Archive | Photographia RSS feed for this section

Thanks to all carrot growers at Festival Beach

20 Mar

My daughter Asha and her friend (both 7yrs) visited the garden and enjoyed a few wonderful carrots from the community plot.

This inspired them to draw a “Thank You” picture to everyone who helped grow them.  It’s been a magical experience for her and her friend to see the development of our gardens over the year we’ve been members.  Once they ate two whole cucumbers, came home and didn’t even want birthday cupcakes — they liked the fresh organic cucumbers more!

So thanks to all the carrot growers!

Jolyn and Jay.  B19

Asha's Drawing (7 y/o)

Asia's Drawing

Asia's Drawing (7 y/o)

Compost Team Leads December 10th Workday

15 Dec

We had another great workday on Saturday, December 10th, led by Mary Lynn Zoeller and the Compost Team.  All plot holders are required to donate two hours of labor each month to helping maintain communal areas or projects and the monthly workday, always held on the second Saturday of each month, 9:00-12:00, is a great time to get the work done and meet fellow gardeners.

Mary Lynn Zoeller's compost team led the workday, her sign reads: "Sift Compost Here!"

James Plyler and Jessie Alvarado humor the photographer as they pause from clearing weeds from a communal respite area.

Katie Falgoust shovels mulch while Nick Castrop and Kathy McWhorter discuss the Communal Plot Area, where Regina Mitchell is harvesting greens.

Katrina Meredith asks for direction while Julio Perez and a new volunteer move compost to a new area.

Julio Perez directs traffic while Nick Castrop, Crystal Aldape, and Kathy McWhorter share a story in the background.

Regina Mitchell pauses while harvesting greens in our Communal Plot to donate to our neighbors, residents of the RBJ Tower.

Good Pizza, Good People. East Side Pies Goes Local on Festival Beach Community Garden

5 Jun

When East Side Pies opened its doors on Rosewood Ave. in 2006, our East Austin community had more to celebrate than a great new restaurant. We finally had pizza delivery! Long time residents will tell you what a milestone this really was; some had lived mere blocks from pizza restaurants for 30 years with none willing to cross the physical, cultural and class divide of I-35 to deliver to their homes. East Side Pies changed that.

But the good news didn’t end there. It turned out that East Side Pies serves up some of the best pizza in Austin, with an emphasis on inspired combinations of super fresh, seasonal ingredients, often from local farmers’ markets and East Austin’s own Boggy Creek Farm. They were recently named in a top 10 list of restaurants that buy local produce.

So when they offered to donate pizzas for Festival Beach Community Garden’s first-anniversary event, and they suggested they use our own gardeners’ bounty… our tummies growled as our hearts did a little flip flop.

East Side Pies let us peek behind the scenes as they concocted 10 museum-worthy pizzas, using our gardeners’ donated heirloom, tiger stripe and cherry tomatoes, basil, oregano, thyme, bell peppers, cherry peppers, zucchini, squash, eggplant, onions, jalapenos and serranos, placed on top of their superbly thin crust layered with sauce, cheese, EVOO and an amazing chimichurri made of fresh parsley.

The pizzas were promptly gobbled up by party goers and served as one of the big highlights of the day.

Thank you East Side Pies. You are good cooks, good people, and good neighbors.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Par-tay Today!

4 Jun

Buckets of sweat have gone into preparing our garden for today’s big event: Our first anniversary celebration! Please join us from 10:00-1:00 at the garden for this free party, featuring food, beverages and other goodies provided by neighborhood businesses and the greater Austin community. The garden is located at 35 Waller Street (at Clermont) in beautiful 78702.

We will update our website later today with photos from the event, but in the meantime, here’s a quick “then” and “now.”

1 Year Ago:

Today:

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Year 1: The Faces of Festival Beach Community Garden

1 Jun

Our mission statement includes this very important clause:

Create a gathering space that brings together diverse neighbors to encourage cooperation, collaboration and friendship.

