growing people newsletter - fall 2007 - part b

8/4/2019 Growing People Newsletter - Fall 2007 - Part B

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On July 28, over 100 gar-deners, church members, vol-unteers, supporters, and spe-cial guests, Therese Ciesinskifrom Organic GardeningMagazine and Kaitlin Meiserand Rita Hale from AveenoSkin Care Products, proudly

dedicated Our Saviour Com-munity Gardens 2000 gallonwater catchment system, pa-vilion and new landscaping.

Knowing that communitygardens bring together peopleof all ages, ethnic back-grounds, and experiences tocreate beautiful green placesin their neighborhood andrecognizing the vital impor-tance of water conservation,Organic Gardening Maga-zinejoined forces with theAmerican Community Gar-

dening Association, AveenoSkin Care Products, and

Natures Path Foods tobring rainwater harvestingsystems to 20 communitygardens in 2007. Our SaviourCommunity garden was theonly community garden inTexas chosen to receive one ofthe systems. A 20x30 out-door pavilion was constructed

which serves the dual purposeof collecting rainwater from itstin roof plus serving as anoutdoor educational classroomand social gathering place.The addition of this systemmakes Our Saviour Commu-nity Garden serve not only asa flag ship community gardenbut also as a model for rain-water harvesting.

Many thanksgo to Tim BonnerofTim Bonnerand Associates,

Inc. who not onlydesigned and builtthe innovativepavilion but alsocompleted its con-struction in recordtime, and underbudget as well,thus allowingmore funds to bespent on land-scaping. We aregrateful that Matt

Karpenko AIA took an interestin the project and broughtGICD and Tim Bonner together.The 2000 gallon cistern camefrom The Rain Well, and wasinstalled by Greg Whitfield,who rushed to get it installedthe day before the ceremony.

The cedar posts used in boththe pavilion and our new vine-yard came from Sutton TreeService in Eustace, TX.

Many thanks go to theGrowing and Giving homeschoolers who made the festivebanner that wrapped aroundthe cistern. Also Blue MesaGrill catered a delicious Tex-Mex lunch.

Hardworking volunteerswho helped make the day sospecial include the Our Sav-

iour team who made thegrounds and construction siteready for visitors; volunteersfrom Heifer Internationalwho set up an informationbooth; BoyScout Troop 783and all the gardeners and at-tendees who helped with thepre-ceremony workday andplanted and mulched the land-scape areas.

Our Saviour WaterWorks 2007: A projectof Organic Gardening Magazine and Aveeno Skin Care Products

Gardeners In Community Development

Mission: improving the quality of life in neighborhoods through community gardening

Fall 2007Dallas Area Community Gardening

Gardeners In Community

Development

901 Greenbriar Lane

Richardson, TX 75080

www.gardendallas.org

Whats in this issue:

Hope Receives 2Certications

Fresh from the Asian 2

Garden

Reward Cards 2

GICD Classes 3

Letters 3

Fall Planting Times 3

Let Us Give Thanks 4

Report from ACGA 5

Conference

Salsa Class 6

Salsa Recipe 6

Ever Growing

Dallas Area Community Gardening

GICD WISH LIST:

garden benches

garden tool shed

new lap top computer

wheelbarrows

gardening tools

canning jars

Mantis tiller

Kubota tractor withloader and tiller

friends with trucks

volunteers

Dedication ceremony

Therese Ciesinski, Senior Editor

of Organic Gardening Magazine

Rita Hale, from Aveeno Skin

Care Products, helping to install

plants donated by Aveeno

WaterWorks 2007 Pavilion


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Hope Garden Receives Certifications

Ever Growing Summer 2007 Page 2Gardeners In Community Deve lopment www.gardendal las.org [email protected]

Grocery Stores Reward Cards Support GICD

tion Form at the Customer

Service Desk with GICDs

Tom Thumb account num-

ber 6714. Then just be sure

and use your reward card

every time you shop.

And, if you are a Kroger

shopper, pick up a Kroger

Share Card from Don Lam-

bert or Rebecca Smith, or con-

tact GICD at 972-231-3565 or

[email protected]. We will

happy to send you a card,

along with our many thanks.

Do you shop for groceries?

Of course!! Well, if you shop

at Tom Thumb or Kroger,

heres a quick and painless

way to support GICD at no

cost to you. Just link your

Tom Thumb or Kroger reward

cards to GICDs organization

and a percentage of your

purchase price will automati-

cally be donated to us.

To link your Tom Thumb re-

ward card with GICD, just fill

out a Good Neighbor Applica-

Fresh From the East Dallas

Fall and winter bring on new crops at the East

Dallas Community Market and Garden. Until the

weather cools, summer crops such as amaranth

greens, basil, bitter melons, eggplant, ivy leaf

gourd tips, lemon grass, long beans, loofah, Mala-

bar spinach, peppers, snake gourds, taro stems,

water spinach, and wax gourds are still available.

