Round Rock Unity Park Community Garden Wins National Grant from Fiskars

ROUND ROCK, Texas – April 20, 2010 – Neighborhood Harvest Project announced today that Fiskars has awarded Unity Park Community Garden in Round Rock a Fiskars Project Orange Thumb grant.
 
Selected from among hundreds of community gardens, Unity Park Community Garden is one of 20 within the U.S. and Canada to receive the grant which will provide tools and $1,000 to help support projects at the new community garden in its first year.
 
With the opening of Round Rock’s first community garden this spring, local residents can now rent garden plots and take gardening classes at the new site located on Gattis School Road. The community garden will also grow local produce to supply the Round Rock Area Serving Center and its clients. Recently clients at the Serving Center began to enjoy fresh spinach supplied by the community gardeners with more vegetables soon to be harvested.
 
“Finally, Round Rock has a community garden where people can get together, share ideas and expertise and learn more about gardening no matter what their skill level,” said Jeff Ferris, one of the founding members of the garden. “We’ve created a garden where everyone is welcome to grow and learn. With the Project Orange Thumb Grant from Fiskars, we can now accomplish some of our important goals to help further establish the garden and make it accessible to more people.”

Up until this spring, residents of Round Rock did not have access to a community garden where they could rent garden plots while surrounding cities such as Austin, Georgetown, Pflugerville, Cedar Park and Taylor all enjoy established gardens for their residents.

The garden has 42 beds of various sizes which are available for rental for a low seasonal or annual rate.
 
Neighborhood Harvest Project is a 501(c)3 organization dedicated to promoting healthy local food and sustainable living through education and community gardening in Round Rock and surrounding areas.

For more information about Unity Park Community Garden or to rent a plot visit www.UnityParkCG.org.