Sunday, May 22, 2011

Cornerstone grows faith and food





Tony Tarket, Quesada Gardens Initiative's horticulture expert, also known as the "Green Goatee," has been spending a good bit of time lately helping bring Bayview's newest community garden to life at Cornerstone Missionary Baptist Church on 3rd and Paul. A ribbon-cutting on Saturday was part of festivities that included food and gardening education along with a healthy dose of smiles.

Auria Styles, and five other women helped coordinate the project, and was the first to reach out to Quesada Gardens and get a tour of various community and backyard gardens residents have created in the heart of the neighborhood. She and Angelique Tompkins, who has been involved with the Latona Community Garden project, attended a SEFA meeting to make further inroads into the community of concern about our neighborhood's food and health issues.

Together with parishioners Brian Cody and Gina Warren, the group assessed the open space next to the church, as well as the interests and needs of the future gardeners, to design the best garden for Cornerstone. As a result, double-height raised beds and dwarf fruit tree containers, made from wood donated by Home Depot, with fresh soil and mulch from Greenwaste Management now form an eye-pleasing crescent and a place for raising healthy fruits and vegetables.

Congratulations to our friends at Cornerstone; and "thank you" Green Goatee helping create another in the network of community and backyard gardens that are transforming the heart of our beautiful neighborhood.

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