[Community_garden] National embarrassment

Tue Feb 27 18:26:40 EST 2007

Don't know about you guys, but I've given tours to community gardeners, dignitaries, and Brits for a number of years... oft-times we start in the West 30's and end up on West 90th Street, and it's always by foot, or we take the bus when I have a person challenged with arthritis or a mobility challenged seniors. 

Walking through the urban areas that surround gardens, is informative - especially when on one corner is a drug dealer or a string of whores, and on the street that the garden serves are well tended tree pits, flower boxes, and in an area where outsiders would not expect it, a thriving garden with families, volunteers, and a beehive.

To be frank, - Newcastle in England has more than its share of "grotty," ( to use the English adjective - it means what it sounds like) areas, and people with less than wonderful cars.  It's your gardens that are important, and if they want to see them, Avis and Hertz are always in the telephone book. 

Wax on Fred, yer doin' Gods work. 

Best wishes from Hell's Kitchen, 
Adam Honigman

-----Original Message-----
From: MikeMcG at PTD.net
To: fred.conrad at acfb.org; community_garden at list.communitygarden.org
Sent: Tue, 27 Feb 2007 5:03 PM
Subject: Re: [Community_garden] National embarrassment

"Get a horse!"

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Fred Conrad" <fred.conrad at acfb.org>
To: <community_garden at list.communitygarden.org>
Sent: Tuesday, February 27, 2007 10:05 AM
Subject: [Community_garden] National embarrassment

> An aside:
>
> Sad to say, I'm about to risk making a very bad impression on some British 
> gardeners.
>
> I give community garden tours to people.  I've been doing it for years. 
> I'm very casual about the whole thing, usually I ask them to pick me up at 
> my house and we hit three or four gardens in the immediate area. 
> Community organizers who are about to try their hand at community gardens 
> really need to see a few, meet some gardeners, talk about the issues 
> before they get too far along.  I've done tours for community gardeners 
> from other cities and countries who happen to be in town and want to check 
> out Atlanta's gardening scene, some funders, some researchers.  Probably 
> we all have.
>
> Since my car really sucks, I always ask the visitors to drive.  I paid 
> more for my rototiller than I did for my car.  The headliner is gone, and 
> the foamy stuff that it left behind randomly rains down like dandruff onto 
> the passengers.  Two of the door handles are broken off on the outside and 
> two are broken off from the inside.  It smells like someone spilled coffee 
> in it, several times, because they did.  Not the acidic coffee grounds of 
> this list, but the kind mixed with half and half.  When you turn on the 
> vent fan, little bits of dried leaves and acorns blow out.  When you pull 
> away too fast from a stop light the front seats lay down and you speed 
> through the intersection laying on your back looking at the car dandruff 
> instead of traffic.  The back seat is full of straw.  It's not good.
>
> So I was contacted by the Chancellor of Newcastle (and entourage), in 
> northern England, about a tour.  We set it up for this afternoon, and the 
> weather is going to be stunning.  Naturally I assumed they'd have a rental 
> car, or a diplomatic limousine, or something.  Just now they mentioned 
> that they'll be arriving by taxi.  We don't have time to walk to the 
> gardens, so I'm in a very bad spot.  My wife said I can't bring them into 
> the house, either, because it's a wreck, so there's no recovering from the 
> bad car by showing off a nice other thing.
>
> I should have bought the riding sulky for my rototiller.
>
>
> Fred Conrad
> Community Garden Coordinator
> Atlanta Community Food Bank
> 732 Joseph E Lowery Blvd, NW, Atlanta, GA 30318
> ph: 678.553.5932 fx: 678.553.5933
> fred.conrad at acfb.org    <http://www.acfb.org>
> Our mission is to fight hunger by engaging, educating and empowering our 
> community.
>
>
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