
High school students at work preparing soil beside the newly constructed greenhouse in Pto. Palomas.
Border Partners organized and completed the construction of a new community greenhouse in Pto. Palomas this month. The facility will produce fresh vegetables year round. This produce will supply fresh food to the town’s new community meal site for the needy that provides low cost meals to local residents and to the Ford Elementary school.
The greenhouse is a generous 36′ x 12′ hoop house, constructed with PVC pipe and covered with greenhouse grade plastic. It is situated adjacent to the new meal site, on the south side of the municipal library in Palomas, just east of the Border Partners outdoor demonstration garden. It was constructed and will be maintained by Border Partners staff and volunteers from the community, many of whom participate in the Border Partners’ home garden program.
All building materials were contributed by local merchants who responded to the solicitation of BP’s Peter Edmunds:
- PVC pipe was donated by Sun Valley Hardware in Deming, NM
- Lumber was donated by Foxworth Galbraith Lumber in Deming, NM
Since there are few high quality vegetables available in Palomas, the greenhouse will significantly improve access to healthy food for the local residents. The Mexican government supplies dry goods for the new meal site and to the school but no fresh food. Access to fresh vegetables will help local cooks prepare tasty, healthier food for those in need.
The main structure was built on Nov. 7, doors and windows were added Nov. 10 and raised beds were constructed and filled with soil that week. By November 24, all the beds were planted. Four local high school students helped with the project for several days, building the raised beds and transporting the compost/soil from Border Partners’ soil making site at the local stockyard to the greenhouse site.
The greenhouse was an international partnership in the truest sense of our mission – to bring together people from both sides of the border to improve life in this little Mexican border town of Pto. Palomas. The Edmunds’ friends from Wisconsin, Peter and Lynne Nason came the greatest distance to participate. As always we are grateful to all who made this project become a reality.
View the project as it developed on our Flickr album: Hoop Community Greenhouse
EDIT: December 13, 2014–The greenhouse is sprouting. See updated photo: