growing people newsletter - fall 2004

8/4/2019 Growing People Newsletter - Fall 2004

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VOLUME 10.1GROWIN G PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004PA G E 2

Produce Donation Progress

This years (up through November 9th) total harvest deliveredto local food pantries by our four donation gardens is:

3,360 pounds!! Thats enough for 13,440 servings!To learn more visit the Donation Garden page on our website at:

www.gardendallas.org

We need your help : Volunteer to help with picking and transporting produce tofood pantries and food banks. Contact GICD or Darlene Smith at 972-690-1752 or email [email protected].

The most rewarding experience for me is when we gather to harvest the back beds. The last harvest, we collected over a hundred pounds of greens, sweet potatoes, peppers and fresh herbs. When we bring these to the food pantries there are always smiles on the faces of thewomen who take and sort our goodies. They are happy to see fresh foods, which are a contrast to the pre-packaged foods normally donated, and I am happy too. Hope CommunityGardener, Kate Macaulay

To provide training and education infood and income production skills,food handling and preparation and

business management skillsappropriate for urban gardening,GICD hopes to establish a model

garden that can be used to teach other groups to garden in sustainable waysat home and in community gardensthroughout the Dallas area. We wantto encourage better use of land,increase enthusiasm for the naturalworld, and respect and connectionwith the earth. We will also attemptto increase the income security of

participating families. This will beaccomplished by their growing their own vegetables, and through the sale

of honey, vermiculture products, andcraft items.

The goals will be accomplished byadding more plots and families at theOur Saviour garden, and increasingthe productivity with organicamendments and through sustainable

practices. We hope that the gardencan be shared with school groups in

the area, a nearby senior center, andyouth groups. The project willencourage each gardener to donateat least 10 percent of their produce,and will include plots that grow

produce specifically for donation.

Vegetable and fruit production willincrease the variety of food,nutrition and therapeutic andhealthful activity for individualgardeners. Outdoor worm bins will

be established to produce wormcastings as an additive to pottingsoil for growing plants. Worm binswill be provided for classrooms for teaching recycling and care of worms. All gardeners will beencouraged to become more active

composters and recyclers. Beehiveswill also be established.Vermiculture and bee keeping willalso be explored as viable ways to

produce income.

GICD will "pass on the gift" innumerous ways. We will continuedonation to food banks and increasethese donations. We will encourage

and teach families to be goodstewards of the land while benefiting

physically, nutritionally andeconomically. We will help train andsupport other groups to buildcommunity through building and

sustaining community gardens.Through the Urban Initiative GICDcan partner with Heifer in fulfillingtheir vision. "Heifer envisions anurban area in which limited re-sourcefamilies and individuals can:

reinvigorate an entrepreneurialspirit and develop successfulmicroenterprise projects

learn to maintain andsustainably use green space

and healthy soil benefit from the healing effectsof bringing animals, land and

people together

reconnect with their foodsource

build strong neighborhood andcommunity alliances."

Story by Darlene Smith

Breadbasket, Foundry MethodistChurch, Director Cynthia Martin


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PAGE 3GRO WIN G PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004VOLUME 10.1

G ARDEN N OTES :

Mary Jane Beaman One of our dearest supporters, GICD boardmember and president (1999), died on June 17, 2004. She never missed our annual plant sale and other garden events. Many of our Cambodian gardeners and families gathered at the East DallasCommunity Garden on June 26th to show their respect. We allmiss her and appreciate her many years of service to GICD.

Garden Plots Our Saviour and Hope Community Gardenscurrently have space available for several new members. Theremay also be one or two openings in our Old East Dallas gardens inthe next few months. We anticipate building several new gardensin the next few years. Priority is always given to persons livingwithin one mile, or in the local neighborhood, and to individualsthat help organize and build. Interested? Contact GICD.

New Fence at Our Saviour We had a very successful workdayon October 23, and with volunteers and help from JP MorganChase Bank , made a good beginning on raising the new fence. Wereally appreciate the bank and their fine group of volunteers.GICD Website Our website www.gardendallas.org is up andrunning. It needs tweaking, and additions, but is already proving to

be a valuable tool for helping the public learn about our program.

