Rochester Community Garden

Signs of Garden Life

Saturday, May 16th saw lots of garden activity. Wendy and Liz Ela have done so much planning for the Children's Garden. Here are some pics of the first day of our garden life!

Sophia is very curious -

From bean tee pees to a sunflower house, the children's garden area will give the kids a lot to look forward to all season long. Check out the Rochester Public Library for upcoming programs for kids in the garden throughout the summer!

There are still 2 plots available for rent and we would love to have more families enjoy the group community garden. If you are interested in the children's garden, check out the library for upcoming events, or better yet, join us Saturday mornings beginning at 900 a.m. to help plan and plant! We are usually on site until lunch time (weather permitting). Stop on by!

We will have our major planting for the group community garden on Saturday, May 30th. We are looking for help between Saturday, May 30th and Monday, June 1st.

See you at the Garden!

Peace and Quiet

The garden at sunset is a beautiful place to be. Any time, really, it's a great little piece of solitude.

May 2 - May 16 - MULCH, FENCE, MULCH - PLANT?

We've been very busy the past 2 weeks. We laid out mulch walking paths that also designate the planting areas. It takes a lot of shovels to fill a wheel barrow and lots of wheel barrows to finish a row. We had lots of hands in the mix and other than one MINOR error (which will never be spoken of again), we got everything plotted out. We ended up with 15 rental plots, 5 group garden spots and 2 somewhat oversized plots for a children's garden.

Wayne got a great start on the fencing. Many thanks to the Pishtaka Group for donating funds to purchase the materials!

This beautiful thing will be our entrance gate.

Signs of future planting activity!

It's Hip To Be Square

Wayne and Eric spent A LOT of time getting our garden square. Brady and Checkers worked really hard, too! (NOTE: Pictures taken by Lucas Johnson).

April 18th, 2009 - Plowing Time

April 9th, 2009 - Burn, Baby Burn

The Rochester Volunteer Fire Department graciously agreed to conduct a controlled burn at our garden site. This would make it easier to plow, and since we were reluctant to use any chemicals in preparing for our garden, we decided it was the best approach and would get us in the dirt more quickly.

And It Begins

The idea for the Rochester Community Garden started taking shape in December 2008. Eric had the idea, Carolyn passed it along and Wayne really got it moving...The Rochester Public Library expressed its interest and support and we were on our way!

Next Stop - Rochester Village Board

So, we got on the Agenda for the Village Board meeting in February 2009. Wayne presented our ideas and the body of land we were requesting to use. The Board had some questions, but had a positive reaction overall - now we need to Spread the Word!

Signs, Signs, Everywhere There's Signs!

We started to spread the word with fliers to local businesses, the church, the apartment building and Village Hall. Our Public Meeting was scheduled for April 2nd at the Rochester Public Library (RPL). We had generally positive responses from local businesses and others with whom we spoke.

The Waterford Post included our meeting annoucment on the front page.

April 2nd, 2009 - Meeting Day

Truth be told, I am nervous as heck that only the 5 of us who have worked to set up this meeting will show up!

Wendy put out a great picnic-like spread of homemade muffins and fresh apple cider. Lissa and Jeremy got the room set up with tables and chairs. Our agenda was set (loose as it was) and we were ready to go...

6:00 - PEOPLE ARE ARRIVING! Yeah - all told we had 14 people at our first meeting. And a great group it turned out to be. A Master Gradener, someone with an MS in Plant Science, others with lots of farming/gardening experience. Right away we agreed we wanted the garden to be pesticide-free and we got down to talking about our interests - Several wanted rental plots, MANY interested in children's garden and several interested in a "community" garden - pay your dues, volunteer your time and we all share in the produce at harvest time. We agree it is important to donate and to make room for those who can't afford rental/membership fees. We set up a steering committee and our next meeting date. Good energy, good production! RELIEF!

Marking Our Territory

Finally something to see...Here are photos of our first work morning. We cleared some scrub trees and staked out the garden site.