Gardening Excetera Column 6/11/11

A COMMUNITY GREENHOUSE
Dana Prom Smith

In the good old American fashion, Heather Bostian, the message therapist and gardening diva, decided to do something about it. The “it” was the increasing price of fruits and vegetables in the commercial markets and the desire to have fresh produce. Her answer was a community green house. Now, community gardens are a mainstay in Coconino County and, indeed, throughout the world, but Heather’s idea was a community garden with a twist, an all year community greenhouse.

The all year long component to this community garden is that Heather just happened to have a large, barn-like cinder block structure on her property out in Doney Park. It was just sitting around serving no good purpose other than being a repository of useless discards that human beings seem fond of gathering. What better place for a community greenhouse than a large, ill-used structure?

A mark of genius is the capacity to turn the ill-used into the well-used. This is Heather’s genius. Of course, she needs investors, people who want to put their money where their mouths are. She already has 18 people signed up on her list of people interested in a year-round community greenhouse. As Heather says, if anyone is tired of high food prices and is worried about contaminated food, this community garden is just what the doctor ordered: contaminate-free organic vegetables at a reasonable cost.

The community green house will have space enough for at least fifty families with each family having a 4’ x 4’ space in which to garden and harvest produce a couple of times a month. Two managers will schedule duties and times that will fit each person, letting everyone know when to harvest their bounty.

The garden will be run in close cooperation with the owners of the Sea of Green hydroponic store in Flagstaff so that there will expert help and knowledge in the management of the garden. Also, if members wish to hydroponically garden, there is also that possibility.

Also, just in case any people have funny ideas about the garden, growing marijuana will not be allowed. Also, smoking will not be permitted. No oxymoronic organic pot or tobacco. The garden’s purpose is edible, fresh food, not getting stoned or cancer.

Another purpose of the garden is sustainability. To that end, the garden will use solar power with the result that the only bill for utilities will be for some water. Of course, the desire for sustainability is not only ecological but also financial. One of the purposes of a community garden is cutting the cost of food as well as supplying fresh, wholesome food.

The initial start-up fee for membership will be $500.00 a family which sounds like a lot of money, which it is, but considering that once that financial hurdle is overcome, for then on the track is clear. Of course, the more families that sign up, the cost per family will go down. Although the fee is hefty, it’s really a bargain when you think home-grown fresh vegetables all winter long.

Since the group out at Heather’s barn plans to go solar for the electricity, the only on going fee will be for water. Seeds, soil, and fertilizer are, of course, the responsibility of individual members.

The initial group has already been formed of writers, electricians, carpenters, plumbers, and attorneys and is organizing itself into a Not-for-Profit Organization.

The prestigious Native Seeds/SEARCH organization in Tucson has given the project its imprimatur with a donation as part of its support for community gardens.

Heather’s vision is simple and authentic and about American as apple pie. It is about growing one’s own food. It is about coming together in a food-cooperative. It is about harnessing our greatest natural resource by turning sunshine into electricity. But more than any of these things, it is about imagination and initiative, about people taking care of themselves, about the frontier ethos of independence, and finally about not relying on stultifying bureaucratic establishments. They’re doing it themselves. As Heather says, “The garden is timely and renewing.” For more information either email Heather at healyourself@aol.com or call her at (928) 522-6004.
Copyright © Dana Prom Smith 2011
Dana Prom Smith, the editor of GARDENING ETCETERA, can be reach at stpauls@npgcable.com. He blogs at http://highcountrygardener.blogspot.com.