TimeBank Grows Community, Garden in Huntington Woods

The Royal Oak-Huntington Woods TimeBank hopes to grow organic veggies – and community – in a new garden in Huntington Woods.

The TimeBank allows participants to earn currency for donating their skills and time; dog-sitting, for example, earns time currency, which is logged online and may be cashed in for a basic computer lesson, help filing taxes or whatever a fellow member can provide that is needed.

Wendy Appleton, who serves as Huntington Woods' liaison to the Royal Oak-Huntington Woods TimeBank, said the community garden in her extra lot was launched in April to give members a way to get to know each other.

Approximately 80 households belong to the group and people of all ages and abilities are encouraged to join, she said.

TimeBank members already have begun to build beds and will plant them with organic vegetables, with advice from master gardeners who are on the group's steering committee. Any extra produced will be jarred during a workshop later in the season, Appleton said.

"People need to join the TimeBank," to participate in the garden, Appleton said. "For the time they put in, they'll get crop credits and they can use those for crops or they can use those for anything the time bank has to offer. The more people who are (in the TimeBank), the more skills are available.

"People can get to know each other and we can get some organic veggies and build community," she said.

Tom MacLaney of Royal Oak, who worked in the garden Wednesday, echoed that sentiment.

"We liked the Royal Oak Community (Farm) but that seems to be gone. So this is a real nice substitute. TimeBank people are very friendly, very community-minded." he said. "We're finding out a lot more about Huntington Woods than we ever have before. Americans really don't know their neighbors."

[Click here to join the Royal Oak-Huntington Woods Time Bank!]