We take very seriously the “community” part of our community garden. Over the course of our first year, we have made so many friends, worked elbow to elbow in our gardens and communal areas, and shared so much — from information and expertise to veggies from our gardens to laughs and frustrations and even tears. We’ve built such a strong garden community…well, we well up a little just thinking about it.

Thanks to Alberto Martinez, Austin American-Statesman, for these photos, taken in April to celebrate the first calendar year of gardening at Festival Beach Community Garden. We look forward to Saturday’s public party and the friends and faces we will add to our growing community!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Garden Mourns Loss of Giant Cottonwood — Garden Closed

22 May

Update: Garden is now back open.

The cottonwood tree that was the focal point, gathering place, shelter and spiritual guide of the Festival Beach Community Garden split down the middle and toppled over today. City crews were called in, but postponed removing the felled tree and cutting down the part that remains standing because they didn’t have equipment that could handle the job. They’ll return on Monday.

The garden, meantime, remains closed until the the tree is removed. As it is now, the other half could fall at any moment, injuring anyone unlucky enough to be in its path. Nobody was hurt in the incident though it was a close call for Regina who had been working in the herb garden nearby. She heard a number of creaks and cracks, not realizing where they coming from. When she heard it one more time, she turned to see the tree slowly falling over. She ran out of its way to safety.

Many thanks to Alberto Martinez, Austin American-Statesman, for these photos. The first was shot in April during a potluck under the tree. Alberto shot the second today from the same vantage point.

Our beautiful cottonwood in April 2011

The cottonwood today

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

UT Student Volunteers Whip the Garden into Shape!

17 Apr

Saturday, April 9, on one of the prettiest days of the year so far, the garden welcomed student volunteers from UT’s Project Reach Out. Students, gardeners and garden volunteers joined forces to tackle several projects around the garden. We spread mulch and compost around several trees, including the giant Cottonwood in the center of the garden. We worked on the bioswale (formerly called the rain garden). We planted in our perennial beds. We worked our community garden plots and raised beds. We created a new path in section B, complete with weed cloth and gravel. We relocated bag upon bag of Bermuda grass away from the garden. And we did planning for the Habitat garden! Then we ate pizza!

It was an unbelievably productive day, and we are extremely grateful to our volunteers and new friends for the many improvements to our community garden. THANK YOU!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Special thanks to the following folks who made a big impact on the day!

  • Mary Lynn and the Compost committee for pre-event planning and coordination
  • Keep Austin Beautiful for lending us tools and Kathy S. for transporting them to and from the garden
  • Patricia for arranging for a Bob Cat and driver to dig out the bioswale
  • Jose, Mark and David for repairing two broken water pipes!
  • Polly for getting everyone signed in
  • Alec for leading a group of volunteers who worked on the bioswale
  • Jean, James, Nick and Marcela for leading groups of volunteers who worked on the perennial beds
  • John for leading a group who worked on the community garden plots
  • Jack and Joy for leading groups who spread the compost and mulch
  • Crystal for leading a group who filled raised beds with compost
  • Daniel for digging out a weedy row in section B and turning it into a beautiful new pathway
  • Dan, Susan, Richard, Glenn, Katrina, Jane, Libby, Dawn and so many others for their hard work
  • Beverly and Joy for donating and filling bags with Bermuda grass, and relocating away from the garden
  • Kathy Mc. who was everywhere helping everyone as always!
  • Farah and Kathy S. for taking the photos (mostly Farah!)
  • Festival Beach Gardeners for chipping in on the pizza!
  • Joy and Kathy Mc. who provided the summary of the day’s accomplishments and the kudos to the team

¡La alcachofa!

29 Mar

Look what’s growing in Alec’s garden!

Thanks to Farah for another great photo!

“Moving the Compost”

15 Mar

Farah 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!

Vine Fest and Tea-ching Garden!

21 Feb

This 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!

 

 

← Older Entries

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 27 other followers