Weighing Community Garden Options
Here”s a progress report from Leslie Hartman, a Byrd Park neighbor who’s been working with the community to establish a public garden. This is NOT the same effort as the one that is getting off the ground at the Virginia Home with the help of the Byrd Park Civic League. Leslie does a great job differentiating these two projects – a handy update to help you figure out where you might like to pitch in. Also, feel free to offer input in the comments section (or to Leslie by email: ltomandlhartman@yahoo.com)
Hello there, gardening aficionados,
I know it’s been awhile since you heard from me. You may have assumed that I or this community garden idea fell off the map. Fortunately, neither one has happened! Here is an update to let you know the status of things and the feedback I would like from you to help us move forward: Since we last met/communicated by email, I have been searching for an appropriate site for our garden, with limited success.
Here are the possible sites I have pursued:
1. Land owned by Sixth Baptist Church, either behind or adjacent to the West End Market. After two phone conversations and many unreturned messages, I think it is fair to say that Pastor Bibbs at 6th Baptist is not interested in a community garden on church property. During our last conversation (7/13/09), she told me the church is planning to build a community gym and recreation center on their property, but they are at least 8-10 months out from this plan. She also said they never incur debt for their building projects, always raising the money first and then paying cash. They had no specific plans for the property and rec center drawn up by an architect at the time of our last conversation, so Dr. Bibbs was understandably unwilling to commit any land to a community garden. Since last July, I have left 4 messages for Dr. Bibbs but have not received a return phone call. She appears to be the gatekeeper and primary decision-maker at the church, so I can only conclude this pathway is closed for the time being.
2. 2404 Grayland Ave.–a large fenced-in triangle of vacant lot with garages forming its south border. According the City of Richmond GIS site, this parcel of land is owned by James E. and Carol A. Motley who also own a residence at 2406 Rosewood which backs up to the alley separating the vacant lot from Rosewood. Since we do not know the Motleys, Anne Worthington and I have attempted a drop in visit (no one home) and are currently drafting a letter to try to contact them about the possible use of their space for a community garden. If anyone has any personal knowledge of the Motleys or this property, please let me know.
3. 2308 Idlewood Ave.–a vacant lot currently owned by the city of Richmond. It appears to have once had a house on it and has steps leading to a higher plateau of overgrown land. I went to City Hall, Real Estate Services Department, to inquire about this property and left a message for Alicia Zatcoff, Project Development Manager. She promptly emailed me to let me know that “the city is working to create a process for utilizing city owned property for community gardens.” She advised me to check back with the Real Estate Services Office in May. So, no terra firma on which to plant our garden yet, but some possibilities still out there. Several suggestions for other properties have come my way, but they have either not enough sunlight, not enough proximity to the Byrd Park neighborhood, or they are already useful spaces. My preference is to take an unlovely space and turn it into a garden, rather than transforming park land into a garden, in order to further beautify our neighborhood.
This brings me to another development about which I especially want your feedback. At the last Byrd Park Civic League meeting (2/13/10), Sherry Williams (Director of Volunteer Services at the Virginia Home) presented her plans for a community garden within William Byrd Park at the corner of Powatan and Lake Dr.–right near the Virginia Home. Sean Sheppard (owner of Backyard Farmer) was also at the meeting to present his vision for the garden since his company has been hired to create and support it. They were looking for support from the Byrd Park neighborhood for their new community garden which has the aim of being wheelchair accessible (many raised horseshoe-shaped garden plots) and having an educational/mentoring aspect. They are planning to lease large plots to groups rather than individuals, such groups including BPCL, Virginia Home, corporations and local businesses. Their reason for this is to keep the maintenance of the plots from falling completely on the shoulders of one individual.
My question for you all is: should we join forces with this group and consider this “our” community garden effort, or should we continue with our own efforts to start a separate garden with a slightly different vision? I would love to hear all of your opinions and ideas on this matter–I want whatever kind of garden we have to be a community effort, not just my own. Thanks for reading this long, tedious email!
Leslie Hartman
Hello everyone. I am the guy who last year tried a rooftop garden on Maplewood (with limited success due to the heat of the roof). Leslie’s proposals resonate with my own hopes for this neighborhood, and I agree that neglected land is the direction to go.
I talked to the church last year about using the fenced in space adjacent to West End Market and got the same response. This was 10 calendar months ago. I was able to catch Mr. Motley and inquire about his fenced in property. He told me that he had plans for the property and, thusly, was not able to commit the land to community use.
