Round Lake District 116

On our way back from a trip to Libertyville we made a stop at the Avon Community Garden and Food Pantry Production Farm and took a couple of photos to show how well it is doing. Even with all the hot and humid days we had over the last few days, it appears as though the Avon Township Food Pantry garden is being well taken care of by the volunteers. Even the private plots look good with a few brand new plots that weren’t planted on our last visit.

I had asked before the Avon Township Community Garden was planted if they were going to be adding a closed circuit surveillance system and wasn’t surprised when I stopped by a few days ago to see one installed. I had never seen one of the downspout rain water collection barrels and was quite impressed by the two that they are using for watering the vegetables. The water itself is being pumped from the retention pond for the convenience of the volunteers.

Surveillance cameras are now in operation at the Avon Township Community Garden!

The tomatoes have been staked and things are looking good

A view of some residents plots

This is NOT how a Topsy Turvy planter should look!

This is a photo of my own Topsy Turvy planters
My 14 potted tomatoes have grown as high as the hanging planters

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The Avon Township Food Garden, officially known as the Community Garden and Food Pantry Production Farm, keeps showing improvements with each and every visit. Since the Community area was planted, many additional plots have been planted as you can see from the slide show below. Besides the older white picnic table that was available, it looks like someone has treated the ‘farm” to a brand new shiny one to use.

Several plots remain available and have already been staked out so don’t delay if you are thinking of leasing one for the season. Rates are $35 per season or only $20 if you donate your excess harvest to the food pantry. Several local residents have rented plots and plan to donate their entire harvest to the pantry. This might be something that you would like to do as well, along with getting some sun, exercise, and meeting new friends with similar gardening interest.

If you would like to reserve a plot or volunteer please call Wendy Warden at 847-401-1135

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While local District 46 discusses updating their website to improve its search-ability, the Avon Township Board approved funds for a new vendor to design, host, implement, and train personnel for a brand new website. The Township already has a new logo to go with their new site. The approved cost was approximately $2,400 with the Trustees tabling, until they have a chance to see the new site, whether to pay a monthly or hourly maintenance agreement.  This cost was more than offset as they also voted to switch cleaning services at a savings of $3,600 per year, accepting the lowest bid received.

In additional business they voted to retain the current legal firm on a month-to-month basis for the next six months after the new annual fee more than doubled. The monthly fee will be based on the new annual figure while they obtain other service provider bids. Supervisor Sam Yingling stated that even at the increased amount, it was still low and doesn’t expect others to be any lower. The attorney was allowed to state the reason for the cost increase but the trustees felt more comfortable seeking other bidders based on the platform that they campaigned on.

A motion to approve bills already paid failed since it included payment for health insurance for employees that two Board members claimed to be totally unaware of it being provided. This led to several attempts to do a line item removal of the one particular bill but that effort failed for lack of votes. The main sticking point was that the bill was already paid and that raised the question of how do you go about getting the money back. The legal council appeared to lack the advice that the Board needed to overcome this stumbling block and thus the entire motion to approve was tabled. Supervisor Sam Yingling was visibly upset and even stated that he was not willing to go out on a limb in the future by paying bills if the Board was unwilling to approve them. That led to one Trustee saying something to the effect of “You can’t just be a one-man show” implying that several trustees had no previous knowledge of this health care payment decision.

$1,500 was approved by majority vote to have a retirement party for a 25 year veteran of the highway department.

Avon Township Assessor, Bryce Carus, took up a lot of time during the meeting to explain how an individual had come into the assessor’s office with a strong gasoline smell on his clothes due to a spill while filling his tank. This concerned Carus who asked if the current security system was designed to alert employees or if it was capable of being added for safety issues. Supervisor Yingling indicated that he would follow up on the request and report back to the Board.

We already mentioned that Yingling showed a power point presentation about the new Avon Township Food Pantry garden project being handled by volunteers along with several organizations offering their time and expertise.

Next scheduled Avon Township meeting is Monday, July 12th, 6:30 PM at the Avon Township office building, 433 East Washington, Round Lake Park

With a short break in the rainy weather, Landscape Concepts was finally able to get their equipment on site and till the Community Garden and Food Pantry Production Farm located behind the Avon Township Center. It appears as though the process that was used to stunt the sod and turn it into nothing more than dead grass allowed it to simply be turned under rather than having to remove it altogether. With the deeper soil still being considerably wet, it kept the tiller from ‘pulverizing’ the soil so it looks more like what you would find on a farm field, rather lumpy. That just means wherever they plant the veggies may have to be broken up a bit with a garden fork once the soil gets a little drier. The ruts will actually create good drainage if left as is on the unplanted areas. If you would like to reserve a plot or volunteer please call Wendy Warden at 847-401-1135

