2013 #Mountainair #CommunityGarden start up

Detail from community garden mural, Azusa CA. So when will our
garden get more of a mural than the big zigzag on building?

…Friday of last week, Tomas Wolff called a community garden meeting today. Not having heard to the contrary, shall we assume it is still on? Email wolff.clayworks@gmail.com or call 847-0324 to confirm and inquire after agenda details. Tomas writes,

Fellow gardeners,

 It being Spring, I thought it would be good idea to get together and talk about the community garden plans. How about Saturday, March 30th at 12:00 noon at the Mountain Arts on Broadway (MAOB) art center?

The trees are blooming in the valley!

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

REMINDER: Garden Party TODAY

…Saturday in #Mountainair…Oct13 starting 4:30pm…Garden Party by iCreate / Mountainair Community Garden at the garden space at Mountain Arts on Broadway. 

Lenora Romero writes,

Hope to see you and friends at the garden party.  I will have a computer with some very nice pictures of the garden under construction this summer for those who might like to see them. We also have pictures of the recent arts and garden field trip for MES students.

iCreate Updates

Coming Saturday July 14: Western Music Association (WMA) & iCreate Music Festival, 3-8 pm at the Shaffer Hotel Gazebo, featuring local musicians Byron Ripley and The Tumbleweeds (Western Swing and Honky Tonk) and others. More event details will be posted separately and a poster when available and sent to me. If not, then not. 


Kay Stillion writes about the kids' garden project and about the iCreate music program

Saturday May 5, two children. Samantha T. and Zack T., participated in the iCreate SEEDS Kids' Garden by tilling the bed set aside for the project. They also gathered rocks, bricks and sticks for the border. Samantha is creating a sculpture of two hands holding the world for the arts council's Outdoor Sculpture Project and Show. 


Saturday May 12, Samantha T, who is in the iCreate violin class, performed with the adult violin class at the opening of the Mountainair Farm & Garden Market. Jaiden,  who is also in the violin class, performed at the market with her grandmother, Lenora.  Both children's performances were very well received, as were the adults'.                                                                                                                                                                                     

Garden Tour & Summer Set-Up

Mountainair Community Garden manager Joan Embree writes,


Dear all,
     May 26, four of us went trekking to two very different gardens to see other community efforts. Addie, Carla, Tamra, and I learned much at both the Seed2Need Gardens in Corrales, Sandoval County, and at the Rio Grande Community Farm/Community Gardens area. The Corrales Food Pantry Project 

Time to get growing...

#Mountainair Community Garden manager Joan Embree writes,

Gardeners and friends,
     

With May 15 passed, those who have adopted plots at the community garden can (probably) safely plant veggies, flowers, whatever... starting now.  A few brave souls have already put in some starts.
     

We work every Saturday from 10 am to about noon, and whenever else the mood strikes us. The keys to the work sheds -- tools, seeds, etc.-- are hidden out back of the sheds for access. (Just ask if you need to know where. Send my your email address too ~ it's always a pleasure to add new gardeners to our list)

After Earth Day what?

You say it’s your Earth Day?

Ask not what did you do, but what are you still doing about it now. The Earth Day Network reports that 1 billion people marked the eco-holiday on April 22. But with consciousness-raising taking place on such a massive scale, it’s easy to overlook the everyday people who fight to keep our corner of the planet clean and healthy. For them, eco-activism is not a once-yearly event.

The Good Fight is a Weekly Alibi feature (looks like a series) reporting on the on-going efforts of daily eco warriors, although I'd add local and individual efforts modeling good practices.

Enter the citizen eco warriors. These are people who in their free time—after work, after the kids are asleep—pore over reams of documents, learn about bureaucratic processes and permits, and put up a fight on behalf of their neighbors. They study, they attend meetings, they write letters, they become experts on industry and its effects. 

The warriors pop up in Alibi environmental news stories, sometimes celebrating successes or mourning losses. These are the self-appointed guardians of our chunk of desert. When put together, their stories paint a picture of an evolving city and state.

What are we doing right here in Mountainair? Is our community evolving too or stalled? Not, let's hope, devolving. Since sustainability and environment are part of the iCreate mission (which some days is murkier to suss out than others), keeping track of not just our efforts but what others in our community are doing, individually or collectively.

Community Garden: Earth Day Warm-up last Saturday (Joan Embree's more detailed report to follow shortly). This was the first weekly Saturday workday of the season and, for now, every Saturday 10am-12n. "This coming Saturday, April 28," garden manager Joan Embree notes, "we will still be digging and amending beds. We will need to assess our watering capabilities (timers, hoses. etc.,)  to see what we lack with this bigger version of a garden," adding, "Hope to see old and new gardeners back at our 2012 location this weekend."


