Donations, keep 'em coming!

We've been generously offered two decorative wood and iron park benches from Brenda Adams who read about the garden in The Examiner. That's awesome! Moving forward, hoping to resolve the water issue and get growing!

Water: This just in...

PUC just called back and they won't reconnect the service at the moment. They spoke of costs, maintenance issues, security issues, etc. They did however, mention that the Ashburnham Garden was allowed access to water through pressure from the mayor himself. Looks like we need to get some political power on our side. Hmmm, don't the people put the politicians in office? Power to the people!

Updates: Compost, Topsoil, Water and some Press!

So, 7 cubic yards of compost was dropped off by the city today which is great. Jay has been collecting and dropping off garden waste and grass clippings and others are encouraged to do so as well so we can start our own compost and mulch. Harold at Cavanagh's has convinced a landscaper friend to drop off some topsoil for free and that should be later this week, all awesome. Following up on Tara-Lyn's suggestion, Sion went to City Hall this morning and was directed to Peterborough Utilities regarding the possibility of reconnecting the water service to the lot. Keith at PUC seemed very supportive and said he'd get back to us in a couple days, fingers crossed! Having a source of water on the lot itself would be fantastic. By no means does this mean we'll be relying on it as our main source of the stuff that falls from the sky. Sustainability! Last, but not least, The Peterborough Examiner did a piece on our project which hopefully will draw some people and organizations to lend us some support both physically and financially. Check it out: http://www.thepeterboroughexaminer.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2550641 Go Pingo Pongo People!

Friday Meeting at The Only

Jay, Tim, Sion, Anne and Peter made it to The Only this past Friday for a brief guidelines and strategy meeting. Guidelines and suggested fees have been established and we will have a group get together soon to make sure everyone is on the same page.
We should have two correspondence letters ready this week; one for neighbours inviting their involvement and feedback, and another for local businesses soliciting support through material or financial contributions.
Tara-Lyn made a good suggestion recently that we should approach City Hall to see if they can reconnect the water service. This may involve some funds, all the more reason to get the fees and guidelines agreed upon and start raising some capital through membership and donations. We still need to get a rainwater storage system together. Some feedback, people?
Sion will try and get to City Hall this week to keep things moving forward. Compost will be delivered this Monday, and with some luck we'll have the rototiller soon. Let's start growing!

Water Storage System

Hmmmmmm...
http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-build-a-rain-water-collector/

Compost from City Hall

The City of Peterborough is generously donating 3.5 cubic yards of compost (value, including delivery $140+/-) For another $40 we have doubled the order, which will be delivered Monday, April 26th sometime. Quick math: 7 cubic yards compost + delivery = $40... (good deal) We need to tackle the water issue sooooon.

New Developments

After meeting with the majority of the Pingo Pongo people it was decided this weekend to go forward with rototilling the entire patch and allowing individuals to decide what method they would use for their own plots. Laura is getting the rototiller prepared and suggested checking for potential underground hazards. The folks at Cavanagh said that all services had definitely been disconnected 20 years ago. To be on the safe side Sion and Jay went to city hall on Monday. The entire parking lot actually takes up three building lots; 338, 342 and 346 Stewart Street, with the garden site taking up most of 342 and 346, with 338 being still used as customer parking. The planning engineers assured their were no city services that would cause problems and suggested we call "Ontario One Call" a locating service. There will be a surveyor checking for Consumers Gas and Bell Canada due some time this week. The PUC said the earliest they could make it was May 4th.
Paula at Greenup said her trailer would be available for Friday should the rototiller be ready, Her car with the trailer hitch may not be available... any trailer hitch connections, folks? Paula also mentioned that City Hall has in the past "donated" compost to a community garden. Jay dropped off some brown bagged garden waste and will look into some pallets to build a composting system. Moving forward!!

The start of something big...

The Pingo Pongo Patch started with a couple with little garden space on their property enviously eyeing their neighbours immense yard and scheming and dreaming of how to acquire a portion for the purpose of growing food. Peterborough needed a neighbourhood gardening organization to provide neighbours with growing options (can you see the acronym forming?) They started going to Peterborough Community Garden Network gatherings and soon found a spot big enough for more than a few folks. When TJ Cavanaugh's on Charlotte Street was approached and liked the sounds of a community garden on their unused portion of the parking lot, Pingo Pongo was born. The rest, let's hope, becomes history.