How?

This tale begins back in 2012, with a proposal under the Federal HCD (Housing and Community Development) Grant. In case you're not into politics or academics or more-intense-than-household-economics or are otherwise unfamiliar with grants and how they work: proposals are writted to justify the allocation of monies for specific purposes over specific timeframes. This one was specifically designed to fund town improvement projects. This proposal was granted but sat dormant until the not-so-distant past.

About one year ago, the plans began to take shape for what is currently shaping up into the community garden, at which point this dormant grant alloction was discovered, and a chunk (to the tune of $15,000) was allocated to the garden. Assuming you, dear reader, are not generally in the practise of writing or processing grant proposals or working on grant driven projects, it needs to be said that (like many strange things in budgeting) if you -the receiver of a grant- do not use the allocated grant money within a defined period of time, it goes away (why? where does it go? who does it go back to? these great mysteries are not things for which I can answer). It cannot be used for any other purpose other than what is specifically stated in the grant proposal.

The availability of this grant money is the initial seed (haha - dadjoke) that has enabled us to actually take the community garden from an idea on paper to a physical reality. Wonderful though that is, please remember that the original grant money is NOT infinite, there are NO provisions to renew it. Therefore we must rely on donations, volunteers, goodwill, and the extremely modest plot rental fees to keep the garden going.

Within the last two months, a flurry of activity has taken place. Land was cleared. Raised beds were constructed. Lots of mulch was moved. A fence was erected. We have a garden. There is still more work to be done (water source, I'm looking at you), and this page will be updated as things continue to take shape.

If you're wondering about the people behind the curtain, then you're looking for the "Friends of the South River Community Garden" - partnered with "Spaces Reimagined" - a Non-Profit organization designed to help the garden transcend any single individual. If you're looking specifically to find out what human does what, then you're looking for who. It's a Community Garden not a Township Garden - this is for all of us. Please, come and participate.