Cleaning up Larson Park: Sups Greenlight a Community Garden

Located the end of a windy alleyway in Boyes Hot Springs, Larson Park has all the makings of a great community space: open fields, pristine tennis courts and a great playground.

But, in recent memory the public park, which is part of Sonoma County Regional Parks system, has been rundown and underused - plagued by gangs and crime.

Partnering with local nonprofits, the Sonoma County Board of Supervisors aproved plans on Tuesday to break ground on a new producing-growing community garden, a project which has been almost two years in the making.

"I am very excited and happy," said Zuli Baron, a member of the Springs Community Garden Coalition, who engineered the project, and a community organizer with St. Joseph’s Health System. "The goal is to prevent gang activity in the area, and also to teach people how to grow organic food."

The Board approved the project readily, green lighting a license agreement with Nuestra Voz, a Springs-based Latino organizing group, for construction, operation and maintenance.

“The Larson Park Community Garden will be a beacon for the entire county," said First District Supervisor Valerie Brown. "Not only will it grow incredible healthy foods for the local community, it will continue to connect people together as it already has through the development process."

The plans for the garden were developed with community input at two public meetings held in fall 2010. But the Springs Community Garden Coalition has held dozens of community outreach meetings, gaging interest in the project. 

"We didn't just stand there waiting for the approval, we were working," says Alejandra Cervantes, Executive Director of Nuestra Voz.  Last year, for example, Cervantes and Baron partnered to organize several hundred-backyard salsa gardens, through a countywide garden challenge.

The design, whcih consists of 950 square feet of planting space with 23 planting boxes, will provide space for 40-60 families to grow food and socialize. Nuestra Voz and the Springs Community Garden Coalition are working to fund the project, at an estimated cost of $30,000 including over $10,000 of volunteer contributions, through a series of grants, fundraising and donations.

But community members have already seen a difference in park maintenence since meetings for the project began.

"My son is in Little League and I used to not bring him [to Larson Park] because it used to be scary," said Sue Messinger, a Springs resident. "Since the county got involved, it's been paved and fixed up - I have to say, the difference is overwhelming,"

Before the planting can begin, the space needs approval from PG&E and construction work. The group hopes to have the garden up and running by winter ("We can plant kale," jokes Cervantes.)

Still, the county greenlight is the first step towards a new kind of park.

"It's symbolic," says Cervantes. "The first seed has been planted."

Nuestra Voz will host a community garden meeting Saturday, May 14, 10a.m.-noon at Larson Park. All interested in growing plots are welcome to attend. 

Project partners and supporters include the following: Supervisor Valerie Brown, Nuestra Voz, Community Action Partnership, __, St. Joseph Health System, Wild Thyme Restaurant, Petaluma Arroyo Garden, __, __, Transition Sonoma Valley, LIA-Project, Redwood Empire Food Bank, La Luz Center, __, Jennifer Hainstock, Laurie Gallian – Mayor of City of Sonoma, The Springs Redevelopment Advisory Committee, Sonoma County Sheriff Department, Sonoma Materials, __, Burbank Housing, __, Nathan Ohrbach Foundation, Sonoma County Department of Health Services and the _.