Veggie Garden Tour and Openings on City Boards - North Street Neighborhood Association

The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association circulated the following message on February 16:

To: Members of the Ward 3 Neighborhood Association
Re: Veggie Garden Tour and Openings on City Boards
From: Jerry Budgar, President

There are two important issues I want to bring to everyone’s attention:

Veggie Garden Tour
The Ward 3 Neighborhood Association is planning to hold a tour of farms and vegetable gardens in Ward 3 in either late July or early August to showcase the food-growing and agricultural heritage of our ward and residents. Two directors of the Association, Lisa DePiano and Joanne Mackiewicz, have agreed to chair the event, and they are looking for help in two areas: people willing to serve on the event committee and farmers and gardeners who would be willing to include their gardens in the tour.

To date, several Ward 3 farmers and gardeners have offered to open their gardens as part of the event. We currently have organic gardens, an heirloom tomato garden where the gardener collects seeds for the following year, a garden that attracts butterflies for pollination, and gardens utilizing sustainable fertilizer and composting. We are searching for other interesting veggie gardens such as those utilizing raised beds and other urban gardening techniques for small areas, edible flower and edible landscape gardens, those growing fruit and nut trees, and gardens incorporating sustainable irrigation ideas, for example.

If you would be interested in including your garden or know of others that would be great additions for this tour, or would be willing to join the planning committee, please contact Lisa at ld******@gm***.com or Joanne at jo*@ou******.edu.

We think this is going to be a tremendous event as residents will be able to chat with Ward 3 farmers and gardeners about growing techniques and the heritage of agricultural production in our ward.

Openings on City Boards
We want to encourage Ward 3 residents to apply for positions on city boards and committees because this is a good way to make certain the voices of our residents are heard as city government discusses and resolves important issues.

There are currently several openings on important city boards, including openings for four residents to join three city councilors on the city’s Charter Review Commission. Anyone interested in applying for appointment to the committee should send a letter of interest to City Council President David Narkewicz at 210 Main Street, Room 18, Northampton, MA 01060 by Friday, February 26.

There are also two vacancies for alternate members of the Planning Board, two members of the Board of Public Works, and an upcoming vacancy on the Conservation Commission. Anyone wishing a description of the duties of these boards or an application form should contact the mayor’s office.