Happy Thanksgiving!
From the Project Grow board, volunteers and staff.
|
|
New Registration Deadline for Returning Gardeners!
Assigning plots each spring is the biggest single job for the Managing Director to complete. Hundreds of gardeners have to be processed and entered into the database. This job is usually accompanied by many emails and phone calls from anxious new gardeners concerned about their status. Before any of them can be assigned a plot, however, the plans of the returning gardeners need to be known, to determine which plots are available for re-assignment. Everything hinges on who is returning or leaving Project Grow. In previous years, March 15th was the application deadline for returning gardeners wishing to retain their same plots. Starting the upcoming 2012 season, the deadline has been moved up to February 1st. This shorter period will encourage an earlier response from the returning gardeners, which will make possible earlier plot assignments to new gardeners. If you are a gardener hoping to keep your same plot, please take note of this change and register on time. Failure to do so may result in loss of your plot. For now the registration links have been removed from the website while we upgrade the registration software. We plan to put them back by January 1st, 2012, and you will be able to find the link on the individual garden sites page.
|
Volunteer of the Month - Christin Cave Christin came to us through the volunteer form and showed an immediate interest in becoming involved on a regular basis. While she was most interested in working with kids, we needed the most help in the Heirloom Garden. She didn't know it at the time but she was being chosen to lead a team of three volunteers to grow heirloom tomatoes for the Tomato Tasting as well as seed saving. Christin jumped at the challenge and spent many hours maintaining the garden which included peppers, tomatoes, corn, and other vegetables for donation to Food Gatherer's Pictured in the middle below, Christin worked hard through the season with fellow volunteers Karl Schwinghamer and Jennifer Knight. In addition to her volunteer work in the garden, Christin proposed and organized our very popular Garden Tour by Bicycle this summer. Recently, Christin contacted us to ask "what's next?" Her continued desire to volunteer even as the gardening season dwindles is testament to her dedication and provides inspiration to the all volunteer board that continue to work hard for Project Grow as winter approaches. Please join us in thanking Christin and the rest of the Heirloom Team for their hard work and continued effort! |
Organic Gardening Certificate Project Grow Community Gardens, in partnership with the Washtenaw Community College, offers an Organic Gardener Certification Program during WCC's Winter Term. This program will give home gardeners and professional landscapers the knowledge and skills needed to establish and maintain lawns, vegetable gardens and ornamental gardens organically. Classes can be taken individually or as a series leading to the certificate. Individuals who complete the required 8 classes, a final exam and a 20-hour volunteer component will receive a certificate in Organic Gardening. Students will have a year and a half to complete their volunteer hours.
Required Courses:
Organic Gardening: An Introduction
Organic Gardening: Soils, Compost and Organic Fertilizer
Organic Gardening: Organic Vegetable Gardening
Organic Gardening: Organic Fruit Growing Made Easy
Organic Gardening: Landscaping with Native Plants
Organic Gardening: Organic Pest and Disease Management
Organic Gardening: Organic Weed Control
Organic Gardening: Organic Lawn Care
Organic Gardener Certificate students must buy a course pack, which is only available at the WCC Bookstore. A separate course pack is recommended for non-certificate students.
To register and view class descriptions, visit the Washtenaw Community College Organic Gardening Certification Page.
For registration questions, call WCC's Life Long Learning help desk at 734-677-5060.
|
Volunteer Opportunities in the Off Season When Christin contacted us looking for more volunteer opportunities, she was surprised to hear everything that we were up to. Even as the gardens close and outdoor activities cease we are very busy planning and preparing for the next season. Volunteers are working on finding and securing grant money, planning a marketing strategy, as well as working to strengthen ties with other community organizations and plan outreach events. We're pretty much doing everything we can that we couldn't when the gardens were in full swing! Whether your idle hands need work-- or your mind is already drifting towards next season-- there's always an opportunity to volunteer with Project Grow! Just fill out the volunteer form to get started. Or if you have already filled it out, drop us a line at volunteer@projectgrowgardens.org to check in!  |
|
Annual Tilling
by Kirk Jones
Some of our gardeners would like to see Project Grow gardens tilled less often. In response to this interest, the Project Grow board and I are looking into the possibility of only tilling some plots annually rather than twice annually. Many of our smaller gardens are already entirely perennial and receive no tilling. These sites include Brooks, Buhr, most of Clague, Hillside, Lakewood and Wines. In addition, County Farm, which is about 1/3 of all the Project Grow plots, is about 60% perennial. Sites that could be entirely or partially switched to once annual tilling include Catholic Social Services, the annual parts of County Farm, Dicken, Greenview, Matthaei, Mitchell and Northside. Chapel Hill, Hunt and West Park are all required to "disappear" over the winter but could perhaps be converted to annual tilling if this requirement were met.
Click here to read the rest of the article
|
|
Project Grow Gifts
For the first time this year, Project Grow has items available as small gifts for the holiday season. A number of heirloom seeds are available though our Marketplace. If you order any of these seeds we will get them to you as quick as the USPS can bring them!
We also have 11oz coffee mugs on the Marketplace. The mugs are only $5 but we are not shipping them so you will need to pick them up from one of our homes in Ann Arbor. We are doing this because the cost of packaging and shipping a mug is more than $5!
These seeds and mugs make a great gift for a your gardening friend or even yourself. Happy shopping!
 |
|
