Back in January, Marteen Powers Lopez posed a simple question on her Facebook, and was overwhelmed with the enthusiastic response from the Boulder City community. Her garden, it seems, had an abundance of vegetables and rather than allow them to go to waste, she set up an honor stand in her front yard. What is a garden honor stand? Basically, it just what the name implies. It’s an unmanned stand in a yard containing fruits and vegetables from a prolific garden. The word goes out, and people can come “shop” the stand and leave a bit of cash to cover the costs. Garden fresh produce for the consumer, cash for more seeds and supplies for the gardener!
Marteen has a beautiful garden!! On a recent visit, we saw all kinds of beautiful produce and flowers decorating a good portion of the yard, where she has a greenhouse set up. She’s even named her garden: Dancing Queens Garden in honor of her beloved daughter, who passed away two years ago. Yvonne Arrossa was a huge fan of ABBA, the Swedish band best known for some great disco hits in the 1970s and 1980s. The Dancing Queens Garden helps her process the grief of losing her child, and allows her to make something beautiful out of a tragic situation. She hopes to open her garden to visitors during the annual Garden Tour next month.
She recently retired from the Bureau of Reclamation and looks forward to spending more time growing and sharing the tomatoes, broccoli, cauliflower, and other “overstock” from her abundant garden. Marteen hopes to create a network of sorts with other gardeners who also have surplus items, as well as other members of the community who also have artisan hobbies that may be interested in doing product exchanges. It’s a bit like a farmer’s market, but throughout the community, rather than a centralized location.
To connect with Marteen, visit the Dancing Queens Garden’s Facebook page HERE. She plans to begin consulting with novice gardeners this fall who are just starting out and need a bit of assistance to have beautiful gardens of their own! The Facebook page is also the place to find out what extra goodies she may have ready for her garden honor stand so make sure to like the page for timely updates.
