From Asphalt to a Community Garden

This past weekend my co-workers and I meet up with a group of people in our industry (Commercial Real Estate) and worked on Phase II of a community garden.  That's me on the right.

Last summer a group of workers began the HARD work of picking and scraping and digging into a hard-baked Urban Parking Lot.  Someone had a LOT of vision  because out of that hard work, a garden was created and is thriving today for the neighbors.

Several neighbors have signed agreements with Volunteers of America and have their own little plot/pod to grow vegetables, herbs and flowers.  There are even picnic tables to sit down and have a cool drink or just admire all the pretty plants.

Power tools were brought to the work day and boards were cut to make vertical trellis, planter boxes and benches.

Bales of hales had holes dug out of them, for plants to grow straight out of the hay!

Above are some of the "pods" that have already been planted.  We saw okra, tomatoes, purple hull peas, wax beans, squash, and herbs already growing and ready for harvest.

As you can see from this picture, we are in the heart of a very urban area. For those of you that are familiar with Houston...it's on North Shepherd......near Yale in a neighborhood called Independence Heights.

A group of "Corporate Suits" showed up for a day of playing in the dirt!

Here is the beginning of the Mural.  A very interesting artist, David Flores, created this on paper and then put it on the wall facing the garden.  David outlined the colors and then we got to fill in the color.

I knew when I signed up for this workday and the flyer said there was going to be a mural painted....I wanted on THAT team.  :)  And lucky me....I got to paint!  I'd MUCH rather paint than do yard work...LOL!

David starting the detailing finishing touches to the mural.  I will drive by in a couple of days and take a picture of the finished project.  To check out more of his work, his website is:  Skeez 181

And for all our hard work.....a hamburger/hotdog lunch was donated...and it sure tasted good!

If you don't already, I highly recommend doing volunteer work with Habitat for Humanity, Volunteers of America, or just helping out people in need. It's a really rewarding experience!