Community Garden

Purpose:

The Stony Point Community Garden was established in 2010 by volunteers with donated funds to provide a gathering place for neighborhood residents and First United Methodist Church to come together and build community.  It is a place where participants experience, learn and benefit from growing their own food, develop new friendships and join together to grow food for donation to less fortunate Santa Rosarians through local foodbanks. 

See the photo album of the community garden.

History:

In 2010 infrastructure plumbing, fencing and 30 family beds were constructed over several weeks, along with eight large 10 x 10 ft beds to be used as Donation Beds and to be used by the Children and Youth programs.  Five fruit trees were donated during the first growing season including, as memorials, a Santa Rosa Plum and a Mandarin Orange. 

Over the 2010/11 winter Dave Wilson Nursery, a Central Valley commercial grower, donated 19 additional fruit trees including multiple varieties of peach, persimmon, pluot, apple, plum, nectarine, fig and pear.  In early 2011, two local landscaping firms, SBI Materials and Grab ‘N Grow, donated 50 yards of topsoil and pathway mulch; garden beds were refilled and the area in between beds was mulched to keep down weeds.

2011 Plans:

• Completion of pathway mulching
• Installation of drip irrigation lines for the fruit orchard
• Plans for the FUMC Youth Group to build two picnic benches over the Summer, 2011 are tentatively being moved forward

Future Plans:

• Expansion of family beds to the south to accommodate additional neighborhood and congregation families
• Addition of one or more beds to grow cut flowers for use at the Church

If You Are Interested:

There are many ways you can be involved in the garden

• Sign up for a garden bed, start growing your own healthy food and make new friends.
• Volunteer to help out with watering, tending or harvesting on one of the Donation Bed teams that grow and deliver food to local foodbanks
• Make a donation to “First United Methodist Church-Community Garden” to assist with our improvement plans

To get started, call the Church Office and ask to be put in touch with the Garden Manager.

Cost:

The cost to garden a bed for one season (April through October) is either:

• $25 plus 8 hours of Volunteer time during the season, or
• $50