Community Garden and Food Pantry Production Farm

UPDATE 6-20-10: Wendy emailed me that there had been a lot of activity at the ‘farm” so I did a drive-by on Sunday and sure enough all the plants that had been waiting to get planted were now in the ground, thanks to the volunteers. They were looking a little on the weak side before being planted due to the long wait and still look as though many will struggle to survive. They all looked like they could use a healthy drink from the pond but the weatherman is predicting rain tonight. Wendy also mentioned that two more plots were rented over the weekend so don’t delay if you want to do some gardening. It’s only $20 per season if you donate your excess crop. You can see that one of the residential areas looks like it got some more tilling or raking since it now looks much smoother on the surface.

Volunteers finished planting three rows of vegetables 6-19-10

Residential plots get additional tilling

While we are on the topic of gardening we want to mention that residents of Round Lake Beach can get all the mulch they want at no charge. After purchasing a couple bags at Thornton’s and realizing that they really don’t cover much, especially if you want a 2″ bed, I decided to investigate what the Village had to offer.  To my surprise it’s pretty decent mulch!

Round Lake Beach “FREE” mulch for residents only

After scoping out the pile of mulch at the Public Works building on Lotus, I took a rake, shovel, 3 lawn and leaf bags, and two large plastic storage containers to fill up. The containers fit on the back seat and the three bags sat upright snugly in my open trunk without any bungee cords. I wound up making TWO trips to get the amount of mulch required to cover a new row of Blue Holly shrubs 60′ long by 1.5 feet wide by 2″ deep.

How the free mulch looks once rain & watering rinses it off

Imagine what this amount of mulch would have cost if purchased.
Thank you, RLB!

Those little plants you see between the shrubs are 14 tomato plants for supplying the Avon Township Food Pantry with some fresh vegetables in addition to what they grow and obtain from other sources. The mulch, placed over black perforated landscape plastic, will cut down on the need to water so often as well as eliminate the need for any pesticides to keep weeds under control.  :-)

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At Monday night’s Avon Township meeting, Township Supervisor Sam Yingling put on a power point presentation describing in greater detail the planned Community Garden and Food Pantry Production Farm as it is now being called. It will be headed up by Wendy Warden, President of The Avon Township Community Foundation. The food pantry will be ‘farming’ an area consisting of approximately 3,000 S.F. in three long rows. The initial crop will consist of potatos, tomatos, zucchini, and eggplant using organic seedlings from the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm. An even larger area will consist of four separate sections divided into 10×20 plots for residents to rent at an annual rate of only $35. For those offering to share their excess crop on a weekly basis, the fee drops to only $20 per season. The well thought out design of the “Gardens” includes what is sure to become the focal point once harvest time arrives. That will be the eventual gazebo planned for the ‘Gathering Center” of the four parcels. Here, volunteers and residents will be able to relax and share their gardening stories with each other. Until additional funds are available a couple of picnic tables in the ‘Center” will have to do.

As of Monday evening there were about 14 plots still available to rent. Tools will be available for residents and volunteers and water will be pumped from the aerated retention pond in the background of the photos below.

Now if Mother Nature would just co-operate and give us two or three days without rain, maybe Landscape Concepts would be able to get in, remove the sod, and till the soil so the volunteers can get started.

Sign up for our RSS feed (top right) as we keep you updated with newer photos as things progress. The location is directly behind the Avon Township offices on Washington Street and if you would like to reserve a plot or volunteer please call Wendy Warden at 847-401-1135 

The Horticulture Department at the Community College of Lake County
designed the garden space as a class project

The Prairie Crossing Learning Farm Team then staked and flagged the plots.

Landscape Concepts will strip the turf and till the plots

Seedlings donated by the Prairie Crossing Learning Farm, waiting to be
planted, include potato, tomato, zucchini, and eggplant.

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It was reported in the Daily Herald and the Grayslake Review that the Avon Township Food Pantry was the recipient of about 3 tons of food items from the recent U.S. Postal Service’s ‘Stamp Out Hunger” program. A big THANKS goes out to all the residents who put non-perishable food items by their mailboxes last Saturday to make this possible. With this type of community involvement it will allow the food pantry to continue helping over 2,000 local residents who are in need due mostly because of unemployment.

The Avon Township Food Pantry serves the Greater Round Lake Area as well as Grayslake, Hainseville and Third Lake. They are located at 433 E. Washington St. in Round Lake Park (inside the Township/Assessors building). Hours are 10-3 M-T-W, 2-6 Thurs, 10-2 Fridays, and the second Sat. of each month from 10-12. and can be reached at 546-1446.