The Plot Thickens
Fall 2001
A Publication of Growing Gardens
In
my garden there is a large place for sentiment.
My garden of flowers is also my garden of thoughts and dreams.
The thoughts grow as freely as the flowers, and the dreams are as beautiful.
-- Abram L. Urban
Greenhouse!!!
The construction of our greenhouse will provide year round horticultural
and sustainable energy education for children, youth and adults. It will
create job training and food production opportunities. In short, this
greenhouse would allow for the expansion of all of Growing Gardens programs
and broadens the horizon for future community projects.
Visitors to the greenhouse can experience the practical applications of
solar and earth power, including the generation of electricity, solar
water pumping and thermal radiant heating and cooling.
The greenhouse will produce vegetable starts, herbs and perennials. Some
of these products will be donated to the Boulder Shelter for the Homeless
to plant in their garden. Community Food Share will also receive these
plants to distribute through their Backyard Garden Project. Plants for
Cultiva! and our annual plant sale will also be cultivated.
The greenhouse will be used to provide education and job skills training
to teenagers involved with the Cultiva! Youth Project. A Horticultural
Therapy programis being developed in 2001 to be offered to groups of developmentally
and physically disabled adults
Elementary school groups will assist with cultivating plant starts to
be planted in the Children’s Peace Garden for summer educational
programs.
(for pictures see www.growinggardens.org)
Community Gardeners have raised $1,000 toward this greenhouse! Make a
contribution soon and get your name immortilized forever in the greenhouse.
We have raised 50,000 in cash and 30,00 in challenge grants but we still
need to raise about $100,000 this winter. The greenhouse will be a place
of learning, laughter and caring for each other and our earth for everyone
in our community to come and enjoy. We need your help, though!
Please send your contribution to this project to 3198 North Broadway,
Boulder, CO 80304.
We can do it!
Year End Reminders for Community Gardeners
Please clear your plots of spent plants and compost them or put plant
debris in designated piles at the garden. You may leave fencing up. Please
remove from plots: Furniture, statues, plastic that will blow away or
bags that hold mulch. These look unsightly and blow all over the place
in the winter. Let’s be neighborly and keep a tidy winter garden
as well. If you are not planning on returning next year please let Ramona
know so she can reassign those plots easily to new gardeners. 303-413-7248.
Please record volunteer hours on the bulletin board or in the Shed (foothills)
to assure that you get credit for them.
Here are tasks that still need doing:
Composting
Path weeding
General site cleanup
Boulder Community Food Project
Two New Gardens
This year Growing Gardens put in two new gardens with the help of the
¡Cultiva! Project and Community Garden volunteers. One garden was
located at the Woodlands Neighborhood and the other was at the Boulder
Shelter for the Homeless.
Growing Gardens donated plants and seeds to get the new gardeners started.
As the season progressed we also taught gardening classes as well as cooking
and nutrition classes (thanks to the CSU Extension service for providing
the nutrition education). One of our community gardeners, Jodi Niggeman
gave a medicinal herb class to both garden sites. Thanks Jodi!
The Homeless Shelter garden plots were very prolific and the tomatoes
and zucchinis just kept coming! There was a lovely end of summer Bar-b-que
which featured many of the vegies grown by the shelter residents. Yummy!
The residents commented that the gardens gave them an "at-home"
feeling and that they liked spending time with the plants. Residents were
very protective of their gardens and did a great job their first year.
The suggestions for next year are to create additional bigger gardens!
The Woodlands Neighborhood would like even more individual help with their
gardens next year. We will also be posting a schedule of upcoming classes
in their neighborhood newsletter so they can plan to fit these great classes
into their busy schedules. This may be a great way for Community Gardeners
share their knowledge and time with other new gardeners (and it will fulfill
those volunteer hours!). If you would like to help out next year with
this project or other BCFP gardens (we will be putting in 2 additional
gardens at other public housing sites next spring) please let us know.
