What an Evening!

What an incredible journey we have been on the last two years with the Bedford / 6 Stones Community Garden! Over the last four years, 6 Stones has been blessed to be a part of a lot of amazing things with amazing provision and partnerships. The Community Garden and newly installed Pavilion ranks right up there at the top of that list. We must say a big “Thank You” Roger Fisher for connecting us in December 2010 with his peer on the Bedford City Council, Dr. Roy Turner. This introduction marked the beginning of watching many “what ifs” turn from dream to reality. Dr. Turner had a vision for a garden that not only produced food resources, but also developed community for all ages—an idea that aligned perfectly with 6 Stones.

But, with any dream or vision, you have to have passion and drive to see it come to life. This would not have happened without both of those characteristics in Annette Lee, our Master Gardener and owner of North Richland Hills Farms Market, and then Chairman of the Beautification Committee and now Councilman, Michael Boyter. Long hours, lots of planning, and meetings and presentations to the Planning and Zoning Committee and the Bedford City Council saw the provisions made not only for this garden, but for multiple Community Gardens in the City of Bedford. We are incredibly grateful to Annette, Councilman Boyter and the Council to have the vision to help open this door of opportunity.

Then came the hard work! Irrigation had to be restructured. 75,000 pounds of concrete blocks had to be stacked by hand. Thank you to Sedalco Construction and Acme Brick for the materials and the hundreds of volunteers, and to teams like Mike McCann and Chesapeake Energy who made this happen. Beds had to be filled with tens of cubic yards of Live Earth and mulch. Rows and rows of mulch were laid for walkways and paths. For this we thank J. Davis Tree Service, Smith Lawn & Tree, as well as the City of Euless.  We also want to thank Steve Chaney for his help and wisdom in the design process.  Also with the certification of the garden with Tarrant County Master Gardener Association and Agri-Life.

But we still weren’t finished. Tools had to be secured, policies and procedures put in place, plots adopted…then planting! After all of this hard work and the initial adoption of most of the plots in 2011, officially all of the plots were adopted in 2012!

Throughout all of this amazing provision and the experiences taking place, the dream was still lacking one element: community at the garden. That meant more than a tool shed for hoes and rakes, spades and wheelbarrows. We needed something unique that would service the needs, but also draw people together to enjoy community. 6 Stones wanted something our neighbors would be proud of, something that had their names on it. On Saturday night, November 3, we celebrated that goal with the completion of our beautiful new Pavilion. Thank you to Gary Rademacher and the team at Huckabee Architects for their design and drawings. Thank you Tom Kader and his team of Roger Bentley, Gary Johnson and others from Sedalco for their construction expertise, guidance, materials and more—all of which helped us to move from paper to reality. Thank you to BMC West, Lowe’s, Acme Brick, All Seasons Roofing, My Credit Union and Mark Massey, and so many others who helped pull this phase of the project to completion. We also must say a big “Thank You” to those individuals who contributed financially. Without all of these people combined, we would still be sitting at a table, talking about a dream.

We also need to thank the Garden Committee who worked hand-in-hand with the City and Bedford’s Beautification Committee to assist in this process: Dr. Turner, Michael Boyter, Alex Horton, Kim Gideon, William Ledbetter, Cindy Jones, Gary Jones, Katy Dearing, Mark Massey, Annette Lee, and the Garden Chair: Linda Eilenfeldt.

Overall, the celebration of our Garden Party, which included Mayor Jim Griffin of Bedford, members of the Bedford City Council, the 6 Stones Board and Garden Committee was a great evening! We cannot give enough praise of gratitude to all those who had a hand in volunteering and planning the night. To Anissa Stinson,
Holly Dyer, Linda Eilenfeldt, Annette Lee, Kim Gideon and, to the “Hostess with the Mostess”, Tammy Sheppard…what a beautiful evening you ladies prepared for us all.

A special thank you to David Parker and the 121 Band for taking the event over the top.  Check out some of their music.

If you were unable to join us for the Garden Party, you can check out the photos and learn more about the Garden and Pavilion at our website, or by stopping by to see us. We hope you will join with us to be a part of what will continue to grow in the Bedford/6 Stones Community Garden!

If you are interested in adopting your own plot, a limited number of plots for 2013 are now available on a first come, first serve basis. Get more info