Community gardens planned in Bay View

A grass lot at the northwest corner of Burrell Street and Deer Place where neighborhood kids have played pick-up baseball games during the summer will likely be transformed into community gardens in spring  2010. Sig Strautmanis and his partners (Hide House 2007, LLC), who own the Hide House and the lot, have agreed to a three-year lease at no cost with the Victory Garden Initiative.

The community garden concept for the lot was originally posed to Strautmanis by Katherine Keller, Compass publisher. Strautmanis agreed. Keller later shared the idea with Melissa Tashjian when she learned Tashjian was looking for space in Bay View for a garden project, and referred her to Strautmanis, who in turn included 14th District Alderman Tony Zielinski in discussions about the concept. 

The project is a partnership between the Victory Garden Initiative and the Hide House. The half-block Bay View property will be divided up into smaller plots for neighborhood residents and larger plots for cooperative efforts for people willing to dedicate more time to growing and harvesting food.

Also planned is a community compost site for future  residents and neighbors of the Hide House to use to help generate future soil for this community garden and personal neighborhood gardens. If you are interested in participating, contact Melissa Tashjian, Victory Garden Initiative Bay View activist, at mtash34@yahoo.com.