Bill Albee Memorial Community Garden
YaHooo!
Finally and at long last the idea of a community garden in Copperopolis has
come to fruition. It took several years
and lots of enthusiastic, energized community members but it is happening now.
Some 4 years
ago 6 people gathered together around the idea of developing a community garden
here in the hard clay, rocky ground that presents such a challenge for raising
your own veggies. The first challenge was to find a location that was centrally
located and had water. Russ Thomas was the first to suggest the lot along
O’Byrnes Ferry Road just across from the Lake Tulloch Center. Others were
suggested and investigated but we lacked a leader to carry this search and
project forward. Then one lucky day Jack Jimenez stepped up to the plate and
has been the anchor through ever step from ripping the rocky ground to tilling
in the first load of Diestel Compost.
Untold hours have been donated by many of
our community members with work parties to pick rocks, remove weeds, fix fence
and finally the actual planting of the first crop. For two years we struggled
with issues like soil that was poor in nutrition, lack of a working tiller,
irrigation supplies, finding starts to plant and a large enough volunteer group
to do the work necessary to bring this idea to fruition. With the leadership of
Del Jackson and Bruce Reid from Copper
Parks and Recreation, many of our issues were addressed but we still lacked a
consistent head gardener. Oh, how we wished for someone with gardening
experience and time to come along and bail us out! Well, just exactly that
indeed happened! Along came Darrell and Carla Lucas one fine day and they were
up to the big, big task ahead as evidenced by the flourishing garden you see
today.
You are invited to stop by the garden any day
during the morning hours between 9am and noon. There you will find Darrell and
Carla tending the garden, coordinating volunteers, directing people to veggies
that are ready to harvest, giving tours and sharing their gardening knowledge.
Really! You should come by to meet them and share your sage gardening stories.
In these troubled times, here you will find a good story.
Richard
DeBusman
No comments:
Post a Comment