After a year of lurking in the shadows, Independence Township Parks and Recreation is stepping to the forefront in an attempt to bring some much needed visibility and organization to the Clarkston Community Garden located at the McCord-Stickney property.
‘We’re definitely providing more of a backbone and structure this year,? Recreation Supervisor for ITP&R Kelly Hyer said.
Master gardener Elizabeth Egan was simply stretched too thin while managing the operation as a whole last year and during the half season the plant a row for the hungry project existed in 2004. One person alone was and is not enough to manage both the public relation side and the actual gardening side of the project.
Many crops rotted unharvested because of a lack of volunteers last year, untold amounts were eaten by deer, but despite the negative factors, Egan and the handful of volunteers were able to coax 1,200 pounds of food for the Oakland County food bank. But that number also represents about 1/20th of what Egan estimated for the garden’s potential last year.
The garden picked up steam as it went along last summer though.
Some locals stepped up to help Egan last year like Joy Kunkler Morrison, who dedicated a portion of her Web site, www.joy-therealesteatelady.com, to the project. A stroke of genius to sell items from the garden at the Clarkston Farmer’s Market Egan raised enough money to buy deer fencing for this year’s go around.
The important thing to remember is as a master gardener Egan is to plants as a pediatrician is to children or a pediatrist is to feet. She is thrilled to have ITP&R step into a larger role this year.
‘The parks and recreation department will add real structure to the project, administrative structure. Just having that structure will be a huge help. I can really stick to the hands on work,? Egan said.
While the community garden fell under the ITP&R umbrella last year, the project did not receive even a tenth of the support being shown this year.
Perhaps the most significant change is the simplest ? people who want to volunteer this year can just call the parks and recreation offices at 248-625-8223 for information on how to contribute.
The focus for obtaining volunteers has been tweaked a little this year as well. At the start, organizers focused on businesses in the community, asking them to ‘adopt? the garden for a weekend. Even with members of The Clarkston News working the fields during the summer, ? well, twice during the summer, there were far too many ‘orphaned? weekends for the community garden.
Realizing businesses were not going to be the prop sticks the garden needed, Egan shifted the focus to individuals. While she pieced together a small band of dedicated volunteers in the end, much of the early recruitment time was wasted.
The approach to finding the volunteers necesary to tap into the garden’s potential this year is a variation of last year’s ending theme.
A personal ad for the community garden would read: ‘Lonely and fertile plot of land seeks 12 caring individuals with moderate amount of gardening knowledge to spend time with over spring and summer.?
Egan and ITP&R are looking for people to become garden managers. Their hope is that with a group of leaders in place, groups like the Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Rotary, Optimists, Lion’s club and so on will lend a hand.
On Feb. 25, Hyer and Egan hosted people interested in the garden’s future in a planning meeting at the Independence Township Library.
Karen Koenigbauer, services coordinator for the Independence Township senior center was in attendance and left quite smitten with the initial planning for the garden this year.
‘My thoughts were as a senior group we could go twice a month. We are definitely a group that would like to be a part of the garden this year,? Koenigbauer said.
Koenigbauer also praised the organizer’s overall vision.
‘It seems to be very well organized. Elizabeth (Egan) and Kelly (Hyer) seemed to have learned a lot from last year. I was impressed,? Koenigbauer said.
The meeting of the minds between Egan and Hyer and others closely tied to the project brought forth some interesting tweaks this year.
Rentable plots of land at the garden are being discussed for people who do not have a suitable area to garden in at home. The garden will also sell cut flowers at the farmer’s market this year. Some extra cash might be handy should the garden organizers want to install the deer fence purchased last year.
Additionally, ITP&R is currently asking the Clarkston schools to have their third grade classes start pre-growing plants.
The organizers are also asking for donations of seeds and bulbs.
Egan is optimistic that with Parks and Recreation publically behind the project, the community garden can double its yield this year.
Opening day for the garden is scheduled for May 13.