PRESS RELEASE contact Gordon Smith 626-824-7015

Encinitas, California August 15^th, 2010

COMMUNITY GARDEN COMING TO ENCINITAS!

A Community Garden Committee, appointed by the Encinitas City Council and made up of community volunteers, has been working for over a year to site a community garden in Encinitas. Through a cooperative venture of the Encinitas Union School District (EUSD) and Home Town Farms, the City of Encinitas will finally get a Community Garden. On June 29th the EUSD approved the proposal to allot five (5) acres of school district property on Quail Gardens Drive to be used as a community garden and a vertical growing farm.

Gordon Smith, the chair of the Community Garden Committee and Dan Gibbs, CEO of Home Town Farms approached the School District with their proposal to have a joint community garden and vertical growing farm on the school district site. Home Town Farms will grow and supply vegetables and berries for the school district’s food service program. EUSD Superintendent Tim Baird was enthusiastic about the proposal and presented it to the School Board for their review and approval. The School Board voted 4-1 for the EUSD Farm and to put a bond initiative on the November ballot to create a learning center on the property.

Under a plan conceived by the school district administration, community garden committee and Home Town Farms,www.hometownfarms.com, the community garden will be given property to create the garden on the site on Quail Gardens Drive. Once the plan is finalized, it will go to the EUSD board for final approval.

For more information or to volunteer assistance with the many facets of building a Community Garden, please e-mail the Committee at: encinitascommunitygarden@gmail.com

Check the community garden blog at: http://encinitascommunitygarden.blogspot.com