I was delighted to attend Sunday’s launch at Random Row Books of a great new local business in town: Cville Foodscapes!
Built on the idea that there is too much lawn, not enough fresh garden food, six passionate individuals came together to help residents design, install and maintain home veggie gardens. Inspired by a love of gardening and a desire to see more food, not lawns (I love that book!), Wendy, Angel, Cassia, Sky, Sam, and Patrick have spent the past year creating a worker-owned cooperative business that helps Cville with their foodscaping! Besides offering a range of great services around gardening, they also will help you with your water harvesting and composting.
Wendy and I talked at length about the winding business path that lead them to this exciting day. And to our meeting – her friend Betsy has been raving about BWB and Betty’s website and her husband actually attended January’s Green Drinks and helped celebrate Betty’s birthday! So we finally meet. Yeah! And what a light Wendy is! Well-spoken and enthusiastic about spreading their business. I was also happy to be reunited with smiley and completely huggable Angel Shockley. She and I communed in the dirt together while I was doing a work share at Roundabout Farm a couple years ago — she was part of their on-site farm crew. I also met Patrick, who has an ultracool handout on how to make a flowerpot holder for your bike. I made one onsite (pictured here). Ruby (my bike) is so excited to have her very own marigold (from the seed exchange) blooming this spring if my thumb is as green as I want it to be!!
In talking with them both, I was impressed that they are not only creating a great business – helping people who don’t know how or don’t have the time or for other reasons just haven’t taken the leap to having a home garden – but also the cooperative business model is forward-thinking and innovative enough to hopefully inspire other businesses to grow. They also have an already built in way to give back to the community and serve people who may not be able to afford their services: a “garden grant” program with QCC as their sponsor. A portion of their monthly revenue will go to support garden grants, which helps low-income families take advantage of fresh local food as well. Love it!
So if you’ve been thinking about taking the plunge into gardening, but are not quite sure how to start or what it entails, call the folks at Cville Foodscapes for a free consultation (their info should be in Betty’s directory under Landscaping and Food shortly) (434) 806-6255 or email info@cvillefoodscapes.com or go to their website: www.cvillefoodscapes.com
Here’s too edible lawns everywhere!
BWB
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