Celebration – Picture This

Gardening Denver in July

I had thought to make more diligent updates to the garden on the north end of Celebration Community Church’s lot. But that’s all I did – thought. Thinking some more, it’s pretty cool that those icy beds covered in snow in May are now, at the later part of July, full of growing health-giving veggies, with even more interesting things just bursting with promise. There are tomatoes and melons and squash and beans in our future.

I stopped by during the regular Saturday Farm Store and completely blew my photo taking opportunity. I concentrated on the plants, which weren’t moving very quickly, and didn’t take a single shot of the people, who were all gone by the end of the morning!

Well, ladies and gentlemen… I give you… some plants. Now that might be considered a wee bit anticlimactic.

Seedlings

Snow fell. Snow melted. We planted seeds. Now the seeds have sprouted.

This is very exciting to me. So, like any proud papa showing of endless pictures of his kids doing nothing in particular, I’ll probably be posting shots with observations like “Oh, look! Now the Carrots are above ground.”

photo showing new garden with new fence — The new fence is in!

Another sign of progress is the fence. I hope it feels to everyone like a well cared for and worthy garden. I think that the fence carries the sense of stewardship and commitment. I hope that its perceived that way rather than as proof of exclusivity and exclusion.

Celebration Community Urban Garden

There’s a new growth area at church. There is a rectangle between the church parking lot and Iowa Avenue that is turning into a large vegetable garden. Until now it has just been dirt with a few weeds for squatters. As a Christian fellowship, the folks at church are quite hopeful about the potential for becoming better friends with residents in the community.

The idea has been around as a seed, but now we can look to a group that knows what they’re doing and wants to work with us. UrbiCulture Community Farms is working with us to make the garden grow. Their people know how to set up the raised beds, run water to ’em and generally stack the deck in favor of fresh vegetable success, Their whole existence is driven by a desire to get good, nutritious food to people who don’t have it – at the price they can afford. At Celebration, that sounds like loving our neighbor as ourselves. The seed of the idea seems to have sprouted and is starting to take root.

There are a few photos below and there are a bunch more here.

Raised Beds

Setting the beds

Clean Dirt

Moving dirt

There’s a lot of dirt moving

Enough for now.