Updates

Three lovely people showed up to work on the entrances on Saturday. We weeded, trimmed and prepped the beds for winter. None of us could bare to take out the annuals because they look so lovely, so we left them to remove later.

The rain started in earnest shortly there after, which might be why people didn't show up for the perennial exchange. However, plants were exchanged with neighbors on a door to door basis later on, and new friends were made, which was the point of all of it--so let's just call that one a success! :) Hopefully this will be a biannual tradition.

Much of the discussion on Saturday centered around catching people up on the opposition to the garden. Ideas of a revitalization of the garden club ensued as a different way to help get people involved in the community and connected. We will see where this all goes.

Lastly, today surveys were handed out to neighbors, and an electronic version will go out via email. Hopefully the organizers will get a lot of responses.

Updated Survey and Information August 2009

This survey will go out to residents around 9/26. This was a solution I proposed to the SHRA board and concerned neighbors. We all thought it is a good idea to get more information on this specific garden proposal now that a lot of work has been done and we know more.

The previous survey showed that people wanted the garden, but not at Shadowbrook. Many people responded via returned surveys, emails, and letters. No one from the park area had anything to say at that time, so a year's worth of planning and coordination with the city to establish the first community garden in a city park commenced. The SHCG planners were successful in laying the foundation for a garden in a city park, which is a huge accomplishment.

In the past week, neighbors that live around the park expressed concerns about it going there and a few individuals approached the board and Amy to talk. Those talks again show that people are either in favor of, or indifferent to a community garden, but that they don't want it in their backyard.

This kind of information is exactly what I wanted to gather. Mainly, do people want a garden? if so, where?

If people want it, I will put in the work to do it. I have always tried to communicate that I am not doing this garden for me, I am offering this garden as a gift to the community that I love. I love this community enough that not only did I love growing up here, I eventually bought my childhood home so that I could raise my own family here.

If people don't want it, well, that is okay too. I just need to know whether or not to work on it. A CG is something I know a lot about, I know it would be a great thing for the community, and I would help create it IF AND ONLY IF people want it. People said they wanted it. Now people around the park are saying they don't.

So just to be sure I have my information correct, and it is not a squeeky wheel being heard over the rest, I am going to do another survey.

With all of that said, I forsee that the location and water are combining to make the community garden an idea that most likely is not going to happen in this community. I do wish I could have helped people to accurately envision how wonderful the garden will be so that they would be willing to work through their concerns with thorough and detailed planning, but that did not happen.

The Survey

Survey Results