Historical June 1997 article. Dates, prices, services and contacts describe the source period; current availability has not been established.
Last fall I attended a meeting at the Missouri Botanical Garden about a variety of grants available for neighborhood beautification projects. Ruth Beckloff and Gwen Lazard of the 59xx block of McPherson also attended this meeting and expressed interest in the idea of applying for a grant for a community vegetable garden. At the next beautification committee meeting. we presented the grant possibilities and began gathering gardeners. Ruth and Gwen later introduced me to Chris Manzo. a soon-tobe architect, who also lives on 59xx McPherson, and Chris began recruiting gardeners.
I drew up pages and pages of drawings and designs for the garden, and brought them to Chris, who transferred the site layout to computer for cleaner and easier reproductions. Laure Porterfield of the SDCC helped us find a location for the garden. coincidentally on the 59xx block of McPherson, a vacant double lot 125 feet by 125 feet.
She received permission from the owner for us to use the lot in exchange for keeping it clean and mowed.
We can use this lot until it is developed.
We received a grant from Gateway Greening (formerly Gateway to Gardening).
The grant included lumber for 48 raised beds, wood chips, soil, tools, hoses, design help, even plants’ Kathy Bosin and Erin Brubaker of Gateway Greening have been helping us build our garden; Erin even has a plot with us.
The neighbors of Skinker DeBaliviere have done an incredible job building this garden. Every Saturday for the past two months a big group of hard-working men, women, and children have come to the McPherson Community Vegetable Garden.
They have moved mountains of soil and wood chips, and, side by side, have helped build raised beds. often for neighbors they haven’t met yet, saying “If we build it. they will come ” And they have come.
We have over 52 raised beds, some with mul tiple gardens, two for St. Roch School, and a growing waiting list for plots.
Some gardeners come to the site to work and aren’t even asking for a vegetable plot; they simply want to help Out In the center of all of our vegetable activity, we have created a butterfly garden, an octagon with a terraced eight point star, that was created with reclaimed lumber.
The butterfly garden is surrounded by a sunflower garden, also made of reclaimed lumber. Come take a look at what your hard-working, green-thumbed neighbors have created.
They have done a wonderful job.
Original photograph caption
Andy Cross and Chris Manzo,organizers of the McPherson Community Garden Project. Community Garden photographs credited Lana Stein and Andy Cross.
Originally published in The Times of Skinker-DeBaliviere, June 1997.
Read this article in the original newspaper issue.
Original source: SD_Times1997_06.pdf, printed page(s) 5; PDF page(s) 5.
