CommunityGarden

ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGE-MAKERS

Westchester (Los Angeles)

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The Community Garden at Holy Nativity



In January 2008, the Environmental Change-Makers partnered with Urban Farming to create a community garden on the grounds of Holy Nativity Church in the Westchester area of Los Angeles. The garden is tended cooperatively and is maintained as a teaching garden to share the skills of how to grow food. We offer low-cost public Organic Vegetable Gardening classes one or two Saturdays per month.

About the garden How can I volunteer? Garden classes Photos Garden fact sheet (date) map of the garden (pdf) Why We Grow Food						Volunteers Donate

We have expanded the garden, season by season, adding new features: Initial vegetable area ... begun Spring 2009 ... April 2010 photo, summer 2009 layout Rainwater harvesting garden ... added Oct 2008 ... installation photos, installation narrative and plans Culinary and medicinal herb garden ... added May 2009 ... winter 2010 photo, May 2009 photo , installation day photos, installation narrative with plans Mini-orchard of dwarf fruit trees ... added Jan 2009 ... Feb 2010 photo Rainwater harvesting tanks ... added May 2009 ... tank installation Tabletop raised beds for seniors/disabled ... added Summer 2009 ... photo North vegetable area ... in-progress Autumn 2010

We love to photograph our garden. Here are some of our photo collections: Winter 2009 slideshow; Harvest photos (2010, May 2009 , Sept 2009); Photos from our classes and events; Our 2010 photo archive ; Initial installation and groundbreaking party

Volunteers are always welcome. You'll gain hands-on experience about how to grow food as you work alongside garden veterans. Our team of volunteers -- from the neighborhood community, Environmental Change-Makers, other area organizations, and Holy Nativity parish -- meets every Thursday afternoon from approximately 4:30 until dusk. We tend, harvest, seed, and water the garden together (and have a great social time doing it!). We also have watering teams that come in daily during hot weather. Installation parties are on selected Saturdays in spring and fall, and are noted on our calendar. We welcome your help with the garden. Phone our volunteer coordinators Peter or Christine at (310) 670-4777 or email holynativity@sbcglobal.net

Garden Classes Environmental Change-Makers has taught an ongoing series of Organic Vegetable Gardening classes from the Community Garden at Holy Nativity one to two Saturdays per month since spring 2008. Many of our garden resources are online: Introduction to Organic Gardening - the main concepts (pdf - renewed link coming soon) Why We Grow Food High-Yield Vegetable Gardening (2 page guide) How to get rid of Bermuda Grass (2 page guide) Compost workshop photo essay Feral Vegetables Genetic engineering: How to Make Your Garden GMO-free Planting times for vegetables in So Calif (Digitalseed of San Diego) The Quest for Higher Yields (25 page booklet) the philosophy behind what we do. Explains the questions before us as participants in the urban agriculture movement, the concept of "organic," and much more. Rainwater Harvesting Seed Library of Los Angeles Seed Sanctuary program at Seed Freedom LA The Secrets of Soil Building (43 page booklet) compiles all Joanne's writing about soil. Includes compost, mulch, worm composting, soil organisms, So Calif pH issues, "fertilizer," and much more. Do-it-yourself Soil Tests (2 page guide) you can do them for free! Solar Cooking - not exactly a garden class, but ... How to have Success with Seedlings (2 page guide) Vegetable Crop Rotations and our Vegetable Crop Rotation Wheel Water Wisdom (42 page booklet) includes water in the garden, rainwater harvesting, greywater, greywater soaps, and much more.						Calendar of Garden events
Yes, you CAN grow food if you live in an apartment or condo... get a Community Garden plot - many gardens around LA, including the new Emerson Avenue Community Garden in Westchester grow food indoors - see Microgreens, by Eric Franks, or Fresh Food from Small Spaces, by RJ Ruppenthal, both available in Los Angeles Public Library system guerrilla gardening of food plants - On Guerrilla Gardening, by Richard Reynolds, available in Los Angeles Public Library system. Tips for trying guerrilla gardening of food plants ("feral vegetables") in Los Angeles urban growing conditions Fallen Fruit - maps of food that is growing in the public domain "What You Can Do ... Even in an Apartment"

Donations are always welcome. We have built this entire garden with a minimum amount of inputs, with lots of donated, found, and repurposed materials. We welcome cash donations toward hand tools or toward our new expansions. We also welcome donations which allow this work to continue as we do outreach to other communities and other garden sites. Please contact Holy Nativity to make a donation.

Garden "spin offs" Harvest Westchester backyard food redistribution program Group purchases of bareroot fruit trees and rainwater harvesting barrels Other gardens we are nurturing Community Garden resources so you can start your own!

The Garden in the News We have gained plenty of press attention for the garden. See our "Press Clippings" in right sidebar here.




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