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Community

Glean Energy!

By Blog, Community Events, Volunteer

Persimmons are in season and 12 bighearted volunteers from Saint Mary’s College helped glean a ton, (well 750 pounds) of fruit for Monument Crisis Center. And while they were at it, they picked three boxes of damaged persimmons and fallen pears for Lindsay Wildlife Museum. Not bad for 4 hours of work! Happy Thanksgiving.

52 Community Garden Dispatches

By Blog

Jeff Spurier has just finished a year long project for the LA Times reporting on the Community Gardens across Southern California.  Here is his final post.

Community Gardens Dispatch No. 52: The end

It’s transition time in the garden. For me, that means the end of my year in the community garden.

This series began after I graduated from the UC Cooperative Extension’s master gardener class in spring 2010. My education continued in community gardens from Ventura to Long Beach, from the foothills to the coast, from the inner city to the ex-urbs.

Microclimates, demographics and histories of the gardens may have differed, but one commonality stood out: No matter the ZIP Code, gardeners were generous with their time, expertise, seedlings and harvest. It sounds like a cliche (or a statement of the obvious) to say that community gardens build community, but after seeing how these gardens can be good neighbors, raising property values and welcoming newcomers with open arms (and full sun), the cliche just sounds like fact.

…And though just about everyone grew tomatoes and beets, spinach and cauliflower, I always found a surprise planted in there too: minari, a Korean herb used in kimchee; the diminutive dog’s tooth pepper, which packs a wallop;  moringa, a fast-growing, drought-tolerant tree. And did you know you can grow coffee, tea and all types of mango and papaya here? I didn’t.

This vast variety of edibles, flowers and other flora from around the world will be the subject of my new series for L.A. at Home: the Global Garden, a trip down a cross-cultural path that winds through Southern California. In many ways the new series will be an extension of this one — a reflection of our community as seen through what we plant. Stay tuned.

Read it all here.

Troop 32153 Leads the Way!

By Donate, Volunteer

Wow! Girl Scout Troop 32153 has kicked off our fund raising drive with a super generous donation of $440!  This would be a great time to get together with some friends and match this gift.  For more information about how to donate, click here.

For more about this remarkable troop, read this at Lamorinda Weekly.

Girl Scout Troop 32153

Food Sharing

By Blog, Community Events

Edible East Bay writes about:

Sharing has made a comeback. East Bay residents are now bartering, trading, exchanging, swapping, or simply giving away an abundance of homegrown produce or homemade food in a variety of creative ways. Of course, gardeners who grow their own veggies have always doled out surplus squash and spinach to neighbors (or as the San Francisco Chronicle recently wisecracked, arugula and cilantro, the Berkeley equivalent of summer’s backyard bounty).

Read more.

Planting the Seed!

By About

Please join us as we create the Lafayette Community Garden and Outdoor Learning Center.

Since 2008, a core group of nineteen community members, including educators and master gardeners, has been looking for a community garden and outdoor education center.

In February of 2011, EBMUD and the City of Lafayette agreed to allow the community to use the multi-acre site in front of the Filter Plant on Mt. Diablo Boulevard.  In addition to learning sustainable gardening practices at the site, we will have the opportunity to learn about the local habitat displayed by the beautiful oak, bay laurel and other plants along the adjacent creek.

Community support has grown as the concept has been shared with local seniors, garden clubs, scouts, families and individuals looking for opportunity to create a model of respectful land use and civic cooperation.

In April 2011, Sustainable Lafayette became the fiscal sponsor of the project.