We're building a garden!

That's right, in partnership with the Community Church Without Walls, Urban Ministry is starting a new ministry known as the West End Urban Garden.

Last fall we were able to purchase a 1/4 acre lot a block from our offices. The lot had been empty and abandoned for may years but we saw a community garden arising from the lot. Now, the vision is becoming a reality.

Thanks to a grant from CAWACO Resource Conservation and Development Council, Inc., we have been making progress buying equipment, tools, and materials. We have also dug and prepared eight raised garden beds, cleared an old concrete slab for a shed and built four compost heaps. Soon, we will plant the vegetables!

We want to educate youth about gardening, provide better food security by encouraging gardening in the neighborhood, encourage healthy eating practices, teach organic gardening and hopefully have some extra vegetables for the children to sell. A long-term goal is to build a community cannery where community gardeners will have the equipment and facilities to preserve the vegetables they have grown.

We will make garden beds available to neighborhood residents for growing vegetables. We will also have a common garden area where we grow vegetables that are not well suited to raised bed gardening.

We are off to a great start! Watch this site for updated pictures throughout the summer.