Members of the Oakdale Garden Club have been working hard over the past year on sprucing up the old community garden along East A Street, beginning with new wire fencing, wood posts, and a brand new gate.
After receiving some generous help from Love Oakdale crews in getting the brand new posts in, members of the Oakdale Lions Club including Richard Nimphius, Michael Mack, Brad Bates, Asa Merry and Fred Seats worked hard to finish putting in the new wire fences and a new gate.
Around September of last year, the Oakdale Garden Club members had the idea to redo the old community garden to not only give the senior citizens living in the nearby senior housing complex and attendees at the Gladys Lemmons Senior Community Center another activity to do, but to also make an opportunity for members of the community to come plant and pick fresh produce. After the club got the lease and permission from the city to continue the project, the group began reinventing the garden.
In order to provide the funding for the project, they began fundraising in the fall of last year but it has been a slow process.
They are constantly accepting funds to go towards the new garden through check and PayPal. Their PayPal link is on the website OakdaleCommunityGarden.org where more information on the status of the garden can be found as well. They also have a sign placed along North Yosemite Avenue where you can keep tabs on the fundraising progress.
“We have plans to put in raised garden beds for the seniors to make it easier for them to enjoy using the garden as well as in the ground gardening beds,” Garden Club member Rachel Bahn explained.
The club is still working out the small details but they know that they want to rent out the gardening beds to residents in the community, allowing them to plant anything that is edible and pick their planted items as needed.
People can only pick the produce that they themselves plant but many beds will be offered to rent; Bahn said that pricing on that is still being planned out.
The old mural that is already behind the garden will be touched up by the Oakdale Arts, adding more color to the project.
“Our club passion is gardening and planting and we want to share that therapeutic side to gardening with the community,” Bahn stated.
The club is also planning on building an area for schools to come take field trips and create new educational programs for students.
Any questions or information can be found by going to their website at: www.oakdalecommunitygarden.org or emailing OakdaleGardenCa@gmail.com.
