New Leaf plans workday Saturday at garden spot on Salbide in Newnan
By W. WINSTON SKINNERwinston@newnan.com
New Leaf Community Garden will have a workday on Saturday at the group’s first garden spot on Salbide Avenue.
New Leaf’s leaders hope to eventually have a network of garden spots that will grow food to help feed the hungry. Plans also call for selling some of the produce to help fund the project.
‘We are still on phase one of the garden,” Coleman said, adding that several projects are planned for Saturday.
“We need to rake the back section of the garden,” she said. “We are only raking out the larger rocks. The smaller ones will be fine to work around and will not harm the plants that will eventually be there.”
Coleman urged volunteers to bring their own rakes. “We need as many wheelbarrows as possible,” she said. “Wheelbarrows are preferred but five-gallon buckets would be okay, too.”
Another project on Saturday “will be to work on the fencing,” Coleman said.
Some work is already underway in preparation for the fence project. “Our goal is to have the posts secured by Saturday so we can add the wire to the fence,” she said.
“These things will certainly keep us busy for a few hours,” Coleman said.
Community gardening is growing in a big way in Coweta County and across the country. There has been a garden at Vineyard Community Church in Senoia for a couple of years. The God’s Little Acre garden project is also getting underway this spring in Moreland.
The University of Georgia’s Griffin Campus will be the site of a Farm to Fork food business workshop on Tuesday and Wednesday of next week. The workshop will start Tuesday at 8:30 a.m. and conclude Wednesday at noon.
The program is aimed at people who are ready to take their “famous” barbecue sauce recipes or farm stand cheeses to the next level. The UGA College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences Center for Agribusiness and Economic Development and the Georgia Center of Innovation for Agribusiness are sponsoring the workshop. Farm to Fork is described as “a crash course in the basics of starting and growing a food business in Georgia.”
“Sometimes attendees are people who just have an idea kicking around in their head and need some information about what it would take to bring to market in terms of regulation, marketing and production,” said Tommie Shepherd, an agricultural economist with the CAED.
The workshop will also include sessions designed to help existing food business owners invigorate their marketing plans, improve packaging and find that precious space on supermarket shelves. “Anybody with just an idea for a product or those who have a product line that they would like to expand will benefit from this workshop,” said Sharon P. Kane, a CAED food development economist.
Registration for the Griffin program is $139, but a limited number of $100 scholarship are available. For more information about the workshop’s schedule and the presenters visit www.areg.caes.uga.edu or call 706-542-0808.
Community garden enthusiasts in Coweta County are excited about the projects underway locally. “These are exciting days as we see the garden begin to take shape,” Coleman said. “So many things are being worked on. It will be a full summer.”