Torrance County Recycling program, Mountainair Center ~ not much new to report (maybe someone will send us something) other than that there is one and we should report.


Upcoming opportunities: Environmental Information Management Institute series of one week courses, Monday, May 28 to Friday, June 15, 2012. More information at http://elibrary.unm.edu/courses/eimi

Know of other programs, local eco-activists, individuals or groups making a difference, setting an example? Please let us know about them.

Community Garden, the next Storify

Local Food and The Farm Bill

Good news for #Mountainair #CommunityGarden, our #farmersmarket & #localfood (central to iCreate's local sustainability) movements across the country from the Environmental Working Group Ag Mag

For too long, funding provided by the United States’ most far-reaching food and farm legislation has primarily benefited agri-business and large scale industrial-scale commodity farms that aren’t growing food. Instead, they’re growing ingredients for animal feed, fuel and highly processed food — at a high cost to our nation’s health, environment and rural communities.

With the 2012 Farm Bill fast upon us, Congress has an opportunity to make smart, timely changes to help fix our broken food and farm system by embracing a package of policy reforms outlined in the Local Farms, Food and Jobs bill. This legislation was recently introduced by Rep. Chellie Pingree (D-Maine) and Senator Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio) and is co-sponsored by 63 representatives in the House and 9 in the Senate.

The Pingree-Brown bill includes a comprehensive package of cost-effective policy reforms that would boost farmers’ and ranchers’ incomes by helping them meet the growing demand for local and regional food. The legislation also aims to make fresh, healthy and affordable food-especially fruits and vegetables- more accessible to consumers.

Local Food and The Farm Bill: Small Investments, Big Returns | Environmental Working Group

'via Blog this'

how to organize #communitygarden for a food pantry

The #Mountainair Community Garden, a joint custody project (for lack of a better term but equally colorful designation) of iCreate, community gardeners not affiliated with iCreate, is in the process of applying for a New Mexico Centennial Garden Program grant. Supporting local food security programs is just one of the garden goals presented in the grant proposal due January 13.

Food banks and pantries today can be a lot more than a place to hash out donated – and often leftover, unwanted – food to the hungry. Right in tune with the current ecological-minded climate from “green buildings to green bodies,” they often infuse teaching the hungry how to grow their own nutritious food, how to cook it and sometimes spark careers in food.

Follow the link to read the rest of "How to organize a Community Garden for a Food Pantry" by Mary Jasch. DIG IT! mag online is a worthy and recommended gardening resource to add to your reader, bookmark file or link list. Subscribe to email newsletter on the website.

'via Blog this'

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.

The #gardening Daily, Monday, Oct. 31, 2011

In this issue, Dirt Lovers Diary and Manure Tea articles look particularly interesting ~ or maybe that is just my taste for unusual titles. Seriously though, the first (DLD) links to an article, "Wintering Plants for Next Season," relevant to current gardening concerns. 

Do you have tips for wintering plants in the New Mexico high desert or know a local gardening wizard experienced with local gardening conditions? Please share them with us. Besides blogging them, iCreate could assemble a collection local gardening lore to publish on line and make available to all. 

#CommunityGarden Coffee & Conversation, Thu Sep8

A Mountainainair announcement x-posted to Mountainair Announcements and listed on the Community Calendar. Community Garden Manager Joan Embree writes to invite community gardeners and supporters of the Mountainair Community Garden

Gardeners and friends of the community garden: We will gather Thursday at 10 am at Alpine Alley to talk about this gardening season and next.  Bring ideas.  

 

Country Clip Art graphics

Among the questions we might discuss is whether or not to have a booth at this year's Arts and Crafts Fair in November.  Last year we had LOTS of green tomatoes to deal with.  This year, not.  What could we make and sell while we're talking up the community garden effort?
     

Hope to see you Thursday ~ Joan Embree

☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼☼

And finally, a few gardening links to tide you over until Thursday's meeting:

• The #gardening Daily Newsletter featuring links to articles on homegrown herbs, broccoli rabe, preserving and canning, composting, beekeeping, soil and water management, post Labor Day home and garden ideas, gardening tips, videos, ideas, news and more. Subscribe by email.
• Kitchen Gardeners International, a global community cultivating change and home of World Kitchen Garden Day: gardening articles, recipes, blogs, seed ordering advice, a YouTube channel and more. Subscribe to email newsletter.
• NMSU Extension "ACES" YouTube Channel featuring how-to videos for NM gardening

Ed. Note: this is all the agenda available for this meeting, Presumably a de facto agenda would also include: garden update; financia report (account balance, disbursements and projected expenses); informal recap of this season's gardening and the experimental "instant garden;" discussion and tentative decision-making about the garden's location and plans for the next growing season; off-season and fall/winter gardening plans