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Community responds to need for wood at new Sthorne gardens

CAITLIN ROWsummit daily news
Special to the DailyA truck-load of donated wood for Silvana's Gardens arrived Wednesday in Silverthorne.
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SILVERTHORNE The call for wood went out, and the community responded with a truck-load.After a story in the Summit Daily News last week mentioned the Silvanas Community Gardens projects need for wood, donated lumber for the gardens planters arrived Wednesday. Volunteers will meet at the Vista Automotive Center in Silverthorne to turn the lumber into 10 planter boxes next Tuesday. Volunteers broke ground at the site March 18, taking the first step toward creating an oasis for veggie lovers. The gardens land, located just south of the Silverthorne Recreation Center, was donated by the town. Volunteers will run the community garden, and locals will be able to rent plots for growing season. It will be restricted to vegetables, and water will be available for the plants. Named for Silvana del Piccolo the much-admired late wife of former Silverthorne Mayor Lou del Piccolo the garden will promote both community togetherness and honor the memory of a woman who loved to garden and valued community involvement. The goal of the garden is to integrate education, creativity and community cooperation.The SDN reported that Silvanas Community Gardens was in need of substantial lumber donations to complete the first leg of our project, 10 raised planting beds, said Maggie Butler, the fundraiser and communications coordinator for the project. As a result of this public exposure and the gardens outreach efforts, three companies dug deep and went the extra mile to ensure our volunteer builders have what we need. Silvanas Community Gardens recently received more than $3,500 in lumber donations to complete its planter boxes Specialty Wood Products of Aurora, BigHorn Materials of Silverthorne and Campbell Construction & Engineering, LLC in Frisco all participated. The garden board still needs lumber for fencing.According to Butler, Strategic Fence and Wall Co. in Breckenridge is donating labor, equipment, material and services to build a gated, 5-foot high fence around the community garden to allow all members of the community in, but keep four-legged garden munchers out. Silvanas Community Gardens also received a $500 grant from the Summit County Rotary. The garden board is still soliciting funds around $5,000 is needed. The community garden landed donations from the Summit Prevention Alliance and the Summit Foundation earlier this year. The garden board also partnered with Neils Lunceford, a local landscaping company, along with many other local vendors and sponsors. We are out of plots, Butler said. Our focus is on donated time, labor, materials and dollars.To aid amateur gardeners, the community garden board is also planning on-site classes for locals, focused on edible crops. Spanish classes will be offered. A free summer program for kids in English and Spanish will be held once a week over July and August. The garden board still seeks master gardeners willing to teach or to offer technical assistance.For more information, contact Bev Mason at bmason@wildblue.net or visit http://www.silvanascommunitygardens.org. Caitlin Row can be reached at (970) 668-4633 or at crow@summitdaily.com.


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