Monday, April 12, 2010

Edible Fences Make Good Neighbors

It was time. It was finally time to call in the special forces. We've been here at Pomello Place for just over a year and haven't gotten nearly as far in the garden as we had hoped. It's been a full year of house repairs, big work, city, art and eco related projects and major family losses on the one side and growing kids, personal insights, small victories and tons of family/ friend love on the other. Yes, we decided to call on our friends from Claremont Food Not Lawns http://www.claremontfoodnotlawns.com/ to come help us transform the front section of our place from a scraggly patch of weeds, sticks, rocks and decay into a sort of edible front porch. So many of our favorite members showed up to dig, move boulders, pull weeds, plant seeds, lay down roots and mulch. It was deeply moving. Remembering that we are connected is one of those important things we can all do as we transition into more sustainable times.

And our yard transformation was community building at its very best.




While sharing garden wisdom and visiting with old friends and new our eco - posse developed a charming and productive welcome garden by our front driveway in just 4 easy going afternoon hours. The weather was cool and refreshing and added to the relaxed energy of the day. We followed up all this eco activism with a delicious and delightful vegetarian potluck.... complete with campfire, s'mores, and group music making a la banjo, piano, guitar, voice, drums and I think I even heard a trumpet at one point.


We'll be transforming the rest of the grounds section by section into a sustaining edible paradise throughout the coming months and years, but this Food Not Lawns gift of time, energy and expertise was a great kick start! Thanks so much to the community I've come to love!