Look what’s growing in Alec’s garden!
Thanks to Farah for another great photo!
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Wednesday March 30: Permaculture Presentation with Patricia Michael
23 MarPlease join us for a special presentation and slide show by Permaculture designer and teacher, Patricia Michael. Patricia has been an invaluable consultant for Festival Beach Community Garden, helping us create our initial site plan and assisting with our strategies for surface water management. In this presentation, she will discuss Permaculture principles that are useful in any design work.
Wednesday, March 30, 6:30 – 8:00 pm — Terrazas Library, 1105 East Cesar Chavez.
Patricia will draw from her many years of experience as a landscape designer and Permaculture teacher to give us some ways to think about designing gardens. She will emphasize surface water management and soil quality as two major considerations in our design work. She will also discuss principles of design for both beauty and user-friendly function.
This presentation will be useful for your home gardens as well as our land at Festival Beach. It is open to the neighborhood and wider community, so feel free to invite guests.
Wednesday, March 23: Garden Planning Meeting
18 MarPlease join us for our monthly Garden Planning Meeting this Wednesday, February 23, 6:30 – 8:00 pm at Terrazas Library. The library is at 1105 East Cesar Chavez (just west of Waller Street).
Everyone is welcomed. It’s a good opportunity to find out what’s going on at the garden and to decide if you want to be involved in the organizing, planning, and visioning that is necessary to make our garden successful.
Proposed Meeting Agenda:
- Committee and work team meetings (6:30-7:00) — team check-ins plus the opportunity for those who are not on a committee to find one to join
- Introductions - Use the leader roles from last meeting to introduce yourself (see StarHawk’s spirit tasks in the meeting minutes to determine the “informal” roles you take on in a group)
- Reports from committees and work teams
- Calendar of workdays and volunteer group participation
- Community Garden Tour – May 1
- Grant possibilities
- Sign making
- What else? Please email our admin team if you have something to add!
We have a lot to discuss! A number of exciting work projects are underway and to comply with our Austin Parks Foundation grant, most of these projects need to be completed by the end of May. W’re going to be enjoying a very busy spring!
See you Wednesday!
“Moving the Compost”
15 MarFarah Rivera captured this gorgeous photo of Libby Perez and Amando Reyes as they worked on our compost pile this weekend. Thank you Farah, Libby and Amando!
Sunday, March 20: Spring Equinox Celebration
15 MarLet’s get together to celebrate the coming of Spring, this Sunday, March 20th, the day of the Equinox. Please bring family and friends, a potluck dish, your own plates, cup, and utensils, and any games you’d like to play (bocce, horse shoes, etc.) The potluck will start at 4pm. We will also have a variety of heirloom tomato seedlings for sale, thanks to John and Marian! The money will go towards funding the Grand Opening Celebration in June. Hope to see everyone there!
Saturday, March 12: Workday, Guest Speaker and Picnic!
9 MarFestival Beach Community Garden is gearing up for the Spring! This Saturday, in preparation of our upcoming anniversary party, we will be focusing on building a teaching circle in our teaching garden, plus planting perennial flowers, asparagus and artichokes, and continuing to make progress with our fence and compost.
After the work completes, we will have a picnic and a special guest speaker. Patricia Michael, MFA, Landscape Designer and Permaculture Consultant, will speak to us about her experience with the Festival Beach Community Garden and our garden’s history. Patricia is a wonderful speaker and has been instrumental in the site plan for our garden. Read more about Patricia at her company website, Patricia Michael Design.
Please bring family and friends, and a dish to share with the group. Hot dogs, hibiscus tea, and door prizes will be provided! The fun starts at 9:00!
Vine Fest and Tea-ching Garden!
21 FebThis Sunday, volunteers and gardeners gathered to plant grapes and berries to grow along the new fence line and made progress on a wonderful new “Tea-ching” herb garden. They raised a toast to bless the additions to the garden and celebrated the incredible weather with an impromptu picnic — a perfect reward for a lovely day of gardening. Thanks to Jennifer Lindley, who organized the effort, and everyone who participated!
New Fence!
21 FebOur volunteers and gardeners have been busy, busy, busy preparing the garden for spring plantings. A major accomplishment is the work on our beautiful new fence.
Our February workday brought out the muscles and the welding equipment. The team work resulted in a gorgeous new fence that will serve as a trellis for grapes and other vines! Thank you to everyone for this wonderful new addition to our garden!
Wednesday, February 23: Garden Planning Meeting
19 FebPlease join us for our monthly Garden Planning Meeting this Wednesday, February 23, 6:30 – 8:00 pm at Terrazas Library. The library is at 1105 East Cesar Chavez (just west of Waller Street).
This meeting will include a special leadership training, so it’s a must for all committee and project leaders, all members of committees and work teams, all planning team members, and anyone who wants to have a role in helping us build our garden and create our community. We are learning that the work we have to do requires leadership on the part of everyone. Ours is not the type of organization where a few people at the top do all the directing. We count on everyone to take part in the decisions and take their turn to initiate activities and lead work projects. This training will give us an opportunity to learn some tools for effective leadership and share our ideas and strategies for making meetings fun and productive.
The agenda will also include reports from each of the current work projects, followed by discussion and input from the group. We will also have discussion about the Grand Opening Celebration, which will take place in May.
Saturday, February 12: Workday
10 FebSaturday is a workday! Come soak in the sun and do something great for your favorite community garden. We’re prepping for grapes! The fun starts at 9:00. Bring the kiddos, we’ll have some fun and educational garden activities for them!
