New Firewise Grant!

We’ve been awarded $4,000 in Title III money in a 100% grant from Yavapai County. The awards need to be posted for public comment for 45 days so the grant should actually be funded in November with a 9/13 ending date.

We should also be getting an additional $10,000 from the SFA 50/50 grant from the AZ State Foresters Office. In this case we’ll get $5,000 in cash and need to provide $5,000 in in-kind payments (i.e. volunteer work). The actually funding date of this grant is uncertain but hopefully soon.

Both of these grants have come through our work with PAWUIC and are to complete our FireWise efforts.

Gracie and Pal Get Married!

After a long courtship, Gracie and Pal decided to form an everlasting (in dog years) union.  A number of other dogs attended the service, dressed in matrimonial attire.  Villagers also were part of the ceremony.  Here is a video of the marriage:

Nancy designed the following collage of the dogs at the wedding:

Here are a few photographs of the event (thanks to Sulekha):

Our New Trails Have Names!

As part of our FireWise Day, Manzanita Village had a name-the-trails contest. With the opening up of the ravine on the part of our goats and Village workers we have made space for trails through our ravine and other areas. It was time to give those trails a name so the FireWise and Groundskeeping Committees held a name-the-trails contest. Eighteen participants of the FireWise Day submitted names for our six trails. The submissions were voted on at the June Plenary session and the following names were chosen: North Loop Trail, South Loop Trail, Lower Valley Trail, Downtown Trail, Bradshaw Rim Trail and Hummingbird Crest. 

Villagers who submitted winning names were awarded items from the MVC Shop. Congratulations to all!

Our New Hoop Garden!

Last fall the Manzanita Village Garden Club in conjunction with the Groundskeeping Committee wanted to move our primary garden off the terraces near our common house. We decided to build a hoop house on a long flat area along our pedestrian roadway. During the early part of this year, we were able to build a 12’ by 48’ hoop house with two long beds on either side of a central walkway. The hoop house is complete with animal-deterent fencing, work benches and a bird house. After the snow cleared from our late spring snowstorm of last weekend the plastic cover was installed so we can begin our early spring planting. We hope the plastic covers will protect the plants in the spring and fall and serve as a sun shade in the hottest part of the summer so that we’ll be able to extend our growing season and provide an optimal environment for our crops.

For further updates on our community gardens and other projects, check out the Manzanita Village Gaia’s Food Forest Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Manzanita-Village-Gaias-Food-Forest/143045212424353 .

Hoop Garden

Our new hoop garden is well on its way to completion.