GICD Fundraising It has been very difficult raising the fundsnecessary to keep our program running, and to add more educationand community gardening opportunities. Donations fromsupporters, pro bono help, and the fundraising letter and annual

plant sale are very import to us. We have failed to get neededFoundation grants for the past two years. We are therefore verythankful that Heifer International has agreed to partner with us,

and that we have a donor that matches most of what we raise. Thisonly meets part of our costs, and it is a continuing struggle to findenough dollars to fully fund our program.

Join Our Board of Directors The GICD Board meets aboutonce a month, and is currently looking for members (annualmeeting January 20th). Board members are very special volunteersthat, among other things, are dedicated to seeing that GICDsmission is carried out, help with public relations and fund raising,and volunteer during special events. Interested? Contact GICD.

Growing People Newsletter We find it very demanding on our time, and expensive, to publish this newsletter. The original plan

was to publish quarterly. Since 1994, we have only gotten out 19issues of GPN , about two each year, and only in two years when wehad a good volunteer editor did we publish all four times. Startingwith this issue, we plan to have only one, an annual fall newsletter each year, and to rely more heavily on our website, www.gardendallas.org. We will be on making some of the back issuesavailable as downloads on the website.

Wish List Garden tools in good condition, wheelbarrow, paving bricks, 3-ring binders, volunteers to help teachers and classes atKramer Elementary School Community Garden, volunteers to helpharvest for pantry donations at Hope and Saviour gardens.

Bob CurryJoanna L. Hampton

STAFFDon Lambert, Executive Director

Bunyay Nhonh, Education Assistant

BOARD ASSOCIATES

Ethel Sirls CampbellNavy CheanJennifer ConradJanet DeLeeJim HobbsTiah Lambert

Bunyay NhonhSophorn Pich

Lance RasbridgeDarlene Smith

Paul Thai

Don LambertRebecca Smith

2004 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gerald G. Carlton, President H. Edward Sholty, Vice President

Jeffrey Lamb, Secretary Rick Guerrero, Treasurer

GARDENERS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

Gardeners inCommunity Development

www.gardendallas.org

901 Greenbriar LaneRichardson, TX 75080

972-231-3565214-675-8473

[email protected]

For information about newsletter contents, or permission to reprint, contact our acting editor,Don Lambert, at 972-231-3565.


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VOLUME 10.1GROWIN G PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004PA G E 4

A Tour of Six GICDCommunity Gardens

The newest of our six gardens, the HopeCommunity Garden , is on Cristler Street, one block off of East Grand and

across the street from the UnitedMethodist Foundry Church at 6211 EastGrand Avenue. This garden started inApril of this year, as a project of FoundryChurch and GICD, and there is already alot going on in this 50 by 130 food space.It still needs a fence, the front flower

beds are mulched and waiting to be planted, the water pipes are installed butwaiting to be hooked up to the city water supply, and there are plans for a socialarea with a gazebo. The gardeners,mostly neighbors from nearby, have builtand planted 20 beds, some of which wereflush over the summer with okra,tomatoes, peppers, basil and sweet

potatoes; and some of which show a needfor better gardeners skill and care. The

pathways need to be deep mulched withwood chips. You may wonder about thelarge plantings at the back of the garden,

of mustard, Swiss chard, collards, andlima beans. These are donation plots,grown and harvested by the group, andany volunteers that care to help, for localfood pantries. From summer plantings

this year, Hope gardeners donated over 690 pounds of vegetables. There isundeveloped space for another five beds,reserved for neighbors that are welcometo join. Visit Hope Community Garden,and think about joining as a member withyour own plot, volunteering to help withharvesting, or helping in some other waywith building this wonderful communityasset.

Heading south on Jim Miller Road, just

past Bruton and Umphres Road, wecome to the Our Saviour CommunityGarden , at 1616 Jim Miller Road.This garden, now in its second year, isanother garden formed around the ideaof growing for yourself and growingextra to help those in need. Their