Community Garden News
Hickory Community
Gardens
This year we got a brand new garden! The Hickory garden has 28 plots and
is already _ full. We received a generous neighborhood block grant, written
by gardeners Ed Self and Shelley Schlender from the City of Boulder to
buy water hydrants, compost, tools and a great shed! Thank you to volunteers
Glenn Shearer, Ed Self, Mark Bradley, Kurt Spandel, Sarah Watts, Lloyd
Fosdick, and Shelby Pawlina for taking all day long to erect and shingle
the new shed. It is fabulous! We had a great rock moving party with gardeners
and neighbors at the beginning of the year and a lovely potluck for all
to get to know one another and discuss further development for the garden.
Next year will be even better!
Composting
The North Boulder Garden hosted 2 Composting Parties organized by our
great compost committee. We made three "compost cakes" and a
lot of gardeners learned the how to’s of composting. The Foothills
Garden will receive a grant from the EPA (thanks to Marie Zanowick!) for
compost signs and bins for our big composting needs. The garden has really
grown over the past 2 years and has become a great place to meet and relax
!
A special In-Plot Composting Workshop will be conducted by Foothills gardener,
Rani Jacobs, and is free to all the community gardeners. Rani will cover
a variety of ways you can compost easily and quickly RIGHT IN YOUR OWN
PLOT, while at the same time, improving your soil for next year's crop.
Rani is the founder of Urban Organic, a school of organic urban agriculture
and edible landscaping, which she ran in Los Angeles for many years. This
workshop will be held at the Iris Center on Saturday, October 20th from
10AM till noon. The workshop is free, although reservations are requested.
Please call 303/444-5165 to make your reservations.
Garden Cleanup
There will be a garden cleanup and composting day on October 28th. It
will be at 9am at Foothills, 10am at North Boulder and 11 am at the Hickory
Gardens. This can be part of your volunteer hours!
Boulder Community
Food Project
The Community Gardens donated a total of 158 lbs of produce through the
Boulder Community Food Project to Community Food Share!! Way to go Community
Gardeners! And we aren’t done yet!
The Garden Party!!
The 1st Annual Garden Party was held July 28 and a good time was had by
all. See page 6 for the Pesto Contesto winners! There was a very competitve
and delicious field of entrants. The judging was done by Jim Rienoshek
of the Stick Oven Restaurant, Ian Nigelson of Pan Asia and Macon Cowles,
a Growing Gardens board member. There were musicians, artists, and a lovely
wine tasting provided by Augusina’s and Bookcliff Wineries (local
to Colorado!) Prizes were given to the winners of our Cherry Seed Spitting
Contest and fabulous fruits and vegetables were donated by Boulder Fruit
Express. This was complimented by a donation of Haystack Mountain Goat
Cheese and bread from Daily Bread. The gardeners were there to offer their
own delicious salsas and samplings from their own gardens! We look forward
to next year for more great ideas and more gardeners.
Fall Crafts for
Children
Adapted from Gardens for Growing People Fall Newsletter
If you prune off all spent flowers this fall, your children may miss out
on all the fascinating seed pods that follow the flowers. Seeds come in
all shapes, sizes and colors. A good seed craft project for young children
is to glue seeds onto a small sheet of cardboard in any pattern or design
they desire. Try cutting the cardboard into shapes like a heart or gingerbread
man. Have children gather any seeds they find and glue them onto the cardboard
shapes. Some good seeds are sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, scarlet runner
beans, lunaria seed pods and ornamental corn. Love-in-a-puff is a cute
little black seed with a white heart on it!
For older children, try having them string various seeds together to make
a necklace. Pumpkin seeds, ornamental corn, scarlet runner beans, and
acorns work well. Job's Tears are amazing seeds; they are the size and
shape of pearls, silvery, white or maroon, and they have a natural hole
for stringing! For other seeds lacking a natural hole, soak the seeds
in warm water for about an hour until they are soft enough to push a needle
through. Thread dental floss on a needle and begin stringing.
