Wednesday, December 27, 2006

another sunny spot

Until last weekend I had never met the woman who lives across the street from me. That is embarrassing to say as I’ve lived in my home for more than four years now. I know many of the families who live on my short street but I had never met Jean until last Sunday. She is an elderly lady with bright eyes who is not afraid of silence.

We didn’t talk about peak oil or the tragic loss of top soil in our country. But she did say she’d seen my chickens one day when they ventured into my front yard. She told me about how living in our small, southern town used to include keeping backyard poultry and sometimes even larger livestock. She lamented the fact that folks no longer garden; that people aren’t as neighborly and don’t get together to share as often. We both apologized for not having met sooner. I brought up the idea of me gardening in her backyard. She is no longer able to do the physical work of growing food and was happy to hear the idea of me using her former garden to do so. We both agreed that sharing the food, not only between our two households but also with some of our other neighbors, would be a good idea. One such neighbor has since offered to help and has begun to deposit fallen leaves in a pile we’ll use for compost and for mulch.

The full version of this story about a holiday expansion of my neighborhood gardening efforts appears HERE as part of Groovy Green's 13 Days of Joy series.

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hello!

I love your blog. I'm in Concord too, and came across your blog while looking for a place to buy supplies for a greenhouse. We considered trying to reclaim some old windows for the project, but now we're looking for polycarbonate sheets for the roof. Do you have any ideas for where we might be able to find those around here? We're new to the area and just don't know where to start.

I love the community garden idea.

PeakEngineer said...

Now that's making things happen! It's amazing what simple conversation can accomplish.

Alright, I'll go meet my unknown neighbors now too...

nulinegvgv said...

hello greenie in concord. funny you should mention greenhouses because i might be receiving a used one soon. it is in need of new polycarbonate sheets. my plan was to start by asking the nice people at Braffords Greenhouses:

217 Old Airport Rd
Concord, NC 28025
(704) 782-1349

i figure they'll know a good source. if you're new to the area you'll want to meet them as they are a wonderful family run nursery that's been around for decades- right near downtown concord. drop me an email and perhaps we can share local ideas and/or resources, especial concerning our common greenhouse needs.

aaron "at" groovygreen "dot" com

peakengineer, let me know how it goes with your neighbor. oh and try using old women's stocking for tying up individual cucumbers. as the fruit grows and expands the stocking will stretch but still hold up the weight.

Anonymous said...

Thank you Aaron! I am going to email you right now.

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