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September 2011
In This Issue
Annual Membership Meeting October 13th
Meet the Board: Kirk Jones
Potato Pledge Drop Off
Compost Education Center Workshops!
The Chaney's Ongoing Harvest
Dehydration Class
Volunteer of the Month
Westside Garden Bike Tour
Tomato Tastings!
Affirming Life One Tomato at a Time

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Annual Membership Meeting October 13th

 


Meet the Board: Kirk Jones 

 

by Katie Jozwiak  

 
A certain notorious woodchuck's raid on his first Project Grow garden could have sent our new Managing Director packing; but Kirk Jones looked at his flattened garden, weighed it against his love of plants, and determined Kirkhe wouldn't give up.

Kirk joined Project Grow in the early 1980s about 15 years after Project Grow was getting started and when that notorious
woodchuck was at its zenith. Woodchucks, also known as groundhogs or whistle pigs, are known for digging not climbing fences. But that varmint climbed over Kirk's 4-foot fence about the time when his County Farm garden was to be harvested. It wasn't a pretty sight.

Kirk took a month to emotionally regroup and hatched a plan that ultimately outsmarted his nemesis. He redesigned the fence so the critter couldn't get over it. Now, Kirk uses a humane trap and cookies to capture the ravenous rodents, and transports them to a wooded area on the other side of I-94.   
 

(Click here to continue reading the article) 


Potato Pledge Drop Off

 

If you received seed potatoes as part of Project Grow's Potato Pledge this Spring, you can donate the potatoes you grew for charity in three ways. 

  1. Weigh the potatoes, donate them to your favorite food charity, and send the weight and  the name of the charity to [email protected].
  2. Drop off the potatoes at Downtown Home and Garden.  There is a big drop off crate on your left just as you pull into the drive through.  We will stop in on Wednesday mornings to weigh the potatoes and pass them on to Food Gatherers.
  3. Drop off the potatoes directly to Food Gatherers.  Please tell the people you give them to that they were grown as part of Project Grow's Potato Pledge.  Food Gatherers will keep a tally of the weight of the potatoes donated this way.

That's all there is to it.  Project Grow and all the food charities thank you for your help!

 

October Compost Education Center Workshops

 

Have you visited the Compost Education Center on our website recently? We just added the October schedule and are excited to announce the new workshops! We will be reinforcing the fundamentals of composting and completing projects at the Leslie Science Center. Here are the next few events:

 

01 Oct 2011, Sat, 10:00-11:30am - CEC Workshop: Making Compost Piles for LSC - A 20 minute introduction on compost recipe and temperature log, and the rest of time the on making compost piles for LSC compost bins.

 

08 Oct 2011, Sat, 10:00-11:30am - CEC Workshop: Turning Compost Piles - A 20 minute introduction on compost recipe and temperature log, and the rest of time on turning compost pile.

 

Please visit www.projectgrowgardens.org/cec to register and see the full schedule, we hope to see you there!

 

groundhog1
The only good groundhog is a...captured groundhog 

The Chaneys' Ongoing Harvest

by Ellen Rusten


Project Grow checks in one last time with the Chaney family to see how their garden grows.

A trip to the park for Anna and Nasah Chaney may be fun, but it's also science class.

Every week, the Chaney family -- mom Nakisha, dad Adisa, 8-year-old daughter Anna and 5-year-old son Nasah -- would head out to their Project Grow plot at County Farm Park and check out what was new.  One time, early in the season, the kids became fascinated by a horn worm that looked like nothing they'd ever seen.

"It was still alive but it had all these little white things sticking up out of it," Kisha said in a recent phone interview.

(Click here to continue reading the article) 

 

"Preserving your Harvest" Dehydration Class

 

Thanks to all who came to our dehydration class.  There was such a free flow of information that everyone went home with a plan to try something new.  Instructors Ge and Deiatra delighted in the opportunity to share their knowledge with those who want better nutrition and cost savings.  Samples of organic ornamental kale chips were provided as well as a demonstration on making them at home.     

dehydration class

Project Grow's dehydration class 

 

dehydrated kale

 

 

 

Volunteer of the Month - Ellen Rusten

 

When I first heard of Ellen I was given several seeds that she had dropped off to our Director for the seed swap. She was not able to attend, but wanted to share her seeds and contribute none-the-less. It is selflessness that leads us to make her our volunteer of the month.