Children’s
Gardens
by Shevaun Coy, 14 years old (Cultiva! Youth Leader)
The children’s Peace Garden is a colorful place. Children of all
ages up to their 30’s gather there to learn about plants and the
science around them. They learn how to work together in a fun, safe, and
peaceful community. The Peace garden is a small square of an intricately
laid out garden surrounded by a bright wood plank fence with vegetable
cutouts and bright cheerful colors. When I first saw the garden, I fell
in love. There is a mint patch, the edible flower garden, the pizza garden,
the berry patch, the gourd area, even a child sized picnic table and shaded
bean pole teepees. In the center is a lovely area of green soft grass
for playing in.
The children I worked with in the Peace Garden were from the YMCA and
the Family Learning Center, and they came once a week to learn at the
garden. The Peace Garden is a fun interactive classroom. We played games
to learn, including how to water plants and pull weeds. As they did this
they learned about how plants absorb nutrients and why they are so important
to life. They also learned to make a compost heap and how it is good for
the garden and the environment. We also studied insects and bugs including
the always exciting worms who live in a comfortable compost box the kids
got to fill with dirt and vegetables. We also studied insects that help
pollinate plants. We set up flower cups filled with juice, and kids buzz
around like a butterfly by drinking the "nectar" from hidden
spots in the garden.
We also did fun activities like making scarecrows so the birds wouldn’t
hurt our garden. We went on strawberry hunts in our berry patch, and made
herb and flower candy from our edible flowers and herbs. At the end of
the session we also made a salad from our garden and lemonade flavored
with mint leaves. One of the best parts of the Peace Garden was definitly
the kids and their eagerness to learn and their ease with working together
in a community, helping each other and being nice. That was truly what
the garden is all about. Working in the Peace Garden was wonderful, exciting,
and fun. I am enthusiastically looking forward to doing it again. It’s
great to see kids having fun working with the environment, and it is exactly
what happened. Gardens are great things and happy kids make them better.
Winning Pesto Recipe
from the Pesto Contesto
Peter and Ginger's Hawthorn Avenue Pesto
8 ounces Parmesan Regiano Cheese, 5 cloves garlic, 8 cups garden fresh
basil, 1/2 cup garden fresh sage, 3/4 cup pine nuts, Juice of 1 lemon,
Extra virgin olive oil, Salt
1. In a food processor or blender, grate the Parmesan cheese to a fine
powder. Set aside for later.
2. Peel and coarsely chop the garlic then lightly sauté the garlic
chunks in a tablespoon of olive oil. Not everyone can digest raw garlic
so we cook the garlic just a little bit to accommodate them.
3. Wash and clean the basil. Remove any large stems.
4. Place the basil, sage, pine nuts, and garlic in the food processor
or blender. It's OK to pack the basil and you may not get it all in at
once. Add about 1/2 to 3/4 cups of olive oil and begin grinding. Add the
remaining basil along with the lemon juice. You will probably need to
add a little more liquid to complete the grinding - olive oil or water
will work - depending upon your dietary pleasure. When the mixture is
moderately smooth, pour and scrape it into a bowl.
5. Mix in the grated Parmesan cheese by hand.
6. Add salt to taste. A pesto sauce is usually spread fairly thin over
pasta so it is important to add a lot of salt. Taste it frequently to
get it just right.
Pesto can be refrigerated or frozen, but it tastes best right away.
Adaptive Garden
Growing Gardens worked with the Center for People with Disabilities and
CSU extension in 2001 to create a new garden at the Center. Kerrie Badersher
of CSU Cooperative Extension coordinated the donation of over $80,000
worth of in-kind services and materials and the construction of the garden.
It is beautiful and made for maximum accessibility of the clients. Growing
Garden’s Horticultural Therapy intern, Andy Gross, developed and
implemented curriculum to go with the gardens. Every week something new
was presented, such as planting, transplanting, harvesting or creating
a unique craft. The clients had 40 entries at the Boulder County fair
in the vegetable and herb catagories and won 36 prizes. It was exciting!
