Woohoo!

I met yesterday with Lindsey Schramm from the Northend Organic Nursery (formerly Hillside Nursery). They held a pumpkin sale to benefit the Abundance Project (previously mentioned here), and they have a strong commitment to community and local assets. Newly opened for the holiday season, the store carries local plants, local dishware, local food, seeds from Earthly Delights Farm (also previously mentioned here) and all manner of other things local. Not to mention, of course, Christmas trees! They assured me that once spring came there would be more plants, but I was not disappointed.
The meeting with Lindsey, though short and to the point, proved to be very fruitful. She offered their establishment as a drop-off point for seed and tool donations. Any customers who donate will get a discount on their purpose. Furthermore, they'll offer free classes in the spring that are open to the public. She said if I knew of any volunteers who wanted to teach classes, she would offer the space.
Things are, literally, falling into place. This is the kind of break I was hoping for. I would love to accept seed and tool donations, but the Foodbank doesn't really have the capacity to hold a large amount of either of these things. Maybe with these donations we could have some sort of "Community Garden Starter Kit"?
And as for classes, it makes no sense to have classes here at the Foodbank. We don't have the staff to do it. I would much rather collaborate with classes that already exist, or in this case, space that already exists, and have links to community calendars from our website.
If you or someone you know would like to volunteer to teach a class, come to the Interested Citizens Meeting next Wednesday and let me know what you'd like to do!
I am very excited, because it appears that without much hassle, this program is going to work. What almost excites me more is that someone will take this up after I leave, and they'll expand upon the foundation that I've layed out!
I've said it so many times before, but I'll say it again until I'm blue in the face. The possibilities are endless! And the community response is astounding. Who knew there was so much interest in community gardening and so much desire to help?? I wonder how many other places are as community-oriented as Boise, Idaho??