The volunteer planners of the new Art Farm, adjacent to and funded by the Borrego Art Institute (BAI), are making good progress towards a fall opening of the 1-acre compound.

Planning Director Jim Wermers, who donated the land for the Art Farm, laid out the summer planning agenda: Raised planting beds, 16 at the latest count, will be made of stacked concrete blocks; 20 new trees, include fruit trees that will augment the planting beds to supply the new BISTRO restaurant (see accompanying article); a children’s pizza garden for growing herbs and vegetables for the Bistro; a 400-ft fence surrounding the planting beds; and a wash table, shade-makers, and benches.

The included capital items come with a total estimated price tag of $20,000 dollars, all of it from future donations via fundraising efforts. The price would have been $21K, but Wermers eliminated hardware cloth in the planting beds (for rodent protection) and saved $1K. Every dollar counts, folks. If the little critters can survive the asphalt highway and/or hard-pack dirt tunneling under the compound, Wermers said, they deserve a reward for their efforts.

Roadrunner Club resident Ken Okey will be heading up the fundraising efforts, with a goal of about $30,000 dollars. There will be at least one major BAI fundraising event at BAI in early fall, plus other promotional efforts, including internet donation requests. Also, bricks making up the ArtFarm pathways will be sold at $100, with the donor’s name engraved on it. Larger donor bricks in a specially designed wall will go for $250.

And then there’s the “Squirt-Off”. The pin/badge will be sold for $1 each at various locations throughout Borrego Springs, culminating in a mass squirting of patrons from a golf cart convoy using water guns, probably headed up by yours truly whose Precision Golf Cart Drill Team won top honors in the Borrego Days Parade two years ago.

More on Art Farm developments in subsequent issues.