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To Whom Do You Beautifully Belong? is year-long exhibition that documents the transformation of an underutilized parcel of land located in a concentrated urban environment in Columbus, Ohio.
You are invited to get involved and become a part of this project that belongs to everyone. In this learning and experimental initiative share your input, ideas, creativity, enthusiasm and experience to celebrate public space, invigorate local interest in urban renewal, and make an
unused city plot into a small paradise.
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Some of the folks who showed up on Saturday
We had our one year anniversary BBQ on the plot this past Saturday. Although this occasion marks the end of our collaboration with Bureau for Open Culture, the support from the bureau in the past year has been tremendously instrumental in getting the garden started. We have gained wider appreciation and knowledge of community gardening in the one year and also built-up interest from our neighbors and volunteers. The vegetable plot has been expanded this season to grow more food so that we can donate to the food pantry. The garden will also continue to serve as a "kitchen garden" to people on Gay Street. There are many things to look forward to in our second planting season. Thank you Bureau for Open Culture for enabling us to hit the ground running!
Thank you everyone for coming out to help during this project! Whether you came out on the very first day, the very last or the days in between, we very much appreciate your participation. The garden is still going this year if you would like to be involved please email us at oneplotofland@gmail.com
Last Saturday, we rather quickly installed a rather comfortable little patio. Patio-ette, if you will.
It's right up front near the sidewalk, under the shade of a maple tree. Last summer, and in the few sunny days we've had so far this year, the spot sort of made itself known. People would naturally gravitate there to cool off and have a bite to eat. Tongsue also noted that across the street is a bus stop for a summer school, and the mothers will sit on the curb while waiting for their kids. Maybe they'll make the patio their new meeting place.
The cute doggy is Lady Morgan. She suggested the basket-weave pattern. Good dog.
This is the cabinet that Danny put in last year. It's a typical two-drawer file cabinet embedded in a heap of rubble and a dry stack of bricks. Jenny F. had the good idea to cover the mound with sod. This year we plan to file information and recipes for the vegetables we've planted. Along with a healthier diet, we hope the cabinet will facilitate a richer, more direct and more nuanced understanding of the food we eat.
One stack of several that Cameron gave to the garden. Just behind are the temporary retaining boards, which will do until the low brick walls are in place.
These are a couple of our neighbors. Cameron donated bricks (lots of them!) to help us out with the new retaining walls. He is as gentlemanly as they come.
Our neighborly neighbor Dee is a delight, always very positive and has helped with maintaining a clean space even through the winter. Although this is only the second growing season, we've come to know several people in the area and we're grateful for their support and openness. Raymond for letting us hook up a rainbarrel; Robert for letting us plug in an extension cord from time to time; Miss Stephanie for mowing the lawn and weeding and always being a lively spirit. (She's putting in corn this year.) Our hope is that everyone will continue to look at the site as something done together, a little at a time, for the greater good.
Here are the sugar snap pea sprouts starting off on their upward climb.
We put in snow peas, too, because they're both good right off the vine and that immediacy turns a lot of people on to gardening.
Join us this Saturday, April 25th, from noon - 3pm to celebrate our one year anniversary at the garden. It is also to mark the one year of "To Whom Do You Beautifully Belong," a project initiated with the support from Bureau for Open Culture. The project started with the intention to establish a place for socializing,gardening and turning an underutilized plot of land into a communal place. We'll have a BBQ, enjoy the sunshine, and talk about further plans for the garden this year.
