It’s hard to imagine that only a month and a half ago, the new Promise of Peace community garden looked like this…
And this…
But I guess that’s why they call it the “Imagine Garden.”
After a bit of a rough start, the Promise of Peace community garden broke ground in June on their new location on the back parking lot of the White Rock United Methodist Church, transplanting from their original location on E. Grand.
With help from the community, the church, and their successful Kickstarter campaign, founder Elizabeth Dry and her crew have been able to hit the ground running. Look where they are now.
There are 31 planter beds and each one cost about $400 to make. In all, the move probably cost the nonprofit about $30,000, Dry says. “That’s an expensive tomato,” she jokes.
“So many people have helped us; I think that’s the real story,” Dry says. Companies like Walton’s Garden Center, Living Earth, and Home Depot have donated money or goods to the program. “And the list goes on,” she says. “This isn’t something that just happens every once in a while; it’s all the time.”
There’s still plenty more to do, but they’re well on their way. Members of the surrounding community have visited the garden early every morning during the summer to water and tend to the plants “because they own it,” Dry says. “They created it.”
Dry says they’ll start kids camps soon. They also have a “seed library” in the office where members of the community can pick up packets of seeds to create their own urban gardens. The garden will also host cooking classes, and one of Dry’s latest concepts is “Soupons.” For that, area chefs will take produce from the garden and create soups in the kitchen provided by the White Rock United Methodist Church. Volunteers will receive “soupon” coupons, and then they can exchange them for soup if they or someone they know  gets sick.
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