The Paradise Community Guilds may have lost its building, the Norton Buffalo Hall, to the fire, but now its land is working for the community again.
Members have replanted fruit trees and set up raised beds on the campus at 5704 Chapel Drive in Paradise for community use. The project was completed over the weekend. There are 12 raised beds currently still available for rent from community members, and more could be added depending on demand.
“I see centering Paradise Community Guilds around growing food as a substantive help for the community when we’re approaching what looks like an economic downturn,” said David Leon Zink, the President of the Paradise Community Guilds. “Folks are going to need to supplement their food supply and income.”
The 2.5 acre site now has rows of corn, and squash, beans and melons are on the way. There is water at the site as well as some basic materials and mentoring available from members. The group is also composting and looking to expand.
The fire took away two community gardens in Paradise. Zink remembers how the gardens would produce a harvest bountiful enough to hold a banquet. After the fire, they were just dirt.
The Guilds held a permaculture day on October 13 with the Camp Fire Restoration Project. The event brought in around 300 people to work on soil remediation on the campus. Since then, the soil and water at the site has been tested and come back clean. Water was reconnected to the campus just last month, said Zink.
The last 18 months have brought a slow but gradual recovery. This spring is the first time many returning residents have been able to start replanting their own gardens.
“We’ve always had an ethos on the wondrous power of growing things,” Zink said. “We want to bring the community together around food.”
To that end, he said, his organization is joining another group, the Butte County Local Food Network for an event later this summer. The Network is planning a “victory garden blitz” for August 22 to 30.
“We want to install 50 raised bed gardens at the homes of people here in the burn scar, and so our campus will be the launch point for that effort,” Zink explained.