Char's Gardening"As the Garden Grows, so does the Gardener"

I can’t believe I have allowed so much time to go by without posting, but making time to sit at the computer to write a post was more then I could do.  I wish I could say I have been on an exotic vacation, but truth be told, I have been right here.   Here’s a glimpse into my last week and a half, my parents came to visit,  I had a meeting and a project with the Navarre Garden Club, and the Northwest Florida Arts Association had meetings and it’s second gallery show, oh and if that isn’t enough, the deer came by and ate my winter garden down, the black bear came by two nights in a row to get in the garbage and eat my bird seed.  So, needless to say, all this plus work made blogging get pushed to the side.  I am thoroughly enjoying my extracurricular activities, but wow, I am a newbie at all this volunteering, let’s just say I have a new appreciation for others that have been volunteering much longer than I.

Mom, Dad, and I at the Gallery Show

Garden Club Cleanup Crew

Proof the Deer at my Winter Garden

Thanks to the Bear for Scattering my Garbage

Are you kidding me.  Does not almost every community have a Farmers Market.  Well, that would be every community but mine.  I went to my monthly garden club meeting today all excited because as chair of the Civic Development Committee I thought I had a great idea.  I want to bring a Farmers Market in our town.  As chair for the Civic Development Committee, I figure the farmers market could fall under something I could head up.  There are lots of farms in the north part of our county, surely some of them would like to bring their produce to sell.  I’m rather new to this community so I was unaware of a previous effort to bring a Farmers Market to our community.  The best place for the farmers market would either be at the central park or at one of the parks along the beach.  Sharon, the president of our garden club, was, I think, trying to save me a lot of trouble when she all but said, “it’s not going to happen.”  It seems the Greater Navarre Beach Art Association tried but failed to bring a market to our community.   The reason for their failure angers me.  The chamber of commerce is against it.  I am not political but I hate “Good ole Boy Politics.” One of the members of the chamber of commerce, a realtor, doesn’t want a farmers market placed on the beach because that would  be competition for “her” store.  The main public park doesn’t allow money making businesses on it’s property.  The latter makes sense to me, but using politics for personal profit at the expense of the community, now that just drives me crazy.   I’m at a loss as to where to go from here.  I was hoping someone out there might have a suggestion as to what could be done.  I don’t want to be bullied, but at the same time don’t want to waste my time on a battle that can’t be won.

Are You Kidding Me!

A few years ago, I was visiting my parents and we were sitting around the kitchen table talking.  My dad turned to me and asked me, “how was I giving back to the community”.  At the time, I had no response for him.  It was one of those nagging questions that stays in the back of your mind.  As I am sure I have said in other posts, this upcoming year is a milestone birthday year for me so it seems like there is no time like the present to answer some of these nagging questions.  So when it comes to helping the community I asked myself what could I do?  Now I know, with as much bad stuff going on, it may seem rather lame to consider joining  The Navarre Garden Club to be a civic duty.  But, I have a hope, that if  a few people care about the community maybe it will be infectious and others will join. Today we cleaned a 2 mile stretch of highway that leads into our community.   It’s a start….

NGC ready for clean up