Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Supported by

Growing your own

Craig Ranch Regional Park Community Garden

Last Sunday, on a bike ride break at  Craig Ranch Regional Park, I tooled around looking for a weekly farmers market I’d heard takes place there. I found the farmers market, but what really caught my eye was the community garden located in the space behind the parking lot where the market is staged. Wandering through the aisles of five-by-eight foot raised beds, I was impressed by the vegetal bounty folks had managed to coax from the dry earth: Thick bushels of chard waited to be picked, squash plants spilled over the edges of planter boxes and vines scaled trellises, heavy with green beans. But what was especially heartening was the ownership people had taken of the garden, apparent in the personal touches they made to their plots. Many are decorated with gnome statues, brass bells and trellises both functional (to support vines and sun shades) and whimsical (bearing wind-chimes and banners); and even those that aren’t bedazzled are carefully designed and groomed according to their owners’ tastes. If you’d like to get in on the food and fun, there were still 25 beds available as of Dec. 8 at a cost of $150 per year (including water and mulch). Call 702-633-2418. — Heidi Kyser

Desert Companion welcomed Heidi Kyser as staff writer in January 2014. In 2018, she was promoted to senior writer and producer, working for both DC and KNPR's State of Nevada. She produced KNPR’s first podcast, the Edward R. Murrow Regional Award-winning Native Nevada, in 2020. The following year, she returned her focus full-time to Desert Companion, becoming Deputy Editor, which meant she was next in line to take over when longtime editor Andrew Kiraly left in July 2022. In 2024, Interim CEO Favian Perez promoted Heidi to managing editor, charged with integrating the Desert Companion and State of Nevada newsroom operations.