Students from this program suggested that we expand our programming to
include clients from the Develomental Disabilities Center. The original
students will mentor these incoming students and help show them the ropes
until the end of the season. This garden has demonstrated the many ways
there are to grow in the garden. What a wonderful group!
¡Cultiva!
Completes Successful 4th Season!
This spring, five youth worked with the project, after school and on weekends.
These youth attended fund-raising meetings, planned, designed, and helped
plant the Peace Garden and Cultiva! field, participated in growing greenhouse
plants to sell at the Farmer’s Market and donate to low-income families
(over 90 tomato plants and 1500 assorted vegetable starts were donated),
and recruit and train youth for the summer program.
In addition, these youth worked with Growing Gardens, Homeless Shelter,
and Community Food Share staff to design and build four raised bed gardens
at the Homeless Shelter, one school garden at the Sojourner Middle School,
and a weekly garden class for the third grade at Shining Mountain Waldorf
School.
Thirty-nine youth participated in Cultiva! this summer for one of two
five-week sessions. The youth worked approximately 20 hours a week, tending
the garden, teaching children about gardening and peace skills in the
Children’s Peace Garden, selling produce at the Boulder Farmer’s
Market, donating produce to those in need, and taking part in a number
of service projects. To date, over 1000 pounds of produce has been donated
by the youth.
Participants cooked a meal with their vegetables at the Boulder Shelter
for the Homeless, picked over 500 pounds of beans for Community Food Share’s
gleaning project, worked with the Boulder County Youth Corp to remove
invasive species from Open Space, and helped restore trails in the Indian
Peaks Wilderness. Over 100 children participated in the 5-week Peace Garden
classes. Youth and adult volunteers taught these classes with Cultiva!
youth teaching at least one class or leading at least one activity.
Currently, 9 youth have chosen to remain with Cultiva! as Youth Leaders.
They will help plan and implement school-based garden curriculum, plan
fund-raising events, and assist with overall project administration.
As a result of their participation in the Cultiva! project, youth have
reported feeling more self-confident, more comfortable talking to diverse
people and more respectful of differences, more committed to helping the
environment and community, more confident that they can make a real difference,
and proud of themselves for having helped other people this summer.
Youth Making a Difference!!
Cultiva’s Youth Leaders are planning an event in collaboration with
Rooted in Community, a national network of youth programs who are improving
their communities through agriculture projects. This National Day of Action
will be held on October 13 from 10 am to 3pm at the Bandshell near Broadway
and Canyon. Youth from around Boulder will be fasting to draw attention
to the issue of hunger facing many local families. They will also be collecting
food donations. This will provide our youth with the opportunity to draw
media attention to the work they have been doing, highlight the important
role youth can serve in their communities, and draw attention to the issue
of hunger facing many people here in Boulder.
FROST
What's a gardener to do?
From the National Gardening Association Web-Site
So you've checked the weather conditions and decide that, yes, Jack Frost
is coming and protecting your plants is worthwhile. You'll want to do
two things: First, cover your plants, both to retain as much soil heat
and moisture as possible and to protect them against strong winds, which
can hasten drying and cooling. Use almost anything to cover plants: newspapers,
bushel baskets, plastic tarps, straw, or pine boughs. Spun-bonded fabric
row covers will protect plants down to 30oF, polyethylene row covers to
28oF. Cover the whole plant before sunset to trap any remaining heat.
Lightweight coverings such as row covers and newspaper should be anchored
to prevent them from blowing away.
Second, keep the soil moist by watering your plants the day the frost
is predicted. Commercial fruit and vegetable growers even leave sprinklers
on all night to cover plants with water. As the water freezes, it releases
heat, protecting the plants, even though they're covered in ice. To prevent
damage, the sprinklers need to run continuously as long as temperatures
remain below freezing. And as you survey your garden's fading glory, you
may take heart from the experience of John Loudon, a 19th-century British
horticulturist. Loudon stuck four stakes into a plot of grass to support
a cambric handkerchief 6 inches above the surface and found that the temperature
beneath it remained 9oF warmer than the temperature of the surrounding
air. Yes, you can beat the frost--at least for a few nights.
