Before I begin my usual garden banter, I'm curious about something... how many people read this? So if any readers could do me a favor, I promise it won't take too long, and leave a comment. I don't care what you say and you don't have to identify yourself, I'm just wondering how large my "sphere of influence" is.
On Friday Cindy and I did head out to our scheduled community garden visits. Alas, I have no pictures, as it was, oddly enough, raining all day! I'm told that weather is unusual for August... I didn't mind though. It reminded me of rainy summer days in Minnesota, and I always enjoy a good thunderstorm.
The first garden was part of the Emmett Valley Friendship Coalition. The garden is 1 and 3/4 acres in size and is full of vegetable goodness. As we were walking through, I tried some cherry tomatoes, which were amazing, and I was given some corn and a squash! I am always excited about free food, especially fresh vegetables! I'm hoping to sautee the squash with some rice for dinner tonight, and maybe have some corn on the cob as well. The man in charge of the garden, whose official title is Biomass Coordinator, is Morris Huffman. He told us in depth about installing irrigation, harvesting, and their very interesting system of planting corn. Instead of planting it all at exactly the same time, they plant each row about a week apart. This means that instead of harvesting everything at once in a mad frenzy, they harvest each row about a week apart, as it matures. There are so many techniques... no matter how many garden books you read or workshops you attend, most wisdom comes from doing and adapting to your circumstances. Each garden is different. This one was particularly beautiful and large. I could almost feel the celebration of the plants with the rainfall.
The second garden was in Garden City, and it is called the Boise Vineyard. We met with Larry Parry, who I spoke to over the phone, and Bill Meeker, the resident Master Gardener. Even though he has Parkinson's, Bill Meeker is still out there gardening madly away, and he was obviously so excited to show it to us. This garden was, again, very large and beautiful. I tried some sort of strange, exotic berry. I can't remember what it's called but it was very bitter. I was pleased that I could recognize most of the plants from my farm days, though my memory is a little hazy at times. They also gave us very good news; there are apparently people calling them all the time offering land to donate! So we told them to send them our way. Those are just the kind of people we are looking for.
After that enlightening experience, I was so inspired I spent 5 hours digging up part of my yard on Sunday (with permission, of course). It isn't finished yet... I haven't done that sort of manual labor in a while and I'm pretty sore today, but I know what lies ahead. As far as I'm concerned, growing your own food is the ultimate do-it-yourself project, and a huge step towards self-sufficiency. I can't wait to pick something, walk 10 feet to my kitchen, prepare it, and eat it. That's assuming that I don't destroy the soil and kill everything by next growing season...

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 :)