We would probably want some kind of irrigation, manual or automatic. You can use a rain barrel in Wichita and attach it to a hose network with soaker hoses on the end. I have used this setup very successfully in my own garden and in my experience, one barrel can feed two or three whole beds. That negates the need to use public water for the most part
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I agree that we should take full advantage of rain barrels and utilize some kind of irrigation system. But Kansas is prone to periods of weeks if not a month without rain. So we’d need to have access to a water source.
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Like a stream?
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You’re right. There is a creek right near by. Now you’re giving me inspiration to just build an earthship here. Lol.
But seriously, I wonder what the rules are for harvesting water from that creek. I’m sure we’d want to avoid it considering the amount of potential pesticides and other junk that’s likely flowing through it, however.
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If you’ve ever been there following a downpour…we could harvest enough floating trash to build something…
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Here was the other thread on the garden. I’m not sure what all they’ve nailed down yet.
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You don’t want to use that creek. It is a sewage reclamation creek. It’s literally full of shit. If you spend any amount of time outside you will occasionally catch the unmistakable scent of raw sewage.
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I’ve seen people playing with their dogs in that water! 
What’s a sewage reclamation creek? It might actually be a good use on a garden.
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In a nutshell, it is very expensive to reclaim waste water and turn it back into potable water. The cost of chemicals and additives are one of a city’s biggest expenses.
Enter the water reclamation creek. The concept is that you plant a bunch of natural grasses and trees and they do the filtering for you as the water goes down the creek. You collect it at the other end, do some light chemical cleaning and recirculate the water through the system.
It’s a greener and cheaper way to do things but it has the side effect of sewage leeching it’s way through your neighborhood creek. If you go walk down by that creek for any distance, you will see grey water and grey slime clinging to everything. That’s the waste water.
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Not really “house plants,” but I’m trying to keep a couple of Moringa trees and Klip Dagga plants alive. Does anyone want to adopt a Moringa tree? Mine are not thriving inside as I’d hoped.
Hi team. So it looks like there’s plenty of support here to create a legitimate committee. We’ll need to have a formal meeting in order to come up with a site plan and talk logistics. Then we can take our proposal to the Board for approval. Next week is Christmas, so I was thinking of waiting until the following week. Plus, I’d like a little more time to do some research on funding/collaboration. We have some exciting news, however. I reached out to the Sedgwick County Extension Office and they’re more than willing to help us get started. I’m particularly interested in them coming and taking a look at the soil and giving us a good idea of site preparation. Here’s the email I received from Rebecca McMahon:
This sounds like a great project and opportunity for the community. I am copying Nancy Benefiel, one of our Master Gardeners that is chair of our committee that supports and promotes community gardening. She has some great resources that can help you get started. We will also help with site assessment and figuring out how best to plan out the garden, what you need to consider and what resources you will need. In addition, we try to assign 1-3 volunteers to new community gardens as mentors – to help new garden organizers and new gardeners know what to do and when. They are “on call” for advice and can come out to garden work days to help train volunteers and gardeners or answer questions.
We also maintain listings of all the local community gardens to help connect potential gardeners or volunteers with gardens. When you are ready, we can add you all to that list.
As far as grants, sponsorships, or donations – we do not at this time have anything like that through our office, although I do occasionally see things come across my desk. Locally, you could consider looking at places like Home Depot, Walmart, and Lowes for their community grants – they are usually for non-profits, and it is a good way to get some of the supplies that are necessary but boring.
You might also look into SeedMoney: https://seedmoney.org/ This is an organization that does grants and crowdfunding for food garden projects.
You could also reach out to the Wichita Community Foundation, the Kansas Health Foundation, and Cargill Cares as potential local funding sources.
This grant could be an option, but it doesn’t look updated for this year yet: https://www.gardenclub.org/plant-america-community-project-grants Also this one: https://www.seedsofchange.com/give
I hope this helps, and we would be more than happy to assist in the ways mentioned above, or if you have other ideas about how we can help you make progress.
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One possible source of some funding would be the Fiskars Orange Thumb Grants.
(I was looking for grants for the classroom when I ran across that one 
)
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We have a list of possible grants. I can see if we have any good fits.
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Some people pay money for those kind of nutrients. They call it fertilizer. (!)
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It’s not the waste water that has me concerned. It’s with the pre-treating chemicals that they use to make it environmentally safe. Those would also leech into your soil.
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What have I missed???
On the bill of materials for raised beds are you open to using 2X6’s instead of 2X12’s? The reason I ask is that my neighborhood community garden made a number of beds with 2X12’s when we first started, then used 2X6’s for the ones we added this last year and 2X6’s worked better and cost less.
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Do they have a Facebook page? Definitely interested!