Getting gardens ready for winter

Garden boxes are at the new community garden site and the Hanna Agricultural Resource Committee (HART) is working hard to get them ready before winter sets in. There are 31 boxes in total, which had been supplied by C. J. Mahon Construction. The company made a deal with HART and Carbon County School District No. 2, which owned the land where the former community garden resided. If they could have the land for their cement manufacturing site, the construction company would build HART a garden behind the Hanna, Elk Mountain, Medicine Bow (HEM) High School.

HART had a meeting on October 26 at the Hanna Market to firm up plans on what could be done before the cold weather set in. The fence to surround the beds is supposed to be built in November. The members decided on the morning of October 30, a group would get together to finish up the work needed to complete the garden beds.

Also on the HART meeting agenda was approval of a table at the Hanna Recreation Center's Christmas Bazaar when the date is finalized. The HART Christmas party will be at 5:30 p.m. on December 18 at the Hanna Market.

Members agreed no more scheduled meetings would occur until April when the growing season started, but if a special meeting needed to be convened, they would be notified. Chairman Perry Goodrich was hopeful the garden would be complete, fence and beds, within the next couple weeks.

On Saturday, a group of HART members were working diligently on the beds to get them ready for winter, knowing the weather was to change on Sunday evening with snow and cold forecast.

"Its getting there," HART secretary Linda Goodrich said. "The prototype is done and most of the beds are close to being completed."

"The fence is key," HART member Ellen Freeman said. "Once it is up, we will all feel better because there are not only deer, but antelope and sometimes elk that come to this area."

Thirty-one beds with no fence, would be quite the restaurant for these herbivores.

"It will happen," Freeman said. "It just takes time, but November is never a great time to count on anything getting built due to weather changing."

"I can't wait until it is all finished," L. Goodrich said. "Then we can focus on what we will be growing instead of building. That will be nice."