Volunteers break ground at Port St. Joe Community Garden
Not even the dollar weeds that sprouted up through the garden beds could dampen the mood at the Port St. Joe Community Garden on Saturday, where, for the first time, members of the community gathered to plant their seeds for the upcoming spring.
Kim Miller, one of the graden’s organizers, said the groundbreaking celebration had been more than three years in the making.
“We’ve been working on this project since 2018,” she said. “We’re grateful for the community’s support for it. We’re anxious to see what we can give back to the community, because that’s what we’ve been striving for.”
The volunteers, who represented organizations from around the city, gathered the dollar weeds and their complex roots in buckets, then prepared the soil in each of the garden’s plots for planting.
The garden club planted bulbs and seeds for different flowering plants to attract pollinators. Pioneer Bay Community Development Corporation planted vegetables to supplement their food distribution program through the Farmacy.
They exchanged tips and lent a hand to each other as needed.
Come late spring, Miller and other organizers hope the garden will provide not only fresh food for the community, but also a means of community outreach.
“The goal is to have people adopt a plot, they sponsor it, they provide the people who work it, plant it, sow it, everything,” she told the Star in November. “And they also harvest it and distribute it.”
“The part when they go to distribute it is community outreach, because it’s also checking in on people who are either elderly or have disabilities and making sure that they’re okay.”
To volunteer with the community garden or track their progress, you can follow the organization on Facebook or call 334-435-9262.
Meet the Editor
David Adlerstein, The Apalachicola Times’ digital editor, started with the news outlet in January 2002 as a reporter.
Prior to then, David Adlerstein began as a newspaperman with a small Boston weekly, after graduating magna cum laude from Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts. He later edited the weekly Bellville Times, and as business reporter for the daily Marion Star, both not far from his hometown of Columbus, Ohio.
In 1995, he moved to South Florida, and worked as a business reporter and editor of Medical Business newspaper. In Jan. 2002, he began with the Apalachicola Times, first as reporter and later as editor, and in Oct. 2020, also began editing the Port St. Joe Star.