Bureaucracy and hurricanes...

Fall planting may have passed us by, but we have yet to give up hope. Over the last few weeks, two locations have emerged as potential homes for our first community garden.

After a bit of digging, Mike found out that the Rochelle location has multiple owners. Since that particular piece of land can only be developed as a park or parking lot, two of the three owners were perfectly willing to allow us to use it as a garden. The remaining owner, Franklin State Bank, was also open to the idea but wanted to check with its attorneys before making anything official.

The other location, an abandoned fire station at the corner of Orange and Sixth Streets, is another interesting possibility. A good structure, fences, and room for at least thirty plots make it a very attractive site. The additional space could also be used as a much needed community center.

Between the bureaucracy and the hurricanes, however, progress has been slow. We have recently learned that the Orange Street Fire Station must be re-zoned before it can be used as a community garden/center. Meanwhile, the bank in Winnsboro has other priorities thanks to all the flooding in Franklin Parish.

I'll try to post more details and updates as they are received. In the meantime, keep your fingers crossed and don't forget to subscribe to this blog by clicking on the RSS feed icon to the right of this post!

Fran