As most of you know Grow Benzie has been working with the Benzie County School Systems to collect foods scraps suitable for composting, for over two years. Our fantastic volunteers Judy Grant, Donna Kennis, Eleanor Comings, Amy Ferris and Deb Query have diligently picked up containers daily at the schools and delivered them to Grow Benzie. The public is also invited to bring their compostable scraps as well. "House keeping" has really been a challenge for this project for try as we might, we were constantly cleaning up areas where scraps were left due to overflowing containers, wrong placement etc. - in a word, we'd not developed a system suitable for handling the project we were trying to sustain---and it was very messy and time consuming to fix.

 

This fall as volunteers were removing 50 lb. concrete blocks from the remaining two greenhouses that are being restored, Mary Ann Hendricks, was walking by the latest messy area. It struck her that Grow Benzie could use those blocks to create compost bins, much like the bins she'd seen local landscapers use to house mulch, gravel, and top soil. She approached Bill Soper, Grow Benzie's horticulture consultant, and suggested the idea.

 Bill Soper

 

Bill agreed and before the week was done, 4 compost bins from recycled 30 year old cement blocks were created that make the entire effort so much more efficient, easily recognizable for the public to separate their donations, and all in all, a terrific addition to Grow Benzie.

 Mary Ann working with several children in the garden.   

 

Mary Ann's contributions to Grow Benzie are legend- from the very beginning, working to find a suitable site for reinstating community gardens and suggesting our present day site, to overseeing the original improvements to Big Blue, to spearheading the creation of the sewing studio, to constantly planting, weeding, planting and more yard care, Mary Ann's commitment and energy have been unending. We call her the Energizer Bunny around here but her new title, Queen of Composting may be her title going into 2012.

 

 

When you talk "community effort" there is no better example than Grow Benzie's Sewing Studio, which is housed in the walkout basement of the house. It was completely pulled together as a volunteer project from top to bottom- from insulation to flooring, paint to window treatments, donated fabric (wait until you see the amount), six startup refurbished machines, our sewing studio is a marvel to behold.

 

Not only do we have stacks and stacks of crisp, never used fabrics, we also have large quantities of materials that can be recycled into wonderful "new" items. And we have the teachers to inspire creativity. We thank every one of our teachers who have helped so much: Myrna Mallison, Victoria Velting Luebke, Marcy Patterson, Florence Haynes, Jenn Wilcox, Karen Daldine, Judy Rice, Judy Olsen, Betty Omar, Pam Smith, Deb Hepner, Mary Ann Hendricks, Nadia, Sonja, and Amy Daniels Moehle.

 

Here is one story that has come out of the studio classes:  

 

We gave a scholarship to a single mother who was unable to pay for the class.  She was very talented and would work at her instructor's home after class as she was the only student without a machine at home. She utilized our fabrics and had a very good eye for color.  Recently her instructor learned she was sewing all the time;  additionally our instructor was able to provide her with a used machine and serger from a donor. Our last update was that she never stops sewing!

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grow Benzie was begun with a search to reinstate community gardens to serve those in need by a small group of individuals, many of whom are Master Gardeners through the Michigan State University Extension Service.For over three years this small group has nurtured four garden plots, no small task when all involved have busy schedules, yet they have persevered every year providing produce to our community.