---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Suzy Stelmaszek" <s...@tmarchitects.com>
To: <community_garden@list.communitygarden.org>
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 10:58:07 -0500
Subject: [Community_garden] starting a community garden
Hello,
We started a community garden two years ago in Norfolk, VA. We
received
a small grant and were able to develop about 30 family plots,
which we
offer to interested families for "free", in exchange for working 2-3
volunteer hours per week. However, we have not had much luck
generating
interest in the community, and after two years only have six
families!
We have knocked on doors, gone to local civic league meetings,
written
articles in the local online paper, and put up flyers at the
farmer's
market. My question is, what have you done to promote your community
garden?
Thank you,
Suzy Stelmaszek LEED AP
TYMOFF+ MOSS ARCHITECTS
512 Botetourt Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
757.627.0013 x 16
757.319.7105 mobile
www.tmarchitects.com <http://www.tmarchitects.com>
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or
entity to
which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-
confidential
and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of
this message you are hereby notified that any use, review,
retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any
action
taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you
received this
in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any
computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the
individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of this
company.
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---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: "Fred Conrad" <fred.con...@acfb.org>
To: "Suzy Stelmaszek" <s...@tmarchitects.com>, <
community_garden@list.communitygarden.org>
Date: Wed, 5 Jan 2011 12:51:37 -0500
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] starting a community garden
not that this is going to be any help to you, but it's raining
outside
so I'm going with typing rather than mud-therapy.
first off, let me say that, as far as I'm concerned, Norfolk has
one the
greatest arboretum/botanical gardens anywhere. love the size of
it, the
water features, the library upstairs in that roundish building.
cypress
knees and cardinal flowers. it's fantastic. you could always
tell when
you were nearing the rose garden because you could smell the sevin
before you could see the roses (there's a berm around it). I
wish we
had an arboretum here (ours is a couple hours away in Athens). I
wish
we had water like that, too. of course, being adjacent to the
airport
is a little distracting.
second, back in the old days of community gardening, the "if you
build
it they will come" model rarely proved successful. but recently
with
the local food movement even that approach has been working for a
lot of
people. you don't mention proximity to senior centers or senior
towers
or other natural constituents, so is it safe to assume that you
may be
in a low-density area? your best shot at salvation may be one or
two
really charismatic gardeners who attract a lot of their friends
to the
garden. maybe you should check the local Slow Food chapter, they
may
have a receptive community for you, might organize local workdays
for
that matter that would introduce the garden to a lot of locavore-ish
type people.
I'm just winging it. you might also approach other community
gardens
about marketing your garden to their waiting lists.
the worst case scenario would be that if a group of well meaning
people
of one socio-economic strata built the garden in a neighborhood they
don't live in for the benefit of residents who may be experiencing a
different socio-economic life journey. that could potentially
discourage participation. if you don't fall into that category, you
will likely prevail and thrive. sooner or later. just hang in
there.
and hold on a few minutes, somebody with a more thought-through
answer
will probably post in a few minutes, then you can delete me.
-fgc
Atlanta, GA
-----Original Message-----
From: community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org
[mailto:community_garden-boun...@list.communitygarden.org] On
Behalf Of
Suzy Stelmaszek
Sent: Wednesday, January 05, 2011 10:58 AM
To: community_garden@list.communitygarden.org
Subject: [Community_garden] starting a community garden
Hello,
We started a community garden two years ago in Norfolk, VA. We
received
a small grant and were able to develop about 30 family plots,
which we
offer to interested families for "free", in exchange for working 2-3
volunteer hours per week. However, we have not had much luck
generating
interest in the community, and after two years only have six
families!
We have knocked on doors, gone to local civic league meetings,
written
articles in the local online paper, and put up flyers at the
farmer's
market. My question is, what have you done to promote your community
garden?
Thank you,
Suzy Stelmaszek LEED AP
TYMOFF+ MOSS ARCHITECTS
512 Botetourt Street
Norfolk, VA 23510
757.627.0013 x 16
757.319.7105 mobile
www.tmarchitects.com <http://www.tmarchitects.com>
The information transmitted is intended only for the person or
entity to
which it is addressed and may contain proprietary, business-
confidential
and/or privileged material. If you are not the intended recipient of
this message you are hereby notified that any use, review,
retransmission, dissemination, distribution, reproduction or any
action
taken in reliance upon this message is prohibited. If you
received this
in error please contact the sender and delete the material from any
computer. Any views expressed in this message are those of the
individual sender and may not necessarily reflect the views of this
company.
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