Photo: An image of young community gardeners at work, used courtesy of the Wegrowtogether Facebook Page.
The Red River Coalition of Community Gardens turns five years old this weekend, and they’re inviting locavores and supporters out for a progressive dinner celebrating three community gardens, 2-5 p.m., this Sunday, June 15. This is the only birthday party I’ve ever been invited to with a “bring your own worm bin for composting” policy. There is no cost to participate.
The three gardens that will be participating are the Highland Community Garden (across the street from Noel Methodist Church, at the corner of Herndon Street & Stephens Avenue, Shreveport), Valencia Community Garden (1800 Viking Drive, Shreveport, next to Caddo Magnet High School) and the Northwest Louisiana Interfaith Pharmacy Garden (909 Olive Street, Shreveport). Each stop will include educational opportunities and delicious, locally sourced food. At the Highland Community Garden, guests can learn about vermicomposting – that’s composting with worms – and dine on confetti salad. Bring your own bin if you’d like to start vermicomposting on the spot. At the Valencia Community Garden, they’ll be serving organic carrot cake and teaching guests about portion control. At the Northwest Louisiana Interfaith Pharmacy Garden, guests will sample party soup and learn about container gardening. Once again, bring your own container with soil if you’d like to get started with container gardening.
The Shreveport-Bossier community’s interest in local food has exploded in the last few years, as is evidenced by the growing number of farmers’ markets as well as the huge crowds that they attract. One great reason to turn out on Sunday – aside from the food and educational programs – is the chance to meet many of the folks who’ve been working behind-the-scenes to foster and promote that interest. Folks like Dr. Grace Peterson of the LSU Ag Center and Shalon Lewis of the Valencia Park Community Center are just great people to know if you’re interested in local community gardens.
For more information on Sunday’s events, call (318) 278-3081 or visit www.rrccg.org.
“Like” the Red River Coalition of Community Gardens page on Facebook for regular updates from this awesome group of folks.
