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Deciding the Future of the Garden

The Garden at the Presbyterian Church of Broomfield is a success:

It is a demonstration of how permaculture techniques can maximize productivity while minimizing the work involved. What I would like to see happen is that we build on this success to both expand the number of beds at the church garden and expand the number of permaculture gardens in the community. To do that there are some decisions to be made.

First, in addition to taking some time to focus on his graduate work, David Ward advises me that Nice World has lost all its funding and is in process of reducing its expenses to zero. Nice World has paid for general liability insurance which will most likely cover the garden through the end of the growing season but we will have to find some other sponsor if we are going to plan on planting again next year. Further, we will need to make other arrangements for delivery of manure, wood chips and hay/straw.

Secondly, there are on going expenses. The estimated water bill is something like $500.00. To drip irrigate an additional 21 beds (one additional zone) will cost in the neighborhood of $400.00. To buy insurance ourselves would require that we formalize and organization and a policy similar to Nice-World's would cost about $900.00 per year.

These are not large sums of money in the grand scheme of things and I would think that there is existing non-profit organizations (including potentially the church) that already have insurance that would be willing to adopt this garden as their project. It is also possible that we could sell enough vegetables to cover these costs - particularly in years to come - if we expand the number of beds and plant the beds more efficiently.

This discussion is the place for ideas on what to do - and for us to collectively decide on a course of action.

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 28, 2009 at 11:49am

David,
Thanks for bringing this up.

"These are not large sums of money" - to whom? Many people (and some in our core group) are currently under- or unemployed right now. Many businesses in our area are already struggling due to the recession and may not want to invest in a sponsorship. The money issue is actually a very important issue that we MUST address. This garden needs to be run like a business. That means we need:

1. A contract from the church assuring use of the land for X amount of years, and make sure that "in exchange for what?" is all outlined in the document.
2. Liability insurance
3. Permission to sell produce - whatever that entails from the city or county or whomever. We can't just give it away or ask meekly for donations.
4. Sponsors would be good, and that means we need folks who are familiar with corporate development work on board
5. We need to do things legally at all times.
6. It would be great to have a plumber or person with a truck donate their time and expertise in exchange for a keyhole or produce or both.

We could rent keyholes to generate the necessary income and cover water costs, maybe. We could adopt the DUG model.

I also wonder if city water costs are higher than agricultural water costs? To operate a garden or farm on the price of city water is almost prohibitive and at the very least, no very cost effective. We would almost do better renting an acre from Boulder County Ag Open Space, where we may have access to an ag ditch. Again, to run this like a business, we need to weigh costs versus output. Do people really want to ultimately pay $5 a tomato after putting in 20 hours of their time tending to it? Know what I mean?

Lots of things to think about! After witnessing this unfold this year, I realize it isn't as simple as it seems. It has been a great learning experience.

Permalink Reply by DONNA MARIE DUBOIS on July 31, 2009 at 12:11pm

Let me know if you need me to draft an agreement of some kind. I just need the key elements and would be happy to present it for our board review.

Permalink Reply by David Braden on July 28, 2009 at 3:17pm

Another factor we have discussed is to use the garden as an educational tool and charge for classes.

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 28, 2009 at 3:31pm

That's a good idea. Let's put that on the list of "income" generating resources.

Do you know about the Growers’ Association Model for
Boulder County Parks and Open Space
Agriculture Leases? I'm attaching a PDF.

Maybe we could look into leasing some land this way. Our collective experience would help us qualify.

Attachments:

BoulderColoradoParks.pdf, 258 KB

Permalink Reply by David Braden on July 28, 2009 at 4:07pm

Interesting possibility

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 28, 2009 at 4:13pm

Yes, especially if the church won't guarantee the use of the land or kicks us out!

Permalink Reply by David Braden on July 30, 2009 at 6:55am

I suggest that we experiment with selling some of the produce. I will be at the garden this afternoon and again on Sunday and can try and figure out how to go about it. Does any one have an idea? Want to help?

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 30, 2009 at 9:42am

I'm into it. I left you a message.

Permalink Reply by David Braden on July 30, 2009 at 8:29pm

I stopped by the garden this afternoon and harvested some cucumbers and zucchini - but it was raining and I didn't have a chance to evaluate what we might have to sell this Sunday.

I was thinking that we should have some bags? Used plastic grocery bags? New zip locks? . . .

Do we need a sign . . .

I will try to drop by the Golden farmers market on Saturday and see for what price produce is selling.

I don't see a message . . . where did you leave it?

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 31, 2009 at 9:21am

I left a message on your cellphone yesterday.

Anyway, my message was that I harvested some green beans (small bag), cucumbers (3), a small baggie of tomatoes and about a dozen squash and 3 huge zukes and some chard the other day. Since I hadn't heard from you or Don about it, I took this over to the FISH in Broomfield.

I figure those volunteers interested in food will go and harvest for themselves. I don't want this stuff going to waste by getting too big and nasty tasting, so I harvested it. I'm glad it will go to someone in need.

Meanwhile, in a couple of weeks we'll have some tomatoes to harvest, definitely green beans, more squash and cucumbers. I can hand-create a poster and I think we should sell on Sunday morning as the church goers are coming in and out of mass. Did you have another venue in mind to sell?

Sprouts grocery store is charging $1.99 lb for zuccini! Hot diggity. We can definately sell squash at a buck a piece.

Permalink Reply by DONNA MARIE DUBOIS on July 31, 2009 at 12:13pm

are there hungry people in our community that do not have enough to eat? or enough money to buy food?

Permalink Reply by Margaret Emerson on July 31, 2009 at 3:17pm

Yeah, there are many. I dropped off a bunch of garden produce to FISH (Broomfield food bank) the other day.

We have to sell in order to pay the $500 water bill for the garden.