Community Garden: It's really happening!

Saturday was the first workday of the ARCO Royal Avenue Community Garden Project in Partnership with First Presbyterian Church (how's that for a mouthful of a name!). When Keith and I first came to the church, we looked at their large and beautiful plots of land and thought, "Wouldn't it be great if we could help get a community garden going?" And then, Keith was randomly searching on Google Images, and came across the blog for the Monroe Community Gardens (http://monroegardens.blogspot.com/), a group that had already been working to create a community garden for more than a year. They were a "people without a country," with lots of interest and will-power, but no land. A serendipitous connection...or the Holy Spirit?

Through this group, we met Mike Roberts, one of the central organizers of the garden. Here he is, setting up recycled railroad ties to frame one of the plots. He is easily one of the most enthusiastic people I have ever met. This guy is a one-man course in community-building!

On Saturday, we started cleaning up the land and to laying out some "sample" plots. I attacked some tenacious vines which had taken over the fence-row on the lot's border with a borrowed rake, which I managed to break several times in my vehemence. Luckily, Gerald, the new gardening friend from whom I borrowed it, was forgiving, as he was also engaged in a battle with the vines.

I'm starting to scheme about what we'll plant in our plot. I can already imagine the taste of delicious fresh vegetables, which always taste better when you've grown them yourself! Doesn't get any more local than that!