Well! This Friday, my supervisor and I have two appointments to go see some area community gardens. The first is a garden run by the Emmett, Idaho United Methodist Church called the Emmett Friendship Garden. A few of my co-workers have already visited this garden, and I have heard amazing things. It's apparently very large and beautiful. I e-mailed the man in charge of it, John Biggs, and he was very prompt in his response. He very enthusiastically offered to show us the garden and then suggested that all of us go out to lunch!
I pushed back my fear of professional telephone conversations and called Larry Parry, who is in charge of the Boise Vineyard. I set up an appointment to follow the one in Emmett, and he suggested that the resident Master Gardener attend the meeting as well. I have heard about this place from co-workers, too; apparently people get married here.
By some definitions, these two gardens may not strictly qualify as community gardens, but I feel like they most definitely should. The community is most definitely benefited by them. I am very excited to go on a mini "road trip" and see these wonderful places! I'm going to bring my camera along and FINALLY, there will be some relevant pictures on here.
In personal news, I brought my suffering basil plant to work to try and rehabilitate it. I must admit, I am slightly embarrassed that here I am, the Community Garden Coordinator, and I have a dying basil plant on my desk. Hopefully that won't turn any community garden hopefuls away...
I have also gotten permission to dig up part of my yard to make a garden!! I hope to start breaking ground (literally!) this weekend. Since it's so late in the season I will probably not be planting anything, but I can still condition the soil for next spring. Because I've also gotten permission to have a worm bin! I can add the worm castings as they are produced. I am very excited to start digging around in the dirt again. While I love my job dearly, I do find myself occasionally infected by a ray of sunlight and yearning for farm life. But this way, I can have a little bit of both :)