come in contact with people who are in need, bringing them to the garden and opening it up to them is an amazing way to serve them. Finally, the simple act of showing up and planting things in the garden, is the beginning of not only making service possible, but also serving all the people who may end up eating from the particular plants you plant. One final note that I don't believe has been mentioned before, is that in addition to planting food, we plan to plant flowers as well that can be given away for free. The thought behind that is that while the food can definitely serve peoples physical needs, in the right situation, the ability to bring flowers with the food, can begin to serve peoples emotional needs as well. It is just another fun simple way to love other people.
Community: Simply by spending time with people at the garden, people are going to grow in community with one another. We hope to have special days, (like the planting party) when we can have very intentional time of just hanging out and getting to know one another. Additionally, I think this garden has huge potential to grow community outside of the garden itself. If we can be intentional about bringing things from the garden to our places of work, or giving them out to neighbors, it is an awesome opportunity to grow or even start those specific relationships. This idea is especially close to my heart for the future as we hope to move the garden into Lansdale, as I believe it will serve as an awesome tool to grow the community of Lansdale even stronger.
Education: One of the quotes that has been thrown around a lot as we have been planning this garden is, "Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." This old Chinese Proverb is filled with wisdom and makes a lot of sense. I hope that through this garden, people simply learn how to garden. We learn how to cultivate this earth which we live on. Now if you happen to know me at all, I am by no means a super earthy person who has a thousand plants growing in my bedroom. Rather, I am still a student of gardening who knows very little about it. However, I believe so strongly in the two previous ideas of serving others and growing community, that gardening together became one of the most practical ways to live them out. Hopefully through doing this, people not only learn how to provide themselves with food, which is awesome, especially in the scary economy, but also learn the joy of serving others and growing community. If we can all truly learn that, this world will truly be a better place.
Thursday, April 2, 2009
How it Works
The primary question I have heard about the garden, and even asked myself, is simply, how does it work? A lot of community gardens that I have read about have given away or sold small 10x10 plots of land in the garden to groups or families to do whatever they please with. For at least the first year of our garden we are not going to do that. Although we may have a couple small private sections for different reasons, the large majority of the garden will be open to all people all the time. Prior to our second planting party, we will likely make a list of the primary things to be grown in the garden, and then break off different sections of the garden to be plant specific.
To be honest, it may be a little messy at first as we allow people to come at different times to plant in the same area. But, as soon as we get past the time of planting, things will become a lot easier.
The most important thing I want to continue to stress, is that this is not my garden, nor the garden of Duane who lives on the property, or the farmer who owns the land, this is everyone's garden. The plants that you specifically plant, are open to everyone, and you too can pick from all the other plants.
Once everything is growing, we hope and desire for people to come back every few weeks on their own to pick weeds, and take care of the garden as they see need. Not just weeding around the seeds you planted, but all around the garden as much as you can.
I realize that this system will be frustrating for some people, however, as we look at the different goals of this garden (to be posted in near future) we hold community and service as two high values, and believe this shared garden idea allows that to flow at it's best.
The final thought on this that I want to definitely get across, is that one can join in this garden at any point, just because you don't plant, does not mean you can not pick in the late summer. This is a garden for everyone at all times and I don't want that to change.
To be honest, it may be a little messy at first as we allow people to come at different times to plant in the same area. But, as soon as we get past the time of planting, things will become a lot easier.
The most important thing I want to continue to stress, is that this is not my garden, nor the garden of Duane who lives on the property, or the farmer who owns the land, this is everyone's garden. The plants that you specifically plant, are open to everyone, and you too can pick from all the other plants.
Once everything is growing, we hope and desire for people to come back every few weeks on their own to pick weeds, and take care of the garden as they see need. Not just weeding around the seeds you planted, but all around the garden as much as you can.
I realize that this system will be frustrating for some people, however, as we look at the different goals of this garden (to be posted in near future) we hold community and service as two high values, and believe this shared garden idea allows that to flow at it's best.
The final thought on this that I want to definitely get across, is that one can join in this garden at any point, just because you don't plant, does not mean you can not pick in the late summer. This is a garden for everyone at all times and I don't want that to change.
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