 

Many of the changes you have seen in our newsletter this year have been with the help and expertise of Ellen. She has education and experience in journalism, and has brought new life to our newsletter! With her help we recruited new volunteers to help collect stories from the garden and from the board to enrich the offering of our newsletter. We know we can count on her to contribute, edit and proof many of the articles provided this season. 

 

We are so glad to have Ellen on board, and the volunteers she works with have been so glad to work with her. We want all of our volunteers to be welcomed into the community with open arms and Ellen helps make that possible for everyone that works on the newsletter! 

 


 

On August 19, Project Grow hosted its inaugural Garden Bike Tour. Over 30 gardeners, cyclists, and community members joined the tour to check out five different community gardens on the west side. The ride started at Wolverine Brewery and continued to Greenview, Dicken, Hillside Terrace, Hunt Park, and West Park. At each stop, everyone had an opportunity to hop off their bikes, wander around the gardens, and explore all the different plants.

  

At the first stop, Allison Krueger, Greenview site coordinator, met the group and talked about some of the plots and about the intensity of the mosquitoes due to the nearby swamp. At our next stop, site coordinator and tour participant, Andy Comai explained the setup at Dicken and the collaboration between the garden and the elementary school. At Hillside Terrace, a few of the community gardeners from the site met the group and discussed how seniors from the center enjoy strolling through.

  

After the tour, many of the riders stayed for a drink at Wolverine Brewery. Andy rode home and came back with a variety of his tomatoes and pickles for everyone to taste.

 

We hope to plan future rides around the gardens. If you are interested in helping with future events, please contact Christin Cave, [email protected].

 

Bike Tour 

  

  

Tomato Tastings and the Children's Art Activity!

 

Project Grow held its 4th annual Tomato Tasting in conjunction with the Homegrown Festival on Saturday, September 10th.  Despite the terrible year that all of us have experienced with tomatoes this year, which were slowed down by the extreme heat of July, followed by a knockout punch of torrential rains and cool weather, we managed to have over 40 varieties of heirloom tomatoes available for tasting at the festival.  People actually stood in line to get to our disiplay and many said it was worth the wait:  they were astonished at the variety in sizes, colors and shapes of our tomatoes.  The differences in tastes, too, surprised them:  some were mild or sweet, others more assertive or acidic.  It was a great opportunity for us to educate Ann Arborites of the value and importance of heirlooms.  It was a lesson well received, as people eagerly tasted our heirloom tomatoes.

 

Project Grow also conducted a children's event at the festival, where younsters did art work using leaves from our gardens.  They were encouraged especially to work with tomato leaves, after which they were directed to go to the tasting, to see what grew out from the plant.  It was amazing to see how receptive they were to the tomatoes, after having painted their leaves!

 

The idea behind the project was to provide a fun place for kids at the festival to do a hands-on activity. Children could stop by the booth to make a painting using materials collected from Project Grow gardens. The goal was to make the materials sustainable, in keeping with the mission of Project Grow. The result? Everything used for the activity was compostable, down to the cardboard used for the base of the projects!! The projects left with us after the activity are currently being composted at the Compost Education Center. The paint was made by hand using only flour, water, and food coloring. Children could also choose from flowers, tomato leaves, branches, lemongrass, and other plants to decorate their projects.
 
The booth was a big hit with families at the festival. There was a good turnout, and everyone who came had a great time. Some of the children got very creative, and most of the volunteers even made projects of their own. You can see some of the paintings on the Project Grow website.  Thank you to all the volunteers, and everyone who participated, for making the Project Grow children's activity a success.
  
Children's Art Project

 

Affirming Life One Tomato at a Time   

 

By Ellen Rusten

DeiatraIf tomato gardening had an extreme sport division, Project Grow member Deiatra Eudy would definitely qualify. Only in her second year of gardening, Deiatra went from one variety of tomato the first year to 35 this year.

"My root idea was: 'I'm going to grow cherry tomatoes on my porch.' I had no idea that I would have so many plants because I couldn't thin my seedlings," Deiatra [pronounced DEE-uh-trah] said in a recent phone interview. "It turned out to be a very productive summer."

All 20 sprouted and, like any good mother, she couldn't decide which ones would be thinned out and which ones she would nurture. She transplanted all 20 of them into containers.

 

(Click  here to continue reading the article)