Fingerlakespermaculture mailing list

["Chrys B. Gardener" <cab69 AT cornell.edu>]

Dear Permaculturists,

We currently have a fundraising campaign for the Floral Avenue Community Garden in Ithaca, which we started a few years ago with a Hunger and Food Security grant from the United Way..

 

We are raising funds to construct a 12’ x 12’ pavilion that we will outfit with rain gutters and a 500 gallon water tank to harvest water for the garden. We do not have access to running water at the community garden and this year was very challenging with the severe drought in upstate NY. There is an inlet nearby but the City of Ithaca treats the water with an herbicide to control an invasive aquatic plant, so the water is not safe to use on the garden. This summer the gardeners had to bring water from home to water their plots.

 

Most of the Floral Ave plot holders are low income residents who live nearby – some of them don’t have cars so bringing water to the site was very challenging. Our gardeners include a Burmese refugee who relies on the garden produce to feed her children and grandchildren, a Chinese immigrant who comes to the garden almost every day with her granddaughter, and two retired ladies who live in the low income apartments across the street and had never gardened before leasing plots at the garden. Altogether there are 20 plot holders at the garden who all rely on the fresh vegetables from their plots. Last spring we got a donation of dwarf fruit trees from a local nursery, so in a few years the trees will be producing apples, plums and apricots for the gardeners to share as well.

 

All of the gardeners are helping to raise money for the new pavilion and water harvesting system. If you can kick in a few bucks I would really appreciate it! If we can raise $600 in the next week our project will be eligible for an additional $400 challenge grant from SeedMoney, the fundraising website. Please click here to donate, and forward this link to your contacts:

https://www.seedmoney.org/campaign/277/floral-avenue-community-garden

 

Thank you so much!

--Chrys

 

 

Chrys Gardener
Commercial/Community Horticulture Educator
Cornell Cooperative Extension - Tompkins County
615 Willow Avenue, Ithaca NY 14850
(607)272-2292, extension 241
www.ccetompkins.org