OPPORTUNISM! (one of our very dear friends!)
You DON'T need to be rich to have a beautiful garden! At PIE Gardens we strive to make use of everything that comes our way! 100% of PLAN-IT! EARTH GARDENS has been constructed using some form of OPPORTUNISM! Shown here is one of our 275 gallon rainwater collectors... The grapevines growing all around it initially grew up towards the roof. We decided to change their path to serve a purpose, instead of being a nuisance! The draping vines will help keep sunlight off our collected waters, make harvesting any grapes easier & this will also save the gutters from becoming clogged with grapevine mess. Working with your surroundings is an excellent tool in OPPORTUNISM! Instead of a problem vine growing on our building... we now have a living curtain! Dumpster diving, curbside shopping, bartering & trading with fellow gardeners & community gardens, work-trading for plants, foraging & collecting plants/herbs from the wild, asking for dying & sick plants at greenhouses/stores/markets, using what is naturally growing instead of planting something new... there are many many ways to improve & add to your OWN garden without spending one cent! All you have to do is keep your eyes & ears open! Sometimes, simply by helping someone else with their garden... you may get to leave with a plant or 2, a pack of seeds or perhaps just some free information or a handful of fresh produce! By helping others with their gardens we can spread our knowledge & learn more along the way! We have dumpster dived hundreds & hundreds of pounds of produce over the years! We have used this to make hundreds of pounds of beautiful compost! (We also have used it to feed chickens... make wine from good fruits... or even feed our friends with some of the produce only thrown away because of an 'expired' shelf life date!) We have built EVERYTHING at PIE Gardens from various curbside scores, dumpstered goodies, work-trades, barters or some other form of OPPORTUNISM! (This was our first year to have any amount of money AT ALL! ...which we have still only received $75 total this year! So... if you can't tell, we know how to make an amazing garden for very cheap... it does take time tho!) If we all work together, we can use what we find to build gardens everywhere! Let us fill the abandoned lots of Little Rock with delicious fresh foods! Let's reclaim the land by helping to strengthen our community and feeding hungry mouths along the way! Unite with our neighbors and share what we have as a community! There is no such thing as 'growing too much' if you have friends & family to share with! Through OPPORTUNISM & COMMUNITY all of our plates shall remain full!!
