B-Line Station Breaks Ground

      Ground has been broken on the development project at the corner of Morton and Dodds. Developer and McDoel Resident Matt Press has received permission from the City of Bloomington to name the project B-Line Station. Site work will continue until late fall, with the first buildings beginning construction in Late September. The first home should break ground in late September and be completed by March of 2013. The commercial area at the north end of the project should be completed by June of 2013. The townhome building (now called Garden Green Townhomes) should break ground in early 2013 and be completed by that fall.

Guest Speaker Ann Kreilkamp about Green Acres Community Gardens @ our next meeting!

Ann Kreilkamp from the Green Acres Neighborhood Community Garden (GANG) will be the guest speaker at our Dec. 3 neighborhood meeting.  She will be reporting (with pictures!) on the process that Green Acres has gone through to establish and maintain this garden, including the relationship that has unfolded with the city's planning department.  Many Green Acres neighbors have consistently come together to make this garden a great success, and have even held a series of permaculture workshops to increase their knowledge & enhance the community aspect of the garden. 

Check out their blog to learn more about the work they are doing:
http://tendrepress.com/archives/category/urban-farmstead

Many neighbors in McDoel Gardens have expressed interest in the possibility of creating a community space of some sort in our own neighborhood (garden, compost, park, or otherwise).  This presentation will be a good opportunity to hear about and consider the realities of executing & maintaining such a project.  We hope to see you all there:

Thursday, December 3 @ 6:30 in the basement of the McDoel Baptist Church on the corner of Rogers & Allen

Bringing Out the Character of Our Neighborhood as a Permanent Culture

Please join us at our next neighborhood meeting, on Thursday  November 5 at 6:30 at the McDoel Gardens Baptist Church.  We will have a special guest, Rhonda Baird, who will address 
how we, as a neighborhood, can draw out a permanent sense of place and enhance it with things that really work for individuals -- like edible landscaping and home retrofits, but also communal centers for exchanging information/food/celebration/games, etc.  She will also talk about resources and also how individuals can build resilient, sustainable homes that contribute to that neighborhood health we all want when we are invested in a place. 

We will have the opportunity to brainstorm our own ideas for enhancing our community.  Some neighbors have discussed the possibility of a community garden (we are McDoel Gardens, after all), and one of our next guest speakers will be from the Green Acres Neighborhood Garden.

Bring your ideas, along with your friends & neighbors to the meeting.  We want to hear what you want to learn about in the upcoming workshops.  From your input we will schedule the next speakers.

Rhonda Baird is a permaculture designer and teacher.  She will be helping to teach a full permaculture design course over five weekends this fall and winter (beginning October 15-17).  Contact Rhonda for more info:   river_bird_1@yahoo.com