Farewell to Cindy Rutherford, Managing Director of Project Grow

Cindy Rutherford, who has been the managing director of Project Grow for the last year and a half, has decided to resign, in order to have more time for her three sons, Francis, Benedict, and Joseph: "They are young only once and I didn't want to miss this period of their lives." As director, Cindy has worked hard to improve the new website, enhance Project Grow's marketing strategies and materials, strengthen communication with site coordinators, invigorate the Discovery Garden programs, and increase the number of sites under her stewardship. A new garden at West Park opened this spring, after much work and persistence. Cindy will be missed as director, though she will not leave us completely, as she will be joining the board of directors of Project Grow, where we hope she will continue to work hard to advance the mission of the organization.

A Note From Cindy 

Beloved Project Grow Gardeners and Supporters,

I submitted an informal resignation to the Board of Directors on July 14th and it has become formally effective August 1st. No outside pressure, no scandal, no conflict with the organization; in short, nothing good to make conversation about!

As many of you already know, I have three children under the age of 5, and, while my family and I have all thoroughly enjoyed our involvement with Grow, I have decided it's time to focus my energies on my vocation as a mother. Thanks for welcoming me into your lives and your gardens. I consider the Project Grow community a part of my family. I will continue to support the new Managing Director, Kirk Jones, to serve on the Board and can now be reached at cynthia@projectgrowgardens.org 

Warmest regards,

Cynthia Rutherford

"Preserving your Harvest" Classes with Project Grow 

Another food processing class has been added to Project Grow's new series of classes aimed at helping gardeners preserve their harvest. This class is on canning tomatoes, which you can do now, while they are plentiful, so that you can enjoy their summery goodness throughout the year. Details on the canning class and another on dehydrating foods follow below.

Dehydrating your Harvest: Saturday, August 27, from 10am - 12 noon, at Leslie House, Leslie Science Center, 1831 Traver Road, Ann Arbor, 48105.

This class will cover the basics of drying foods, producing kale chips and dried tomatoes. But it will take dehydrating foods one more step to teach you how to make your own flax seed crackers, filled with vegetables and flavored with spices, that are not only tasty, but healthy! Participants will take home samples of dried foods. Food preservationists, Ge Zhang and Deiatra Eudy, will be teaching the course. Class size limited to 10 participants. Class fee: $10.00. REGISTER HERE.

Canning Tomatoes: Saturday, August 27th, from 1pm - 4pm, at SELMA Café, 722 Soule Avenue, Ann Arbor, 48105.

If you are awash in tomatoes from your garden or have been eyeing the beautiful specimens at the Farmers' Market this month and want to know how to preserve them so that you can enjoy them all winter long, this class is for you. Basic principles and techniques for canning tomatoes, using the water bath method, will be taught. Students will then process and take home their own jar of newly canned tomatoes. Marcella Trautmann, long-time gardener with Project Grow and canner for many years, will teach the course. Class size limited to 12. Class fee: $10.00. REGISTER HERE

 Students at Project Grow's August 13th Pickling Class  

Volunteers of the Month - Chad Dibble, Ellen Miller, and Joe Kim

This is a very special month for volunteer recognition. Due to the large amount of Compost Education Center work done in the past few weeks we had to recognize the help of a few key volunteers! Chad, Ellen, and Joe all donated their time at short notice and helped complete the compost bin project in time for the classes.

Chad is one of our newest volunteers, but has done an incredible amount of work in the past few weeks. According to our CEC coordinator, "He is a very dedicated volunteer, enthusiastic, and full of initiative." Ellen, previous volunteer of the month, has been stellar with the signs for CEC and also painted the sign at the entrance to the Discovery Gardens. She has attended several committee meetings and is always interested to lend a hand when we need it. Last but not least, Joe was instrumental in the breakdown of the old compost pile and recreation of the new one. We built the new system within just a few weeks, and it was all made possible with the help of volunteers!

Tomato Tastings! 

Tomato Tasting I: August 20, at the Farmers Market - Cancelled

For the first time since we have held Tomato Tastings, Project Grow is canceling the August 20th event because of the late ripening of tomatoes in our gardens. Despite the hot month of July, the fruit are just not progressing as fast as we had planned and hoped. Faced with few varieties and numbers of tomatoes for the event, we have opted instead to cancel it and put all of our efforts into our second tasting, scheduled a few weeks later.

Tomato Tasting II: Saturday, September 10, at the Farmers Market, from 6-9pm

For the fourth year, we are holding a Tomato Tasting as part of the Homegrown Festival, scheduled for September 10th, from 6-9pm, at the Farmers Market in Ann Arbor. Please come and sample the many heirloom tomatoes that Project Grow is noted for growing. You will be amazed by their wide range of flavors, textures, colors, sizes and shapes. We guarantee that you will find that special tomato that you will want to grow next year!

Volunteers for the event are needed to set up and maintain the Tasting. A first shift, from 5-7:30pm, is needed to set up the stall, prepare the tomatoes, and oversee the tables; a second shift, from 7:30-9:30pm, will maintain the tastings and dismantle the stall. If you are interested in tasting a whole bunch of heirlooms, talking with tomato aficionados and finding out how to grow or save seeds from them, register with ellen@projectgrowgardens.org.

Volunteers Needed for Children's Activity at Homegrown

We are running a free children's activity at the Homegrown Festival this year along with the tomato tasting. Volunteers are working on an activity that will allow each participate to create a piece of art work with dried leaves from different vegetable plants (including a variety of heirloom tomatoes). We have the activity in mind, but need your help to run it! Please contact Lucas at volunteer@projectgrowgardens.org if you are interested in being involved with this activity.

 Matthaei gardeners at their August Potluck 

Chaney Update - July  

by Erin Biehl

Note: The Project Grow Newsletter team is following the Chaney family's gardening project at County Farm Park. This is the second installment. See June's newsletter for the first.  

Eight-year-old Anna Chaney doesn't eat her vegetables, but she grows them. "I like the cucumber leaf. It's squishy," she says.

As a Wonder Sprout kid, she's learned about planting, pruning, and harvesting her family's tomatoes, cucumbers and lettuce in their County Farm Park plot. Mom Nakisha teaches Anna  and her five-year-old son Nasah how to care for their garden with the help of Wonder Sprouts, a Project Grow program for kids.   

Anna and Nasah attended the first few classes on Tuesdays. Under the instruction of Project Grow member Angela King, the kids made colorful stakes for their garden and learned some basic gardening techniques.   

(Click here to continue reading the article)  

Support Project Grow When Buying Groceries   

You can support Project Grow every time you grocery shop at Hiller's Market in Arborland or any Kroger store. This is a really great way to support Grow, and it doesn't cost you anything except a few minutes of time. If you shop at Hiller's, just request a Hiller's scrip card from Project Grow. To request a scrip card, send your name and mailing address to info@ProjectGrowGardens.org. Please mention Hiller's somewhere in the message, and we will mail a card to you. We will also be handing out scrip cards to anyone who wants one at the tomato tasting.

(click here to continue reading the article) 

Locally Sourced Blogs - Maxi Container

I had the pleasure of meeting the Creative Director of Maxi Container this week. Just the fact that they have a Creative Director should tell you that these guys are special! We first met Maxi Container while searching for barrels to build our Biochar burner. Through that first transaction we learned how much the care about supporting local organizations, and using their salvage connections to supply recycled barrels that are perfect for container gardening, rain barrels, and compost tumblers. Read the link below to hear more about how this company is embracing this niche in the drum salvage industry.

 http://maxicontainer.com/blog/category/blog/