Dunwoody Community Garden Beginning

 When it was announced Dunwoody would become the new city and eventually take over the parks, a couple of people took quick action to secure a section of Brook Run Park for a community garden.  Farmer Bob (Bob Lundsten) had great connections at the county level and things moved quickly. 

I believe that part of the reason DeKalb County approved the garden was actually a snub to the DunwoodyYes crowd.  DeKalb was making one last move on Brook Run.  This is similar to when CEO Vernon Jones decided Brook Run and DeKalb needed a dog park.  Dog parks are harmful to the environment and a horrible use of limited park space.  Dunwoody has such little acreage for parks, it's a waste to dedicate a chunk of it to dogs.  The dogs from metro Atlanta run around and piss and poop everywhere, occasionally biting each other, and yapping all day.  As a bonus, the dog park was named for Vernon Jones' dog, Henry.  King John wrote about it back in 2008.  Dunwoody residents were not screaming for a dog park or a skate park, but we got both.

So back to the community garden.  A piece of dirt in the middle of the park was secured for a community garden.  I believe the location was and still is a bad choice.  The garden location really prohibits other amenities in the middle/back area.  The garden should have been in a corner of the park.  

After the garden was built, we received permission from the city to restore the greenhouse.  A few of us were heavily involved.  My father-in-law and I built a bunch of tables for plants.  Large casters were added.  This was 12 years ago and last time I peaked in the greenhouse, some of these tables are still in use.  The swamp coolers were the hardest thing to get working.  I believe our old farmer friend  Rod got them working.

I was homeschooling my kids back then, and I still recall going to the garden to pull weeds, water the plants (back then there was no in-ground irrigation system), and harvest the goods with my kids.