motto: Plot Against Hunger, has

been put into action. About half of the55 by 130 foot gardened area is plantedto crops for donation to pantries. Thecurrent fall crops: mustard, rape greens,lima beans, radishes, collard, redRussian kale, and lettuce, were plantedin mid-September, about one week after the mass plantings at Hope, andweekly harvests take place earlyTuesday mornings. Here you can seecover crops like buckwheat, nowflowering beautifully and attractingmany bees and butterflies, and a mixedrye and Austrian winter pea cover tochoke out weeds and improve the soil.At a workday, Oct. 23 rd, volunteersfrom the church, neighborhood, and asponsor, the JP Morgan Chase Bank ,worked on spreading mulch, thinningand harvesting, and began building thefence. There is plenty of space for thisgarden to add additional plots, andmaybe as many as one hundredfamilies willeventually garden

here. One of GICDs partners for a bigger project here is HeiferInternational , whichwill assist us inexpanding thegrowing area, andadding a trainingarea for horticulture,

beekeeping, andcomposting. This

garden, with the help of volunteers, andchildren from John Ireland Elementaryschool, has harvested and donated tofood pantries over 2224 pounds of freshvegetables as of November 2004. Weinvite you to get involved here, as agardener, volunteer, or participant in

educational or social events.

In the heart of Old East Dallas, near where Fitzhugh crosses Ross and LiveOak, is a cluster of three gardensstarted to assist Southeast Asianrefugee families. As part of your visitto this area, which many once saw asLittle Asia, you may want to visitsome of the interesting stores, like BinMinh or Jimmys Food Store (recently

burned, but soon to be restored), or eatat Jade Garden or Mais. Most of theAsian population now reside in thesuburbs, but the community gardens

and businesses still reflect what washome to thousands of Asian refugeesfrom the mid-70s through the 90s.

The Peace Community Garden , at 4627Virginia, has ten family-plots and anAsian food-plant landscaped sittinggarden, on a 50 x 140 feet lot. It wasstarted in 1997. The gardeners are

primarily Laotian residents of nearbyapartments. They grow culturallyappropriate vegetables and herbs for their

own enjoyment and use. In the summer the garden is lush and intense withedible gourds, cucumbers, longbeans ontrellises, and greens and herbs crowdingthe narrow pathways. High above thefront fence are tree eggplants, a tallthorny plant, with small hard marble-sized fruits in clusters. Look closely for the four-angle bean. Usually this gardenis kept locked, and must be viewed byvisitors through and over the fence. It is


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your way to the garden, near thecampus center, between a largegroup of temporary classrooms.This garden has two clusters of raised beds, each about 24 x 30feet, with a bricked patio andgazebo in-between. Along one

shady walkway are several largeclumps of banana trees, giantedible cannas and taros. Duringyour visit this time of year youwill see some beds newly planted

by the kids to cold season crops,and some areas with cover crops

like red clover. In fact, just in case youmight be interested, there is quite a bit of work that needs to be done right away toget some beds weeded, planted to winter crops or mulched, and get wood chipsspread in some of the pathways. The

garden needs more nearby neighbors to

volunteer to help work with teachers andstudents. Some of harvest is donated tofood pantries.

I hope you have a chance to get out andsee these six community gardens. GICDis working hard to assist communitygardeners with making our projects the

best they can be. We think you willenjoy your visits, discover interestingthings, learn about your community, and

just might get excited about community

gardening. We are committed to food production gardens that enhance thequality of life in Dallas areaneighborhoods.

Don Lambert

well worth coming after work in theevenings, or on weekends, and if gardeners are present, you may be able toenter for a look through the gate at the

back alley. GICD can arrange a tour, if you would like.

The Live Oak Community Garden isabout 10 years old, covers three city lots,and is more than one-third of an acre. Itis rarely seen by outsiders, hidden by anice wrought iron fence, trees, andshrubs. Its 29 plots are large, and used

by Cambodian farmers that primarilyraise cash crops, most of which are soldat the East Dallas Community Gardenacross the street one and blocks away.Most plots are mass planted in season to

bunching onions, greens, leaf lettuce, or to vine crops like longbeans, cucumbers,and edible gourds. It is very much a

place of work and intense production.When you visit in the summer it has thatwonderful feel like you just stepped intothe tropical Asian countryside. It isalways green, lush, peaceful, and earthy.After frost, these gardeners continue tointensely cultivate beneath row-covers of cloth and plastic sheeting, and it is quite

remarkable to see what these farmersfrom the tropics have learned to grow inour winter. If the gate is locked when

you visit, check back another time, or contact GICD for assistance.

