Wayne Food Initiative to bless third community garden Friday
By Staff Reports
Published in News on April 7, 2009 1:46 PM
Wayne Food Initiative will hold a blessing ceremony and work day at Goldsboro's third community garden Friday beginning at noon.
The blessing ceremony will be performed at 12:30 p.m. by Goldsboro resident and Haliwa-Saponi Indian Dreamweaver at the little plot located at 609 Devereax St. The garden property was donated to Wayne Food Initiative by James Durham, who grew up there. Organizers say there will be lots of food on hand, and volunteers are urged to bring their tools and be ready to go to work weeding and planting.
The Wayne Food Initiative is helping coordinate volunteers to work in the two other community gardens, too, and is building educational programs about healthy eating and growing food at all three gardens.
The first community garden was tended at the First African Baptist Church. Children came from the Dillard Academy CASTLES program to help.
Cheryl Alston of the school said the children liked it so much, they planted a garden at the school. The school staff was so impressed at how excited the children were about growing vegetables that it is now a part of the school curriculum.
The second community garden was planted at the Wayne County Public Library on Ash Street. The next work day scheduled for the community garden at the library will be May 9 at 9:30 a.m. The library provides a summer program for school children and their parents. The next season runs June 18 until Aug. 6 with educational sessions from 9 until 11 a.m. each Thursday.
Wayne Food Initiative will also have a mini-farmer's market again this growing season in the parking lot at Ash and Lionel streets. The farmer's market will open on April 29. Hours of operation will be 10 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. every Wednesday thereafter through the growing season. For information about the farmer's market, call Karen Padgett, the Health Department's health education coordinator, at 731-1235.
Those interested in volunteering in the community gardens can call 736-4413 or 581-0128.