Skip to main content

Community Gardening Bust

While I was staying with my wonderfully supportive boyfriend who was letting me borrow his car to get back and forth to work (I now have my own set of wheels again...yay!) he and I went for a walk around his neighborhood.  

We came across what had once surely been a magnificent community garden complete with a children's garden, raspberry bushes, and herbs. But it was no longer the beauty it once had been.  


You could hardly see the vegetables for the weeds and the grass and you could tell that no one had been taking care of it recently.  


So this brings me to a frustrating question: should we really create community gardens?  I know you're all screaming "yes! Yes! of course we should!" but this is not the first garden I have seen get neglected by its creators.  Another baby community garden in Wilmington was overlooked almost completely this season, some of the beds were not even planted!

Of course we all know the pros of community garden: teaching people to grow their own food, teaching children where food comes from, teaching children through gardening (science, math, etc), eating healthier, etc.  But you cannot simply plant a garden and expect those things to happen.   You must continue the work throughout the season.  You must meet with the families and teach them first how to plant, then how to water, how to weed, how to harvest, and what to do with what they've harvested.  

I rescued a ripe zucchini and squash from the garden after sadly seeing several rotting away into nothing.  Rotten tomatoes litter the ground; other plants, weed choked, produced nothing.  

I just wish people who come up with these great ideas and start organizations and projects and initiatives would follow through.  Its a great gesture to plant a garden but is the gesture not unlike a fake smile if you allow it to rot and become choked with weeds?

Is there a solution to this?


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Odd Pets

Every once in a while I click the "Marketplace" application on my Facebook page (in case someone is giving away a free bed that I could use).  Upon doing so yesterday I saw a pet Wallaby for sale for $1,200.  
I want one.  
However, the question is...can I have one?  Are wallabys...or is it wallabies...or maybe walleye...no that's definitely not it...you know what I mean...but are they legal in this state?
Well let's start with what we know is legal: cats and dogs (unless your landlord says no then you'll be out on the street), most lizards, but those are basic pets.  Here's a little snippet into the unusual (and expensive) pets.  
World's most expensive pets: 
Green Monkey: $16 million Missy: $1.2 million Capuchin Monkey: $10,000 That's right.  I said LEGAL!  There are neither bans nor requirements on monkey ownership in Ohio so go for it!  Buy your monkey!
Need a less feminine monkey?  Try these guys!
De Brazza's Monkey: $7,000-$10,000

Squirrel Monkey: $…
Post a Comment
Read more

DIY Wood Stencil Sign

I purchased these cute blank signs from Target--here's what the original item looked like. Then I created a stencil using 631-this is removable vinyl.  I chose removable vinyl mostly because I had ordered a large number of a color I didn't intend to use again and had extra, also it works great for things like ceramics where you're worried 651 permanent vinyl won't remove easily.  The key for me was USE TRANSFER TAPE.  In the past a majority of my bleeding has been from the centers of the letters because I was individually placing them by hand and they weren't sealing properly.  Transfer tape not only removes me individually placing letter centers, but it also gives you a better seal.  Just take an old credit card and burnish your transfer tape FOREVER.  
I mean, burnish until you think there can't possibly be any bubbles under that piece of vinyl...and then do it some more!  Then peel up your transfer tape...and voila!

This is the paint I decided to use.  It'…
2 comments
Read more

Your Blog: Resume Boost or Liability?

I have recently read two different blogs that have both touched on the same topic. How your blog affects your resume and/or job search. The first was an interview with Sasha Halima, one of my favorite bloggers, at PR Breakfast Club. You can read it here. The second is on Brand Yourself, Your Blog is Your Extended Resume.

Brand Yourself argues just what the title says that a blog is an extended resume and that when a potential employer searches for you and finds a blog full of fabulous content, they'll hire you.

And while I couldn't agree more that I AGONIZED over the fact that potential employers were most likely Googling me and getting results for some person in Seattle or a Blues Singer in New York the interview with Sasha Halima said something that also struck a chord with me. Your blog can be a "liability." That is the scariest word that any potential employer could ever say because, if you're a liability to them, odds are other potential employers could fee…
Post a Comment
Read more