Daily News, Beliot, Wisconsin August 14, 2006 Community grows together with garden
By Judy Jackson Daily News correspondent The thing that frustrates me most is that this is not a restricted area or an area you have to break into, and the produce is available to anyone willing to work an hour a week, said Anna Kokity, project coordinator for Merrill Community Garden. She was talking about the damage vandals did to the garden on Aug. 11, the night before volunteers came to work on the garden. Some tomato plants were uprooted, and they took out a lot of the stakes. We had some flowers planted along the border, and they ripped them out. They pulled up squash plants . Kokity said, surveying the damage. Look at the poor corn, said one of the two elementary-age girls who had come to help. She tried vainly to right one of the broken stalks. Fortunately, most of the garden was left intact, although Kokity estimated the damage to be about $30 - $40. The homemade sign on the corner of the lot said, Saturday, Aug. 12, 9 a.m. Garden Wood Work help needed. In response, about 14 people, most of them members of Boy Scout Troop 615, had shown up to work that morning. They were building a rainwater collector in the corner farthest from the street. The structure consisted of a slanted roof supported in each corner by a 4-inch by 4-inch wooden beam. A rain gutter was attached to the lower side, with a downspout to channel rain falling on the roof into four rain barrels just under the edge of the roof. It had been designed by boy scout Josh Meier, 17, of Janesville, who was also hard at work. For Eagle Scouts, he was required to complete a project that showed he had leadership abilities, according to his mother, Rose Meier. He had considered several, but chose to collect the rain. Some of the boys were holding the corner beams upright, while others nailed supports for the roof in place. Just a few feet away, several were nailing together the framework for the roof, which would be lifted into place on the beams and covered with rolled roofing. The four barrels were closed on top, and attached to each other by plastic pipe. At the bottom of each barrel, they had installed a threaded faucet so that a hose could be attached for watering the garden. Since the park had no running water, Kokity had been hauling water in 5 gallon pails from her home approximately a mile away. She usually made the trip about twice a week. In addition to reducing the amount of work, the rainwater collector will have other benefits. Rain water is naturally more nutritious to use than city water, said Kokity. I want to do what's best for the environment. That day, Kokity had also hoped to have enough help to make a permanent sign for the garden, and to build more raised beds standing 1-1/2 to 2 feet off the ground. The raised beds would make gardening more accessible to those with physical limitations, as it would enable them to work the land from a chair, Kokity said. A second plot of ground had been tilled up just a few feet from the original. According to Kokity, a couple had heard of the garden effort and had graciously tilled it up. They also donated and transplanted some items from their own garden. The scouts had worked until dusk the day before, hauling in materials for the rainwater collector. To make room, they had cleared away heavy brush that hid the fence in the park's southwest corner and city crews had pitched in, clearing away the remainder of the brush along the park's west side. It's a lot safer, commented Kokity. Kids would play back there all the time, and you couldn't see them. Despite the disappointment caused by the vandalism, Kokity has great hopes for the Merrill Community Garden. She looks forward to being able to network with local schools and churches, devising garden-related educational programs for all ages and creating a source of food for people in the community. We'll clean up as much as we can, salvage what we can and carry on, she said. I'd like to keep this as an open garden available to anyone who's willing to work. ______________________________________________________ The American Community Gardening Association listserve is only one of ACGA's services to community gardeners. To learn more about the ACGA and to find out how to join, please go to http://www.communitygarden.org To post an e-mail to the list: [EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, unsubscribe or change your subscription: https://secure.mallorn.com/mailman/listinfo/community_garden
