Monday, July 26, 2010

Garden Update

Hello gardeners-

I would like to personally thank these individuals for coming on Saturday to the garden work day. Katie, Maureen, Colleen, Barbara, Henry, Brenda, Mychele, Ben, Darry, Vicente, Lisa, Stephen, Craig, Sareth, Karen, Justin, Justina, Michael and Nathan. I hope I got everyone but I feel like there were more hands on deck. I wanted to especially thank YOU folks for coming to work on a Saturday. The garden looks amazing and its because of you. When we all work together look how fast things get done. The coop got moved, all the weeds were pulled and new mulch was spread. We got a new gardener, friends got to hang out and as always new friends were made.

Community garden work days are necessary for the upkeep of the property. At WG we have very few mandatory work days. I do not believe in nagging others to do what they know they should do. When you are at the garden tending your plot you are responsible for the surrounding area including watering and pulling weeds. When these duties fall behind is when we have to go in as a mob and tighten things up. Saturday was a great example of how working together can accomplish things quickly. Although next time I think we need some music. Shoveling to a tune is much more fun.

To all the gardeners and community members who told me they were coming and did not show up, you are missing out. Its not just a work day at the garden but a chance for you to be part of something bigger. We chat with one another, share the work load and then share a meal. These are the things that build a better community. The garden is just an outlet to connect with friends and neighbors with a common interest.

We all have busy schedules and hectic lives but you must pick your priorities, if you commit to something than you should follow through. Its disappointing to the team if you do not show up when people are counting on you. My coach always told me, "many hands make small work". I have always loved that saying but its not only the work its the infrastructure we are building to build a better Long Beach.

Wrigley Garden will be on Henderson Ave for one more year (October 2011). After that the project is finished, we will move out and the Long Beach Housing Development Company will build Habitat for Humanity housing on the property. Let's make the most of this last year. All the things we talked about doing, now is the time. We need to have more parties, BBQ's, music, cooking demos, all of it. If you are interested in having an event in the garden or want to be part of something we are already doing over there please let us know. Let's make this project a memorable one.

Lastly, mark your calendars for November 20th. Our tree planting partners, Wrigley is Going Green, wrote a grant to plant flowering street trees all along Henderson Ave. We thought its the least we could do to leave this gang torn neighborhood with a little bit of garden. It will be sad for us to move out of this neighborhood who needs this garden so much. But at least we can leave behind some flowering beauty. More details on this will come later.

I hope everyone is having a nice summer take a minute to stop and smell the flowers.

Please view our Kickstarter campaign and spread the word!
Kickstarter: http://kck.st/aP1hWS

Happy Growing!
Sasha Kanno
Executive Director, Long Beach Local
562.230.7207
sashakanno@mac.com
www.longbeachlocal.org
http://wrigleygarden.org

http://www.facebook.com/wrigley.garden?ref=name