On Saturday, June 22 HdV had its monthly community meeting/ information session. Now that phase one in the garden is officially open- the gathering was held at the Dorothy Quesada Center at Bon View Park… just a short walk from the garden.
These monthly gatherings are held the 3rd Saturday of each month and are a great way for HdV to introduce the project to residents that are interested. During the events we give participants a little information on our background, where we are now, and where we hope to go in the future, as well as take a moment to introduce new garden members to other members in the community in an effort to strengthen our communal ties. The event was interesting and delicious with food- generously donated from local restaurants Tijuana’s Tacos, Salpicon Salvadoran Cuisine, Marie Callender’s, and Taqueria Tamazula Lindo. Aside from eating attendees also participated in garden and fruit/ veg. activities, and a tour of the garden site. The monthly community information sessions are FREE and open to anyone interested in the HdV project. Next month the event will be JULY 20- stay tuned for details!
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This summer there’s been steady progress at the garden. First we had water, then we had a fence, and now we have storage units!
Recently HdV acquired two wood storage units- free of charge from Storage Valet in Corona- we just had to pay for the gas to get them to the garden site. The units are roughly 5 x 8 x 8 and have proven to be of great use to HdV already by eliminating the need to transport our garden equipment to and from each work day. This week the units will undergo a minor facelift- making them water resistant. And hopefully in the future we can paint the units…art contest anyone??? After months of anxiously waiting… our fence was finally put up!!
That’s right- construction on the fence started last Monday and was completed shortly afterwards. The 8’ high chain link fence surrounds the whole garden with two gates allowing for pedestrian and work truck entrance. The construction of the fence is great news for HdV since having a strong sturdy fence to protect our plants and garden tools was a major factor in determining our opening date. Now that the fence is up we can open the site to gardeners!! HUGE thanks to Fence R Us for helping us with this task- and doing a great job!! With summer only a few weeks away the days are warming up and bringing changes to the scenery around the garden site. HdV thought it was only appropriate to change our garden member’s look too! Recently we made a new batch of HdV t-shirts in a soft tan/ khaki color to help keep us cool while looking “cool” at the same time. The new shirts will be free of charge to current gardeners in an effort to thank them for all of their hard work.
For everybody out there wondering how you can get a hold of one of these awesome shirts- stay tuned we’re hoping to sell the shirts on site once the garden opens up. On Friday, June 14th De Anza Park kicked off their third season of “Movies in the Park” and HdV was there to participate in the family fun! Every Friday night until August 9th De Anza Park will showcase a free screening of a family friendly film (check out the list here) as well as host a few family/ kid friendly activities before the show. Since HdV is a current HEAL grant participant we thought it was only appropriate to go out and show our support.
The table we set up at the event was a great success as we got to talk to many more community residents about HdV, demonstrate our garden model, and even distribute tomato and chili pepper plants. Thank you to the De Anza Center for inviting us to the event, we look forward to working with them again in the future. Take a minute to checkout our newest video made by Jack Higgins and Alexa Rishton from Media Arts for Social Justice, where HdV members are interviewed about the need for a community garden. It is getting dry and hot in Ontario. It was 100 degrees the other day. This is a big summer for HDV and we have got a lot to do.
This summer HdV will host many events and activities that everyone is welcomed to participate in. In the upcoming weeks we will continue to work at the site with the garden construction and preparation as well as continuing to create much more compost. Soon we will have our "official" project kick off where we will open the garden to the community! We will continue to work on building business and personal relationships in the area as well as further develop our food justice walking tour and of course start growing as much food as possible! It's all about relationship building and getting to know our neighbors. Everybody is invited to help! If you're interested in participating in any (or all) of our summer plans or would like more information on how to get involved with HdV please contact Maria (Spanish) at 909- 509-2996 or Arthur (English) at 917- 734-8108 or you can always send us an email at info.huertadelvalle@gmail.com We look forward to seeing you at the garden this summer! |
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