Hello, Lynne and Candace, Good to hear about community garden projects in the Carolinas. Nothin' could be finer.
If you'd ever like to visit what we've got going on in Charlotte, please drop me an email and we can set up a date. Similarly, I'd like to come visit you at some point. You both are thinking in a solid, down-to-earth way, which is very good (and you've found ACGA - a very good place to start). Jim and Adam both raise good points. You'll be dealing, among other things, with policy (land ownership and tenure, for instance), soil and people. The 1996 national community garden survey indicated that roughly 50% of gardens that fail do so because of gardeners losing interest and involvement, so building the human component is essential - a human component that includes meaningful empowered inclusion for participants in the garden project at all levels, from gardeners to funders. But, like juggling, you'll need to deal with enriching the soil and designing the garden space to build community at the same time you deal with people and policy - gardeners like gardens, not meetings, as a rule. Depending on where you are, Cooperative Extension and/or Park and Recreation Departments can be very helpful partners (they are key players in Charlotte). So can your municipal composting operation. We don't really have a 'Carolina's chapter' of ACGA - maybe we should start thinking about forming one? NC State, NCAT and Clemson have faculty who can help (I think of Kieth Baldwin at NCAT in Greensboro). Debbie Roos, sustainable ag agent in Chatham County, has great information. Probably the best Carolinas community gardening programs - extremely different - are the privately run huge garden 15 acres on Hilton Head and the SEEDSS program in Durham. Both are well worth a visit. We have a large church-sponsored program locally (Methodist, known as Charlotte Green) that focuses on 5 inner city gardens, mostly for African-American seniors), and a garden for the homeless sponsored by Urban Ministry. Faith communities and gardening certainly have a long and honorable history, and even in your situation, Candace, you might find them excellent allies (I personally feel this also means being very proactive about inclusion of all people, whatever their religion or lack thereof). Likewise, Lynne, inviting in the environmental community is worthwhile. Including wildlife habitat gardens (birds and butterflies for starters) and the like increases interest and adds biodiversity. Anyway, best of luck and keep me posted, please, on how your projects are going. Don Boekelheide PLANT Program (Mecklenburg County Recycling) Charlotte, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED] --- [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > > Send community_garden mailing list submissions to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > To subscribe or unsubscribe via the web, visit > > https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden > or, via email, send a message with subject or body > 'help' to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > You can reach the person managing the list at > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > > When replying, please edit your Subject line so it > is more specific than > "Re: Contents of community_garden digest..." > > > Today's Topics: > > 1. reSubject: [cg] conservation easements on > community gardens (rainbowpauline) > 2. RE: Church Associated Community Gardens (Jim > Call) > 3. Re: conservation easements on community gardens > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > 4. Presbyterians, CSA's & Community Gardens > ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) > > --__--__-- > > Message: 1 > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > From: rainbowpauline <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 13:27:27 -0700 > Subject: reSubject: [cg] conservation easements on > community gardens > > Dear Candice, > > Please forward the replies that you receive to this > list. I am also > interested in this subject. > > Thanks, > > Pauline > > > > > > > Forwarded: > From: "Candace Williams" > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Date: November 8, 2005 9:12:58 AM MST > To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: [cg] conservation easements on community > gardens > > > Hello fellow gardeners! My organization is in the > beginning stages of > planning a community garden in Fayetteville, NC. We > have identified > the city > lots (3 acres) and am in the midst of negotiating > their future use for > our > gardens. After reading the sad stories about loss > of gardens back to > the city > after years of tender care, I want to make sure that > that doesn't > happen to > our gardens. Our plan is to have the city retain > ownership of the land > but > have a conservation easement placed on the land > which would be held by > the > Sandhills Area Land Trust. This easement would > ensure that the land > remain > open space in perpetuity even if the garden was > abandoned down the > road. I am > inquiring from you, the garden community, as to > whether any of your > gardens > are protected by easements or restricted covenants? > I am in need of > model > easement to present to my Board and the City of such > an agreement and > am in > hopes that there may be a model in use that I could > use as an > illustration. > Any feedback and information would be greatly > appreciated!!! Thank you! > Candace Williams > _______________________________ > > Candace Williams > Sandhills Area Land Trust > Program Coordinator/Land Protection > Cumberland County Field Office > 104 Gillespie Street - P. O. Box 42 > Fayetteville, NC 28302 > (910) 483-9028 > www.sandhillslandtrust.org > > > --__--__-- > > Message: 2 > From: "Jim Call" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > To: "Fred Mabry" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, > <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> > Subject: RE: [cg] Church Associated Community > Gardens > Date: Tue, 8 Nov 2005 19:59:59 -0600 > > About 6 years ago, I was approached by a Lutheran > Church to help establish a > community garden on their grounds. Their mission > was to give the harvest to > the poor elderly, similar to the CASA Community > Garden's (CCG) effort. This > was a presented to the church by a small number of > members (5 or so) who had > visited the CCG. It was chaired by a "Lynne Mabry" > type who had the > responsibility of making this happen. On "Plant > Day" in spring, they had > about 25 or more volunteers. Good turnout for a 50' > by 100' garden. All > goes well. The soil was what I call a "gum shoe" > clay. Just terrible. It > screamed for organics. I ask the Pastor of church > afterwards... have you > ever heard of the phase > "God is testing you"? He said "yes". I responded, > "Pastor, this garden > will be testing all of you". I told him it will > take a few years of adding > amendments to it in order to raise its harvest > level. I gave him and their > garden leaders advice on going forward. > > During that summer, I visited the garden on > occasions to review their > progress. As predicted, it produced poorly and had > severe weed problems. As > the hot summer weather approached the volunteerism > waned. I understand the > lady overseeing this project quit the church the > following year and without > leadership the project was discontinued. > > To this end, I would advise you to make sure you are > aware of all the > requirements needed to operate this garden. Meet > with your Garden Committee > and make note of all the equipment, materials > (including seeds, plants, > etc.), volunteers, tasks, rules/regulations required > to operate it. I'm not > a "meeting" kind of person (unless its in the > garden), but I would advise > having someone take minutes to record your meetings. > Email the minutes to > everyone involved. > > You have quite a challenge. If you have additional > questions, please email > me and I will try to help you out. > > Wishing you the best in your efforts, Jim > > > > > > -----Original Message----- > From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] Behalf > Of Fred Mabry > Sent: Tuesday, November 08, 2005 11:31 AM > To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] > Subject: [cg] Church Associated Community Gardens > > > My name is Lynne Mabry. I live in Laurinburg, NC. > Laurinburg is on the > border with SC, between Charlotte and Wilmington. > My church, Laurinburg > Presbyterian Church, has about 2-3 acres of unused > land that we are planning > === message truncated === ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. 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