“Meet your Neighbors and their Chickens”, says the flier for the Manette Edible Garden Tour that takes place this coming Saturday, July 21st. The Manette Neighborhood Coalition is hosting this event from 10 am to 2pm where you can tour 10 great gardens lovingly tended by dedicated “green thumbs” who believe in nutritious, home grown food the organic way.
These are small urban lots where their owners engage in creative self-sufficiency. Some of the techniques you’ll find demonstrated are keeping bees, growing veggies year round, collecting rain water, worm bins & other forms of composting, fruit trees, greenhouses, drip irrigation, plants for pollinators, hoop houses and raised beds. And of course, since this is also a “Tour de Coop”–how to raise backyard chickens.
Manette is a charming Bremerton neighborhood with a tremendous sense of community pride. Many of the garden’s owners are “chickenistas”-part of the group of citizens responsible for the Bremerton city ordinance that allows homeowners to keep hens. As of May of 2012, the City Council expanded the number of hens allowed per home to five. Come learn about best practices and different coops and tractors. If you have been considering getting chickens of your own, this is a great way to get all your questions answered.
Bremerton Mayor Patty Lent has donated 50 reusable shopping bags featuring the Bremerton city logo and the first fifty families on the tour will receive one free. The tour is free, but donations are accepted with appreciation.
Check out the map of the featured gardens by visiting Google Maps at http://goo.gl/maps/GklU. Each garden on the map has a list of highlights. You can also learn more by visiting Facebook at www.facebook.com/ManetteEdibleGardens or www.facebook.com/ManetteNeighborhoodCoalition.
Questions? Email: manetteneighborhoodcoalition@gmail.com
Website: http://www.manetteneighborhoodcoalition.org/
© Colleen Miko, 2012
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