Another Hawthorne Community Garden?

Flickr.com Photo

Michael Klick, a very active and involved member of the Hawthorne Community, has run some plans up the flagpole, and he is trying to see who salutes. Specifically, Klick is considering a community garden...

Hawthorne does already have one community garden but, hey, why not a few more? Personally, I think every vacant lot should be a community garden or, in the alternative, returned to native prairie or planted, thickly, with trees...especially trees preferred by squirrels.

(It's a darn shame so few folks in Hawthorne--Peter Teachout being one key exception--know how delicious squirrel can be, cooked up in a stew with plenty of carrots and potatoes, served up beside baking powder bisquits. When I say "squirrel" I mean, of course, gray squirrel. Red squirrels have a foul gland near their kidney which ruins the taste for most people. It's not like red squirrel is POISON, but I'd only eat one in a survival situation, personally...they're just not as savory as gray squirrel)

But I digress. And how.

Here's Mike's email blast to the community, now amplified here:

HAWTHORNE COMMUNITY MEMBERS: I am in the beginning phases of creating a community garden in Hawthorne--somewhere west of the freeway, north of Broadway, east of Lyndale and South of 26th Ave.

I am trying to gauge how much community support there would be for such a venture. I have already been in contact with someone from Garden Works; an organization that helps people set up community gardens. I believe there is a great need for a community building garden in Hawthorne, especially in our quadrant of the neighborhood.

(Johnny Northside interjects: Yeah, so we can do something productive and stop SUING each other. Oh, wait...that's not the HAWTHORNE Neighborhood. Never mind.)

(...) If you are interested please contact me, Michael Klick, at walker1200@msn.com. If I have enough interest, I want to have an initial meeting.

I really want this to be a community garden: welcoming to everyone, all ages, races and affiliations, a place where people can get to know each other and garden. Of particular interest is reaching members of the African American, Hispanic and Asian communities.

Last, I need some LAND. This seems like an easy prospect given the amount of vacant lots in the neighborhood. Whether we use city-owned land or land owned by a private party, doesn't matter at this point. I just need an idea of what is out there.

I believe with the right people and dogged determination, this can be something really great. Right now, just need to find out if I can get help!