The oldest of our community gardens,now in its 17 th year, is the East DallasCommunity Garden at 1416 N.Fitzhugh. It is the only GICDcommunity garden that most NorthTexans know about, and localscommonly refer to it as the AsianGarden. The of an acre project hasover 50 large plots, a daily market, and is

PAGE 5G ROW I NG P EOPLE NEWSFALL 2004VOLUME 10.1

To learn about the American Community Gardening Association,visit www.communitygarden.org.

Please consider becoming a member and supporting this great non- profit organization.

the location of GICDs GardenResource Center . It annually hostsour GICD Plant Sale , and has events,tours, and educational workshops eachyear. This is an easy garden to visitanytime, as the Cambodian and Laotian

growers are present through most of everyday, and the gate is usuallyopen. Visitors may wander about thegarden and see many of the samecrops that are grown in the Peace andLive Oak gardens. During your visityou will see older women and menhand working the soil, seeding andtransplanting, harvesting, and tending

tables with fresh producefor sale. On the weekends,the garden is very busy, asmany people visit, buyvegetables, and steep them-selves in the language andrural traditions that this spotkeeps alive. For our visitors,we have signboards ex-

plaining the garden, and wesometimes organize special

public tours. All are wel-come here, and this garden isa great Dallas treasure.

The last of these six communitygardens, GICDs only school garden, isthe Kramer School Community

Garden at 7131 Midbury, near the junction of Northaven and Hillcrest innorth Dallas. During school time youwill need a visitor pass from the schooloffice. For weekend visitors, just find


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VOLUME 10.1GR OW I NG P EOPLE NEWSFALL 2004PA G E 6

GICD S UPPORTERS F ALL 2003-F ALL 2004

Communities Foundation of TexasJP Morgan Chase Bank

Dr. Larry A. Cooper & Ann McGee-CooperMaster HalcoHuitt-Zollars

Heifer International

Noel & Jeannie Barrick Larry & Billie BoboGerald G. CarltonH. William Jesse, Jr.Veletta Lill

Gary & Sara AhrLinda AhrensLiz BarronBarbara BaughmanRose BlatchSuzanne & John CabralJames & Judith CaffreyJennifer ConradScott & Cindy FreedmanNicholas FrenchLynn & Sharon Goldstein

Devereaux EttingerPatty Frederick

Gladewater Rd Missionary Baptist ChurchEllen Khursudian

Lisa KreslHelen Lambert

Nancy O. LemmonSteven Lerer

Virginia LindseyJannette Lockridge

Gay & Charles LustfieldLaurel Ornish

Steven & Linda AliAnonymous

Albi & Peter AssmanSubapote Atiyawijitr

Catherine BarrLorlee Bartos

Bernard F. BradyCarolyn BushJane Cockrell

Dan & Farrah ColstonJanet DeLeeRobin Elkin

David S. LitmanJudson Sinclair

Darlene Smith & Jay DowlingJohn Tatum

Ann Whittus

Gary GrohMary Margaret Halleck John & Joanna Hampton

Barbara HeuermanJerry & Shirley Hosek

Jacquelyn KietherDon & Tiah Lambert

Murray & Michelina Leaf Michael Levy

Beth E. LoveridgeVirginia McAlester

Kelly PageShirley Pollock

Phyllis Lane PriceLouise B. RaggioBeverly Samuels

Robert SiegelLinda SnowMorris Stein

Michael & Kasmah SumnerTres & Rosa Thompson

Dale WootenLin Li & SQ Zheng

Mary Jane Beaman MemorialAsian Gardeners GroupGrace United Methodist ChurchState Library of Louisiana Staff Association

Maxine AaronsonGary & Sara AhrLinda AhrensMrs. Virgle ArringtonH.W. Baerwalt & Shelly DawsonCarolyn BushGerald G. CarltonRoger & Lorraine CarrolBetty Cook Janet DeLeeJoseph J. EcksteinLinda HankinsonGretchen Kirsch FairbanksJoe LandrumDoug & Gwen LoflinMichael & Vickie MillicanAnn PiperRose Anne St. RomainRebecca StickellAlex WinslowMonica Zumfeld & Greg Lorie