This leaves the 2308 lot. I love it; it gets ample sunlight, save early sun on the about 2/3 of the northeastern land. It had been my plan to “squat farm” the plot this spring and summer. It is not large enough for a full scale community garden (small shed for hoses, tools, fertilizers, etc); however, it is ample and apparently fecund enough for a handful of gardeners.
I don’t know how many of us there are that would be into the go it your own route, and I do support the Virginia Home and their aspirations. Personally, the neglected land is where I would like to focus my attentions. Thanks for reading. Hopefully we can get some folk together and get something going.
Jay Bayer
What the Virginia Home is doing is exciting. This will be a huge benefit to our park and to the folks who live in close proximity to the Home.
Leslie’s vision for bringing a fruitful garden to an unlovely spot in our neighborhood is compelling.
My vote is to encourage Alicia Zatcoff to make haste in creating the process for utilizing city owned property for community gardens.
Jay,
Thanks for your updates on your efforts (which seem to be mirroring mine) to find property for our community garden. We should definitely keep each other abreast of our activities (via this website) so that we don’t duplicate our efforts and so that the rest of the Byrd Park community who reads this forum can stay on top of our progress (my optimistic choice of word!). I think I’ll continue to try to contact the Motleys and see if they’ve had any change of heart since your conversation with them.
And, John, I agree about encouraging the city to get moving on this process. I don’t know if Ms. Zatcoff is the main agent of change or if the huge machine of city bureaucracy can only move so fast. I have a friend who is an urban planning prof. at VCU and she seems connected to this change, so I’ll utilize all of her resources, too.
A suggestion to all the Gardeners the alleys are a good place to start. Narrow and little space yes but accessible to your property and it enhances the community a tomato plant here a pepper plant there some herbs a few blooming plants and there you have it….any thoughts?
Leslie,
I hope the efforts with the Motley’s pays off. That site would be perfect. In the meantime, I started clearing and digging at 2308. There was some sort of demolished/destroyed home there that was not neatly tended to and now a roughly six inch to one foot brick layer sits six inches below the surface. It will require some work to create a space even for raised beds, but I am optimistically and sedulously beseeching the aid of friends.
I think a conversation with the Tricycle Garden people would do us all a world of good. Maybe have a representative at the next Civic League meeting.
Gardener,
I love the idea of sprucing up isolated plots to increase the beauty and bounty. Not to mention the effects it has on the communal psyche.
One last thought. I’d like to get a neighborhood compost together as well. I’m thinking 5 gallon food grade buckets with lids picked up weekly. Whaddaya think?
I am glad to see this discussion continuing. As far as I can tell residents would love to have community garden space and would prefer it to be in the boundaries of our neighborhood. I think the Virginia Home Community Garden has something to offer but a community garden that would meet Leslie’s vision would have something different to offer. To speak for myself, I would like a space that I pay for and plant whatever I want whenever I want. I would also like it to be out of sight of the park so “vistors” aren’t tempted to help themselves. I haven’t spoken with anyone involved in a community garden to find out if there is a big problem with vandalism but I think it wouldn’t be as tempting if the garden was situated next to a house. I commend the effort being spent on this project, please continue coming to the BPCL meetings to keep everyone up-to-date (just let me know first so I can put you on the agenda) and if the BPCL can help in any way please let me know.
Jay, thanks for doing some “exploratory” work on the 2308 property. At this point, my view is if we get a good site, I will dig rock up to make it work! Sounds like you will, too.
Regarding Tricycle Gardens, I (and another Byrd Park resident who is on our garden team) attended a training there in June called “The Nitty Gritty of Community Gardens.” I learned a lot, got real excited, but haven’t found the folks over there to be very helpful when I’ve called to ask for advice. Actually, they never call me back. I think they are just too busy and underfunded/understaffed. I’ve also heard a rumor that they may be moving away from their emphasis on community gardens and toward urban farms or other efforts.
Kim, thanks for your feedback about what you want in a community garden. Based on what the folks at Tricycle said in the training I attended, vandalism and theft have not been a huge problem in their other gardens and they prefer to fence but not lock up their property. Who knows though–I have Byrd Park friends who have grown vegetables in their front yard and had them stolen…
Keep the feedback coming!
Leslie,
I can’t wait to hear about the training you got from the Tricycle folk. If we can coordinate some work dates at the 2308 site, I am all for it. I bartend and therefore have most days available for some ground working. As I own a gas powered weed eater, I will continue the task of grass/brush clearing in the next few days. I, also, have shovels, rakes, and a hoe for other prep tasks, but I think a wheelbarrow is necessary for the brick clearing job.
Look forward to hearing from you Leslie and all who want to take part in this effort!