Sat Nov3 Meetings & More: CommunityGarden & iCreate

Tomorrow will be a busy day for iCreate and friends of the Mountainair Community Garden

• 9 - 10 am, iCreate Community Garden meeting at Mountainair's art center, Mountain Arts on Broadway {Ed Note: the soil test report is available and presumably will be discussed, otherwise there is no agenda. Call Lenora at 847-2419 about the agenda}

• 10 am -  12 noon, iCreate's ukulele workshop, offered in cooperation with the Manzano Mountain Art Council and MOaB community arts education program, same location as garden meeting above.

• 1 - 2 pm, iCreate Music Outreach and Board meeting @ Lenora's house

iCreate 21012 Fall Calendar

…as submitted by Lenora Romero

(Correction: NMAC should be MMAC)

Announcing the #NMCentennial #Gardens Program

Something for #Mountainair #CommunityGarden or perhaps the Manzano Mountain Art Council (partnering with MPS) to consider. Please note  that "priority will be given to both limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate strong collaborations and community support." 

Centennial Gardens - Call for Proposals
The New Mexico Centennial Gardens Program is an initiative of the New Mexico Centennial Foundation, working in partnership with state agencies and private partners. Thanks to the generosity of the Coca-Cola Foundation, the NM Centennial Foundation is able to provide grants to support school and community garden projects in New Mexico in 2012. Grants will be available at levels of $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000. To be eligible for a Centennial Garden grant, applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or nonprofit K-12 school that is developing or currently maintaining a garden project that will help communities engage with fresh fruits and vegetables. Garden projects may be at any stage of development; planning, construction or operation. In selecting grant recipients, priority will be given to both limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate strong collaborations and community support. Relationships with food banks or other outlets to distribute food to New Mexicans in need are a plus. To download the guidelines and application please visit the NM Centennial website or call 505-984-2012. The application deadline is January 13, 2012.

How Many Community Gardens?

Deciding how to lay out the "instant garden" against backdrop of art center's mural in progress 

How many? #Mountainair's community gardeners are still working on the challenge of just one garden. After starting with a single crop (garlic) in a less than idea local, relocating to idyllic garden space at Mojave Rose and now creating (necessity can be a real mother) an experimental "instant garden" courtesy of the Manzano Mountain Art Council's gracious offer of space at its new art center space, Mountain Arts on Broadway, we may probably put more mileage on our community garden than the norm. We're still here...  


It may not be too soon to think of multiple community gardens, but no more than just thinking when we can't be sure where this one will be next year. In the meantime, we can keep learning, attending Claunch-Pinto SWCD/ County NMSU Extension workshops, weaving a network of local gardeners, supporting the new local farmers market, Mountainair Farm & Garden Market and encouraging local growers, producers, processors and artisans

How Many Community Gardens?

Peak Moment 198: Having learned "How Much Food Can I Grow Around My House?" (Peak Moment 72), Judy Alexander kept right on going. As chair of the Local 2020 Food Resiliency Action Group in Port Townsend, WA, she helped initiate 25 community gardens in her county within four years. Sitting in her own neighborhood's garden, she talks about the power of cooperative gardens compared with individual plots. Thereapos;s something for people of all ages and skills to do (even non-gardeners), while enjoying learning from one another, and building closer neighbors and a more secure community. More

Peak Moment #198: How Many Community Gardens? Listen to Audio. Download video on iTunes. Watch the video »