Do consider dew
The dew point is the temperature at which the air is totally saturated
with moisture. Television and radio meteorologists may state the dew point
temperature during routine forecasts. The more moisture the air contains,
the higher the temperature will be when the moisture starts to condense
as dew, producing heat. And, obviously, the higher the temperature, the
less chance of frost. For example, a dew point of 43°F almost certainly
means no frost that night. Interestingly enough, frost is more likely
to form on a dry evening when the air temperature is a warmish 50°F
and the dew point is a low 33°F than when the air temperature is a
cooler 43°F and the dew point is 41°.
WISH LIST
As a non-profit, we rely heavily on donations, grants, fund-raisers, and
a variety of help from our community! Anyone have some of these things
laying around?
Truck with dump
Laptop Computer
Wheelbarrows
Hoses in good condition
Passenger Van
Row Cover
Tomato Cages
Produce Truck
Large Display Baskets
Lockers
3-Point hitch lawnmower attachment
Manure Spreader
Pitchforks
Shovels, Hoes, Rakes
Window Boxes
Large Patio Containers
New Weed Barrier
Growing Racks for Seed Propagation
We GRATEFULLY accept donations of any amount. If you would like to support
our organization, please mail your tax-deducible donation to Growing Gardens
of Boulder County, 3198 North Broadway, Boulder, CO 80304
Thank
You to our Supporters!!!
$1,000 to $4,999
Stephen Tebo/Tebo Development
Sumaya Abu-Haidar and Jason Berv
Seedworks Fund/Susan Hagedorn
Tom Clark
Lloyd Fosdick
$500 to $999
Barbara Vuchich
Robert and Judith Gelder
Macon and Regina Cowles
$100 to $499
Long’s Gardens
Catherine and Dennis Gates
Scott Larwood
Virginia Perry
Susan and Paul Riederer
Dr. Alan Reisman
Sheila O’k Todd
Viv Veith
Up to $99
Nancy and Kevin Harvey
Beulah F. Wisner Living Trust
Margot Smit
Ruth Seagull
Alice and Judah Levine
Kerry Bonge
Robert Howard Associates, Inc.
Kerry Malone
Kaye Howe
David Alessi
Thomas Franken, Jr.
Joseph Florian/Eco Clean Window Service
Mary Ellen Ford
Margaret Massey
Paul and Lucille Sommer
Kerry Lightenburger
Andria Bronsten
Ann Dixon
Patrick Clifford
David and Rachel Gehr
In-Kind Services/Supplies
George Watt, Architect
Daily Camera
Lake Valley Seed, Inc.
Boulder Fruit Express
Harvey W. Curtis & Associates
Linda Parks
David Kueter, Attorney at Law
Construct
Valley Excavationg, Inc.
Colorado Materials, Inc.
Patagonia
Glacier Ice Cream
Sturtz & Copeland
Eldorado Artesian Springs, Inc.
Haystack Mountain Goat Dairy
Ute Trail Greenhouse
Lisa Bell
Sue Diehl
Ron’s Equipment Co., Inc.
Jim Guggenhime
Tom Harr
Daily Bread
The Village Printer
WE COULDN’T DO IT WITHOUT YOU!!
Kellogg Foundation
USDA Community Food Projects Program
Denver Foundation
City of Boulder Youth Opportunies Fund
Colorado Garden Show
Brett Family Foundation
Phil Long Community Fund
JJJ Foundation
Anschutz Family Foundation
Coors Foundation
Gates Foundation
Nichols Family Foundation
U.S. Environmental Proaction Agency
Weaver Foundation
Millenium Trust (Of the Community Foundation Serving Boulder County)
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