First community workday at the St. Mark's Garden

I talk a bunch about the Mission High School Garden and the Free Farm, but it's time to give a new and well overdue shout out, because PttP has also been working with a really awesome and dedicated group of gardeners from the St. Marks Church and neighboring Martin Luther Tower senior community to start a food garden on a patch of land behind St. Marks. We have been hard at work doing the organizing (in a partnership with Urban Share) for several months and this weekend finally got to DIG IN!

I would love to say that gardens just happen when someone shows up with a shovel, some seeds, and a watering can, but really and truly, there is often a lot of paperwork and legwork, collecting supplies, borrowing tools, asking for donations, and many many conversations and ideas that come first. Don't let that ruin that magic for you, there is plenty of shoveling at some point, and this Sunday was the day for it! We are starting out clearing the space, which means weeding, raking, cleaning up, and making notes of the light and the layout to move forward. This garden is going to be partially raised bed at both standing and sitting height, in addition to a few double dug beds directly in the soil, to make it friendly for folks of all different ability levels.

There is another workday coming up next Sunday, March 7th from 1-4pm (the church is on O'Farrell and Franklin St.s) if you're interested in coming by to help out or check out the space!