Vote early and often

I was a little stunned when I opened the April/May issue of Organic Gardening and saw the community garden contest described on the inside front cover and first page.

Why? because the sponsor of the contest is a winery in my neighborhood, but not one garden in this county is among those for whom people are invited to vote.

What were the people of DeLoach thinking? Where have they been? (France, probably...) With all the emphasis on community and backyard gardening here through IGrow and the 350 Challenge, they just are not paying attention. We could use $20,000 at the TLC garden. Heck, we could use a few thousand and share the rest with the other three church-based community gardens in this part of Santa Rosa.

But - there is an option. Don't bother to read through the descriptions of all 15 gardens on the DeLoach website. Just go to the bottom row, next to the right column - #14 if you are counting - and vote early and often until August 1.
http://www.deloachcommunitygardens.com/
This is the garden at Our Saviour Episcopal Church in Dallas, which started small and added a little something every year. They serve a low income neighborhood without adequate sources of affordable, fresh produce. And they serve the whole Dallas community by being a teaching garden. They have a greenhouse, water collecting roof which shades an outdoor gathering space, bees, worms and chickens! And their goal for this year is to develop an accessible section of the garden, to serve those less abled.
Becky Smith, parishioner and gardener, was immensely helpful to me when I was researching church-based community gardens. Our Saviour offers their land for the garden not as a church growth strategy, but as a gift to their neighborhood.
Please support them and VOTE!