Seeds

Drum roll please! The order from Park Seeds is here!Careful examination of all those little packets of seeds that filled my box felt even more exciting than when I perused all those seed catalogs. Now, one step closer to growing my own fresh, organic produce, I am also one step closer to being ready for the grand opening of our new Cordata Community Gardens.

My schedule had not allowed me to help out during their recent call for volunteer workers, so receipt of my seeds today seemed a good excuse to take a break long enough to go view their progress.

Our access road has been chained off and marked as "Private Property, No Trespassing" to discourage those not involved in our community gardening project from entering our site.

It was obvious to me that someone has been working very hard during the last few days. Good job! I was delighted to see all the progress. Our tool shed has been cleaned up and received a new coat of paint. Posts for the deer-proof fencing around the perimeter of the garden have been securely set in the ground and some of the wire is attached. Soon the deer will no longer be grazing in our garden spot!

There is still so much more work that needs to be done before we can actually plant our seeds in the soil, but what an exciting project in which to be involved!

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The Cordata Community Gardens is receiving lots of support from the community and great coverage in our local newspaper, The Bellingham Herald. Here's a copy of another article from the paper today telling about a grant our gardens have received through the City of Bellingham!

Mar, 25, 2009
Bellingham's Small and Simple grants fund community gardens, other projects
ANNA WALTERS / THE BELLINGHAM HERALD

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BELLINGHAM - Volunteers are just waiting for another sunny day to finish driving fence posts and putting up fence wire for the Guide Meridian/Cordata Neighborhood Association's community garden.

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"We have work days scheduled for this weekend," said Ben Andrews, who is coordinating the garden project with his wife, Dee Andrews. "If it doesn't rain, we hope to get up a lot of fencing and some of the gates and some of the raised beds built."

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Once the 53-bed garden is ready for planting in early May, neighbors who have purchased a plot for a yearly $35 fee can grow their own produce using tools and supplies provided by the neighborhood association.

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Some of the materials used to build the community garden - which will cost about $25,000, Ben Andrews said - were paid for by the city of Bellingham through a $2,500 Small and Simple grant. The Small and Simple program funds neighborhood and community projects in Bellingham.

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Across the board budget cuts caused the city to reduce the money pool for this year's grants to just under $17,000 - about half the amount of 2008's awards. Eight local projects got a chunk of that money.

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"There's got to be some things that we continue to do, but in a smaller fashion," said Linda Stewart, neighborhoods and special projects coordinator for the city. "Of course we could shut down all kinds of nonessential everything, but we're trying to keep things going during a temporary downturn."

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In recent years, the grants often have gone to nonprofit or community-based organizations and schools, but this year the program's focus shifted to have neighborhoods bring such groups into the fold to work together, with neighborhoods leading the way.

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Local organizations submitted 36 applications totaling more than $56,000 this year, according to the city. Applications were reviewed by a panel of community members and city staff before the eight were chosen.

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Projects that will be funded this year include Mt. Baker Bicycle Club's Bike to Work Day and improvements to the Fairhaven Rose Garden.

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MORE INFORMATION
• For more information about the 2009 Small and Simple Grant awards, go to cob.org.
• For more information on volunteering for or gardening at the community garden, contact Dee and Ben Andrews at cordatagardens@yahoo.com.

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This truly is a great project for our community!