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Urban Harvest

The first planting at Westbury Community Garden.

Less than a year ago,I wrote a column about a dream of a community garden in Westbury. I wrote about bringing homeowners, apartment dwellers and elementary school children together in a large garden with raised garden beds, habitat areas, orchards, compost, water catchment, a learning center, handicapped beds, chicken coops and more.

On Saturday, March 6, 207 people gathered to build 48 garden beds, a crushed granite walkway for the habitat, the floor of the learning center and a band of grass between the street and the garden. There were people from Westbury and nearby communities, Lloyd's Register America, Scotts Miracle-Gro, Leadership Houston, Center of Faith and Health Initiatives, Bethel food pantry, Keep Houston Beautiful, Urban Harvest, Lamar High School, Foerster Elementary School, ExxonMobil, Westbury Civic Club, Westbury Area Improvement Corporation, City of Houston Solid Waste Department and more.

On Wednesday, March 10, 50 people gathered to complete the habitat, place mulch and leaves in the aisles. They stayed for an afternoon celebration with Mayor Parker, CM Clutterbuck, Scott's and The Great American Cleanup, along with all the partners and supporters and 150 children from 3 local elementary schools.

Before and in between the two big workdays, more than 30 people gathered to stake and string the beds and do some more work on the beds and habitat. If that was not enough, Earth Essentials put in a water meter, ran PVC and installed water taps at the beds.

In the next couple of months, Leadership Houston will construct a 30' by 30' learning center, and Westbury residents will plant a fruit tree orchard.

A dream of a community garden has been made a reality by a lot of people who have seen the potential of this garden. The potential of diverse people coming together to garden and share their cultures and experiences. The potential of HISD constructing a curriculum for the garden in conjunction with Urban Harvest, so that elementary school children and their teachers can use the garden environment to experience learning in a stimulating way. The potential of vegetables to help feed the 7,000 people that Bethel serves every month. The potential of fresh organic healthy food for all the gardeners and their families to eat and share. The potential for the 48 vegetable beds, which are already spoken for, to grow significantly in the future.

The reality is that many people came together to create the garden, from those who helped provide access to the land, to those who planned, to those who gave money, and to those who provided sweat equity. More than a village has contributed to bring the garden to fruition and to create a sustainability plan. One person can build a few garden beds, however sustainability requires more — more people, more sources of support, more dreams, and those who can make those dreams reality.

There can be a community garden in every neighborhood, where neighbors gather in the celebration of growing fresh food and friendships. Take the first step in your community. Gather a few neighbors and attend Urban Harvest's Starting a Community Garden class. That class has led to scores of community gardens being created. Green thumbs come by learning from others. Urban Harvest has been helping to create those green thumbs for 16 years.

Ray Sher is a gardening and permaculture instructor, vegetable and fruit garden consultant, and works his large intensive home vegetable, fruit and herb garden using organic methods. Contact him at RayInTheGarden@sbcglobal.net.

This column is sponsored by Urban Harvest. To find out more about community gardens, school gardens, farmers markets and gardening classes, visit www.urbanharvest.org.

Members of Westbury Civic Club and their Gardening Club have accomplished their vision of establishing a community garden.

Aside from providing educational programs for area children on gardening and nutrition, the beds in the garden will harvest produce to be donated to local food agencies and community hunger relief organizations.

The Westbury Community Garden, 12500 Dunlap, features 50 raised garden beds to grow fruits and vegetables. More than 200 volunteers in Westbury worked Saturday, March 5, to prepare the garden for a dedication ceremony. They prepared 32 adult beds, 16 youth beds and created a crushed granite entranceway.

“The timing was right for a community garden, as evidenced by the huge turnout of people on Saturday,” said Becky Edmonson, an officer in the Westbury Civic Club and a member of the Gardening Club. “It was so wonderful to see this community come together and work together and that is actually our theme, ‘Growing Community Through Gardening.' ”

The remaining touches to the beds took place at a March 10 dedication. Many officials were on hand such as Houston Mayor Annise Parker, City Council member Anne Clutterbuck and state representatives. Also present was Robin Blut, executive director of Keep Houston Beautiful.

The project, long planned by the Westbury Garden Club, along with Westbury Civic Club and the Westbury Area Improvement Corporation, which combined constitute the Westbury Super Neighborhood, began last April with meetings by more than a dozen avid gardeners in the Westbury neighborhood. A two-acre tract of land on Dunlap was discovered and was leased from the City of Houston Housing Authority by the Super Neighborhood.

Area gardeners, including Ray Sher helped design the garden.

Private donations and various fundraisers have helped fund the garden, along with a $10,000 grant from Scott's Miracle-Gro's “Give Back to Gro” national gardening project. Other organizations involved are Keep America Beautiful, the national Gardening Association, Franklin Park Conservatory and the Garden Writers Association.

Westbury resident Ray Sher was part of the organizing committee.

“We are leasing the beds for $5 a month and we have all the beds taken with a waiting list,” Sher said. “Some people are sharing the adoption of a bed. Residents can then plant seeds of whatever veggies or fruits they would like to grow.”

Students at Foerster Elementary, 14200 Fonmeadow, will adopt eight of the beds in the garden, which is just across the street from the school, and they will be taught curriculum about planting and gardening at the beds.

“We will be helping teach people how to garden and students can experience a garden for maybe the first time in their life,” Sher said. “We expect people in the apartments near the garden to participate too.”

Sher is proud that his community will have a garden thanks to the work of many in the garden and civic clubs.

“There are lots of active people in Westbury wanting to make this community better,” Sher said. “This garden is going to be absolutely incredible.”

For more information, e-mail westburycommunitygarden@gmail.com.