If you’ve never been out to the bucolic Sonoma Garden Park on Seventh Street East, now’s your chance. The garden is hosting a series of events for “Earth Week,” (because one day is just not enough) beginning Monday, April 20 and running through Thursday, April 23. The week will culminate with a bring-your-own picnic at the garden park following the Sonoma Ecology Center’s creek clean-up event on Saturday, April 25.
“Our goal is to build community within the garden and the town of Sonoma by educating both adults and children,” said Rebecca Bozzelli, garden manager at the park. “We’ve got this great spot and we want people to come out, enjoy it and learn something in the process. In fact, we just completed a series of workshops on drought tolerant gardening which were widely attended.”
The garden is looking for volunteers of all ages during Earth Week for a project called, “The Big Dig,” whereby irrigation lines will be run to new community garden plots. There are currently 24 community gardeners who rent plots from the garden for a nominal annual fee and in turn, receive a place to garden as well as access to tools, water, mulch and advice. Among the renters are the Sonoma Valley Mother’s Club and the Mentoring Alliance, which has partnered with master gardeners to run a program called “Grow By Me.” Slow Food sponsors the mentoring plot as well as one other in the garden.
In addition to the plot rental, the garden generates revenue through its Community Supported Agriculture program where locals buy shares of the program and receive weekly deliveries of fruit and vegetables during the harvest season. Combined, the Saturday harvest markets, CSA and plot rentals helped the garden pull in close to $10,000 last year.
“We’re still looking for a few people to purchase shares of CSA,” said Jessica Glatt, project manager for the garden park. “And we’re working to expand both the harvest market and CSA, as these programs generate money up front. We don’t need to wait for grants or other types of funding. We can do this on our own, which is a big plus.”
This is good news because the SEC, like other non-profits, has been hit hard by the state’s budget cuts. “The show must go on,” said Julie Jahly, watershed stewardship coordinator for the SEC. “We’ve all taken a cut in hours but feel that the work we’re doing is so vital that we can’t just stop because there’s no longer money in the budget.”
Richard Dale, executive director of the SEC, said that the organization is taking an entrepreneurial approach to the budget cuts. The group has received a good amount of support from the local community and has taken on a number of mapping and technical contract projects for local landowners and government agencies to fill in the gaps.
“We’re also working on private placement bond opportunities that would directly fund stop work projects,” said Dale. “Our goal is to collaborate such that we can circumnavigate the state’s frozen bond situation. By working through a private investment strategy, we can get our projects working again. That mission is critical.”
The SEC will host two creek clean-up events to celebrate Earth Day. On Saturday, April 25, the public is invited to join the SEC at two sites: Nathanson Creek at the bridge behind the Adele Harrison middle school and a second location on Fryer Creek behind Sassarini elementary school. Each clean-up will be held from 9 a.m. to noon. Volunteers need to supply their own water and snacks.
A water wisdom forum will be held by the SEC on April 21 from 6 to 8 p.m. at Saddles. Brock Dolman, head of the water institute at the Occidental Arts and Ecology Center, will discuss water conservation and give a hydrology lesson.
At Sonoma Garden Park, Earth Week volunteers are encouraged to show up anytime between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m. Regular volunteer hours are the same time on Monday’s, Wednesday and Saturdays, all year long. Once harvest begins on May 22, additional volunteer hours will be from 4 to 6 p.m. The harvest market opens on May 23 and runs through October 31.
The garden encompasses six acres of land. In addition to the garden plots, harvest market and CSA, it contains native oaks, a flower growing patch, a children’s orchard and discovery trail as well a number of educational panels in English and Spanish. Separate areas for butterflies, Mediterranean plants and medicinal flora are also part of the landscape.
“When Pauline Bond generously donated this plot of land to the city in 1977, she stipulated that it be used as a park,” said Dale. “Today it is a destination garden for the community and a true collaboration of efforts. It is indeed serving her vision.”
Photos by Melania Mahoney
