The Mar Vista Green Garden Showcase has been thrilled that Ocean View Farms, a collection of lovingly-tended garden plots in the middle of Mar Vista, has opened their gardens for our tour all three years. Now we are all taking 60 seconds a day to insure that this 35-year-old queen of urban gardens continues to enrich our community. OVF is in line to receive up to $4,000 dollars from the De La Roach Vineyards urban garden grants contest. With only 4 days left to vote (Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday -July 29-Aug 1, ) our participation is crucial.
OVF will use the grant to expand their children's programs, construct a green house and establish a Monarch butterfly habitat in the gardens. This is also the habitat that we need to nurture our honey bee population.
With over 500 15’ x 15’ individual vegetable plots and an assortment of communal fruit trees, OVF provides a unique opportunity for Mar Vistans without their own land to grow food, flowers and herbs.
Our local community benefits from the free educational workshops and gardening events at OVF. Using the OVF Monarch Way Station as a resting point, the monarch butterflies are grateful for the opportunity to rest at OVF and replenish their tiny bodies with milkweed and other plants. The Monarch Way Station is central to OVF’s junior gardener education program. Local schools visits to OVF inspire future environmentalists through first hand exposure to the joys of nature. Has your school taken advantage of this precious resource? Contact Melody Girard, education consultant, to schedule a tour for your class or school.
Did I mention you can vote daily? Let's see if we can put OVF over the top!
OVF also saves the city of Los Angeles thousands of dollars each year by utilizing over 250 tons of garden trimmings and stable waste that would otherwise been shipped and stuffed into over-crowded landfills.
Their free workshops and events, which are open to the public, focus on the best way to garden in our little patch of paradise. Upcoming events include a September 3 workshop from 10 am to 11 am with LA County Master Food Preserver Rachael Narins of Chicks with Knives. Navins promises to demystify the art of preserving herbs, fruits and vegetables. On October 30 at 10 a.m. Denise de Garmo-Ritchie of Malibu Biodynamic Compost will host “Understanding Biodynamic Gardening.”, an approach that insures high yields and a truly compassionate relationship to the earth.
