I am always amazed by all the things that take place within a month and this last month is no exception. It has been even more jam-packed than ever.
The first week in May we were visited by the Grapevine Garden Club who are enthusiastic gardeners taking an excursion through many Texas community gardens on their way to San Antonio. They gave a donation of $50 to our community garden. The very next day, we were descended upon by five shifts of third graders. Thank God for all the volunteers that showed up to help show them the features of the garden and answered their questions.
The next week and a half were spent in planning meetings to prepare for our wine-tasting fundraiser, “Happy Hour at the Gardens" which was held on May 11th. Not only did we plan for the event, but we also went out and procured donations of money and auction items, advertised in the Dispatch and Radiogram, and gave out flyers.
On the day of the event, we scrambled to set up tables and chairs in addition to tents to shelter the wineries and food, as there was always the chance of rain to deal with. With everything in place, including the music provided by Ben from Saloon 37 and our police officer in attendance, we pulled it off. More than 50 people attended throughout the four-hour event. Clean-up took place after the close of the event, and chairs were loaded to go back to the county annex the next day. We made our goal of $5,000! Thank you notes have been sent to all those who gave donations of money, and a banner is planned to showcase their businesses. A smaller banner will thank the donors of the auction items.
Square Foot Gardening Foundation invited me to write another grant for the ADA project. I have been working on this for about a week. I called a meeting with Chris Eicher and T.J. Wright to finalize the quote that T.J. had given me last year.
Both Chris and I had changes to the original plan. T.J. will be sending the updated quote which I need to complete the grant. T.J. believes the pad will be completed by August in time for the fall planting.
Mike Irvin is donating a shed for the ADA garden. He wants the dimensions so he can collect the materials to build it. I am having a rendering made to show him the design that will house the garden materials and our fundraising supplies.
Karen DeZarn and I are planning some canning classes. I am also waiting to hear from Hadley Barry about some nutrition classes. We will start promoting these very soon.
