A Wonderful Weekend

Friday 19^th of July began a wonderful weekend for the Lowlands Community Garden. 

Firstly, we have now signed the contract, paid the deposit and first months rent on the Lowlands site, which means we are in possession of the keys and we had our first working group of volunteers visit the site on Saturday morning.

Our volunteers can now see for themselves what needs to be done in order to make our dream a reality; a fully-working 400sq. meter greenhouse and aquaponics facility!  Register HERE to become a volunteer.

We continue to sign up new CSA members. We’ve now sold 35% of those available for our first 12 week ‘season’ that begins in January 2014.  Book your CSA share HERE.

In addition, we have reached our first milestone with our Indiegogo ‘crowdfunding’ campaign. We passed $1000 mark and the donations continue to flow in.  If you haven’t contributed yet, head over there now and join our growing team of supporters from all over the world.

It’s good news on the publicity front too.

The Lowlands Community Garden was the subject of a full page article in the Saturday supplement in our local newspaper, the Daily Herald.   We were also interviewed by a local cable TV company, who conducted the interview in our newly acquired and overgrown greenhouse.  We’ll be posting the video as soon as we receive the link.

Also, last week, our first press release was re-printed in Dutch, in a newspaper from the island of Curacao. What a surprise!

Finally, our friends at Caribbean Weeks, are having a ‘St. Maarten Vacation Give Away Contest’.  EVERYONE who makes a contribution to our campaign will get an entry for every dollar that they have given to our project and even those who have already contributed to our fund will be entered into the contest.

The awesome prizes include free accommodation, car rentals, excursions, nights out and of course, a free box of produce from Lowlands Community Garden!

So, there is much to be excited and delighted about, but of course, there’s still much more to do.

If you would like to join our team of supporters and make a real difference to the people on the island of St. Maarten, then make a donation to our cause TODAY!

All contributions will be greatly appreciated, no matter how big or small, and you could win your dream vacation too.

Introducing CSA to SXM

Imagine – Fresh organic vegetables, herbs, spices and fruit grown right here on SXM and delivered to your door weekly – ALL year round.

This is what a CSA share from the Lowlands Community Garden will provide for you.  Even the pickiest eaters will dig into the colours, aromas and obvious nutritional value of our organic produce.  Our regular newsletters will be filled with recipes and storage tips to help you capture the most flavour and freshness from your local harvest.

CSA or Community Supported Agriculture is a system first devised in France that has now spread worldwide.  CSA shares are exactly that, shares of the produce from a specific grower.  On SXM the grower is the Lowlands Community Garden and to bring you citrus and other slow growing produce, we’ve partnered with an organic grower in Dominica.  Due to our wonderful climate we are able to grow all year round so we’re offering 4 x 12 week CSA share ‘seasons’ every year beginning in January 2014. 

They are:

• Q1 – January through March
• Q2 – April through June
• Q3 – July through September
• Q4 – October to December. 

There will only be 50 CSA shares in each ‘season’ and we’re accepting deposits now for Q1, the first 12 weeks.  Pay your deposit online by clicking the link below or email us at csa@lowlandscommunitygarden.com to arrange to make your payment in cash.

There are lots of reasons for joining a CSA, but the best ones boil down to this: Instead of paying for transporting chemically contaminated vegetables for thousands of miles, you can spend the same dollars and receive excellent fresh, tasty, locally grown organic food and support a local community project that provides employment and training in aquaponics, permaculture and organic production.  You will also be helping to create opportunities for future generations of natural growers AND eaters, while encouraging a healthy local economy and environment.  Plus, you belong to a community of like-minded people that has come together around similar values. 

The Lowlands Community Garden is the first of a network of productive, organic gardens and farms we plan to establish in every community on the island.  We will hold regular Open Days and training courses, and we welcome volunteers to participate in all aspects of the project from sharing our crowdfunding campaign (about to be launched) on social media to spending time in the garden working with the plants and fish.  Volunteers will be invited to join our local time bank, TimeBankSXM, where they can bank time spent volunteering and exchange their time credits for produce or for services offered by other TimeBankSXM members.  Send us an email to volunteer@lowlandscommunitygarden.com to find out more about our volunteer opportunities.

The Lowlands Community Garden.

We look forward to growing with you!

A project of LightWorkersSXM