Cambodian American Association of DallasMalaysian Family Club

MEED-Gr. Dallas Asian American Chamber of CommerceMicrosoft Matching Program

Safeway/Tom Thumb Award CardDallas Organic Garden Club

Michael & Vickie MillicanJanet NewbergerChrystin & Lonnie Pleasants

Jan PruittBob Randall & Nancy Edwards

Thompson & Taryn SawyerLance Rasbridge & Dianne Sumoski

Rosni UzairiAmanda Vanhoozier

Lloyd & Rosa Vaught


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Become a Community Gardening Supporter

Individual or Group Business or Corporation

Principal Supporter $100 or more ____ Program Supporter $500 or more ____

Organizations $ 35 ____ Garden Supporter $ 250 ____

Individual/Family $ 25 ____ Small Project $ 100 ____

Other Amount $ ______________

Make checks payable to: GICD Gardeners in Community Development is a 501(C)(3) organization

Please mail your contribution to: GICD, 901 Greenbriar Lane, Richardson, TX 75080

Your name _________________________________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________

City __________________________________ Zip ___________________ Phone ____________________

PAGE 7GRO WIN G PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004VOLUME 10.1

Tiahs Garden Recipe:

Pumpkin in Coconut Milk Soup

2 lb. pumpkin peeled and cut into 1 inch chunks5 cups water

2 cups cabbage, chopped6 inch fresh lemon grass (use thick base of stems) crushed1 fresh turmeric leaf, about 1/4 cup, thinly sliced1 shallot or 1/2 cup onion, thinly sliced1/2 tsp turmeric powder 1 to 2 Tbsp chicken base1 can fresh coconut milk, about 13.5 oz

salt and pepper

In a big pot boil the 5 cups of water. Add in pumpkin, lemon grass, turmeric leaf and powder,shallot and chicken base. Cook until tender, add coconut milk and cabbage. Simmer for 10minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

This soup could also be prepared using butternut or acorn squash, and sweet potatoes. I amnot sure you can buy turmeric leaf anywhere. I buy fresh turmeric root from Asian groceriesand grow it in pots, in order to have this important ingredient on hand.

Jason ate what? Yes, Mom, Jason and all the kids involved in Our Saviour Community Garden are not only eating their vegetables, but enjoying them from seed to table along with the lessons they teach.

This particular Sunday, the children at the Church of Our Saviour received a " pumpkin" from the Philippines grown by one of the gardeners, also from the Philippines. This creamy white and yellow skinned round squash has made the children curious aboutvegetables grown in different parts of the world. We cooked it and roasted some of the seeds to compare with the pumpkins mostfamiliar to us. It was unanimous, this pumpkin was a hit! Wanting more, the children saved seeds to plant next year and sharedseeds with a seed sharing project - in hopes to get them to other kids.

Besides wanting to eat their vegetables, getting children involved in the garden is helping them appreciate and embrace thedifferences in cultures. Gardens grow respect! Rebecca Smith


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GROWING PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004

Fall 2004

Gardeners in Community DevelopmentGrowing People News

901 Greenbriar LaneRichardson, TX 75080

Saturday April 9 & Sunday April 10

EAST DALLAS COMMUNITY GARDEN1416 N. FITZHUGH AVENUE

PLANT

SALE

THE 2005 COMMUNITY GARDEN

The next time youre at Tom Thumb, remember tolink your Reward Card to our number. Tom Thumbwill pay us a percentage of your total purchasesproviding another way for you to donate. So be sureand use your card every time you shop!

GICDs Good Neighbor Number is: 6714

Tom Thumbs Good Neighbor Program Benefits

Gardeners in Community Development

IGIVE.COM Another way to help GICDto is to shop at the IGIVE.COM site on theinternet. Each purchase you make will providebenefits for our community gardening program.

Go to IGIVE.COM , register as a Gardeners inCommunity Development supporter. Be surewhen asked to type in your cause to enter

Gardeners in Community Development. Onceregistered, you can return anytime and your shopping will be linked to supporting GICD. Theywill send us the donation, and you can enjoy easylow-cost online shopping.

Thank you!

G ARDENERS IN C OMMUNITY D EVELOPMENT N EWSLETTER , GROWING PEOPLE NEWSFALL 2004, VOLUME 10.1

growing people newsletter - fall 2004

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