The Tool Library will be celebrating another year of borrowing and building at Gather, Garden & Grow, their annual fundraiser and garden part on Saturday, August 13th from 6 to 8 p.m. at The Plot Flower Farm, Buffalo’s smallest (and newest!) urban flower farm, located behind the former Cantalician Center at 3233 Main Street.
Tickets are $20 for adults and free for children under the age of 12 and can be purchased online.
During the outdoor event, guests can play lawn games, tour the garden, participate in loads of basket and fresh cut flower raffles, and dine on award winning jerk chicken from the Bailey Avenue-based Caribbean Experience Restaurant. Tool Library volunteers will be present at the event for community members to learn more about the organization and how to get involved. New merchandise and memberships will be available for purchase.
In the spring of 2020, Tool Library founder Darren Cotton and his partner, floral designer, Michael Reyes, began the process of turning the former playground of an abandoned school into a cut flower garden, The Plot. Michael uses the unique perennials, heirloom annuals, and carefully selected bulbs and tubers grown at The Plot to supply his business, Plot Florals, and offer sustainably grown products for weddings, showers, and intimate events.
The event’s venue, The Plot Flower Farm, is just one of countless projects built from the ground up with tools borrowed from The Tool Library. Whether it’s a small urban flower farm, a backyard chicken coop, a raised bed for veggies, a vacant lot turned community space, a renovated bedroom for a growing family, or a bus turned mobile expedition unit, these and so many other projects built with borrowed tools help WNYers imagine what sort of world is possible when we share more of what we have.
Borrowing a drill, or a rake, or a hammer may seem like a small gesture, but in a society that prioritizes profit, private ownership, and convenience, it is a radical act and one that The Tool Library believes can lead to individual and neighborhood transformation.
More event details are available at www.thetoollibrary.org/grow.
For community members that cannot attend the event, but wish to support The Tool Library and its mission, a donation can be made online.
Gather, Garden + Grow is made possible with the support of sponsors including the University Heights Business Association, University at Buffalo Office of Community Relations, Rise & Run Solutions, LaBella Associates, Appel Osborne Landscape Architecture, PUSH Buffalo, and Windkanter Construction.
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