The Mill Village Community Garden and Food Park isn’t quite ready for growing food yet, but multiple events scheduled for April will help get it ready for growing.

The Mill Village Barbecue and the Selma Charity League Yard Sale, scheduled for Saturday, April 18, will be the first of two events next month that will give people a chance to see the future home of the garden and give back to the cause.

Money raised from the barbecue and yard sale will go directly to Grow Selma, the group responsible for the community garden, to help fund the garden.

“Our members voted on who the proceeds from the sale would go to, and this year we voted for it to be Grow Selma,” said Charity League president Christian Siddens. “It just seemed like a great thing to kind of contribute to. We really hope to raise enough money to help get them started.”

The yard sale will be held at the old Philly Cigar plant, which is just across the street from the garden, from 6:30 a.m. until 10:30 a.m. People will also be able to buy BBQ plates for $5 between 10:30 a.m. and 2 p.m. at the garden.

“We’re selling as many items as we can that have been donated from our members as well as other people in the community,” Siddens said.

The community garden will benefit greatly from the day’s events.

“Every new enterprise needs some funding to implement structure and whatnot,” said Chip Spencer, a member of Grow Selma, the group behind the community garden. “But the other thing is that [these events] are all about advertising and letting the community know through these events that the food park is coming and Grow Selma is working.”

Grow Selma’s vision for the garden is to bring people together and teach them how to grow their own natural, healthy foods, so a compost class is also scheduled for that day at 11 a.m., 12 p.m. and 1 p.m.

“To start a garden, the first thing you need to do is start with the soil,” Spencer said. “The composting class is going to educate people in basic soil science and to learn what makes up a good gardening soil.”

Grow Selma and the community garden will also benefit from the Blackbelt Benefit Group’s annual Rock N’ Ribs, which is scheduled for Saturday, April 25 at the Lions Club Fair Park.

The event will feature a rib-off, where teams will compete against one another to cook the best ribs and live music. Clay Carmichael, founder of the BBG and Grow Selma, said funds raised from Rock N’ Ribs will go to Grow Selma as well. Tickets are $10, $20 and $25. For more information on any of the events that will benefit Grow Selma, contact Clay Carmichael at 410-0582.