However as fall arrives and throughout the winter,

look for many types of greens, including mustard,

lettuce, and green onions. Most of the greens are

freshly picked while still small, a size not normally

found in stores. These baby greens are exception-

ally tender and sweet.

The East Dallas Commu-

nity and Market Garden is

located at 1416 N. Fitzhugh

and is open every day. In

general, bunches of freshly

harvested produce cost $1.00

each. Saturday and Sunday

mornings are the busiest times, with some spe-

cialty produce selling out quickly.

Area Community

Gardens

Coppell Community Garden:

www.coppellcommunity gar-

den.com

Education Community Garden

at Dallas:

www.educationcommunitygarden.

org

Gardeners in Community De-

velopment:

www.gardendallas.org

GreenHill School Garden

Plano Community Garden

www.jlplano.orgclick on outreach

projects

UTD Student Garden

UTD campus

Know of a community garden?

Send information to [email protected]

Hope Community Garden

is proud to be certified as

both a Texas Discovery

Gardens Butterfly Habitat

and a National Wildlife

Federation Wildlife Habi-

tat. As a certified Butterfly

Habitat, Hope Garden pro-

vides the proper nectar

sources, host plants and en-

vironmental conditions for all

stages of a butterflys life

cycle: egg, caterpillar, pupa,

and adult. The front flower

beds, native wildflowers

along the alley fence, and

zinnias and cosmos in many

gardeners plots are a magnet

for many different types of

butterflies. Just a few of the

butterflies seen in the garden

include swallowtails, skip-

pers, commas, question

marks, Painted Ladies, Gulf

Fritillaries, hairstreaks and

Monarchs and, of course,

many, many cabbage white

butterflies (considered an

agricultural pest) whose cat-

erpillars feed on plants that

are members of the mustard

family. Host plants for swal-

lowtail caterpillars that havebeen planted in the garden

include dill, parsley, fennel

and rue.

In addition to being a but-

terfly habitat, Hope Garden

has also been designated as

a NWF Wildlife Habitat pro-

viding shelter, food, water

and nesting sites for wildlife.

Birdhouses and birdbaths

provide shelter, nesting sites

and water, while buckwheat,

insects, and many vegetables

(to the dismay of those gar-

deners who want the perfect

ripe tomato) provide food for

many varieties of birds.

Hope Garden has also occa-

sionally been the garden

cafeteria for neighborhood

free ranging chickens and

bunny rabbits as well as

hosting other assorted

creatures.

To have your own yardor community garden certi-

fied as a Butterfly Habitat,

contact Texas Discovery

Gardens at Fair Park.

To receive Wildlife Habitat

certification through the

National Wildlife Federation

go to www.nwf.org.

Upcoming Events at GICDClasses, Classes, Classes- see page 3 for details

Oct. 6Garden Party at East Dallas Garden and Market 3-6:00

April 19, 2008 Plant Sale at Asian Garden

April 26, 2008 Plant Sale at Our Saviour

Eastern Black

Swallowtail on zinnia


3/6

GICD To Offer Three Classes: Starting a Community Garden,

Seed Saving and Master Composter Certification

Thank you so much for letting me know about all these great gardens. Saturday

I went to the Asian market and bought lemon grass, peppers, my Mom bought

eggplant, and something that looked like spinachI am not sure what it is ex-

actly. Late Sunday afternoon we went by and loved Hope Garden full of ripe

tomatoes, then to the Pleasant Grove garden. One of the ladies working in her

plot even gave me some basil. Their operation with the new cistern, the compost

pile with explanation and bee hive were also impressive. All in all a great garden

tour and very inspiring. I took along the newsletter and read it to my husband as

we went along.

Thank you again a great Sunday garden viewing afternoon.

Ann Lamb,

Dallas County Master Gardener Project Manager - Gardens


Letters, We Get Letters.

FALL PLANTING TIMES

FOR NORTH TEXASSEEDS:

Beans, bush and pole 8/01-8/20

Beets 9/01-9/15

Carrots 8/01-8/20

Collards 8/01-9/01

Kale 8/25-10/01

Lettuce, leaf 9/01-9/15

Lettuce, butterhead 8/25-9/10

Lettuce, heading 8/15-8/25

Mustard 9/01-9/20

Peas, English and snap 9/01-9/20

Radish 9/01-10/10Spinach 8/20-10/01

Squash, summer 8/01-8/20

Turnip 8/25-10/01

TRANSPLANTS:

Broccoli 8/25-9/15

Brussels Sprouts 8/25-9/15

Cabbage 8/25-9/15

Cauliflower 8/25-9/15

Then on Saturday, October 13, a Seed

Saving class will be offered at Our Saviour

Community Garden from 9:00 to 11:30.

This class will teach the basics of saving all

types of seeds collected in the garden.

Participants will help save seeds for GICDs

community gardens as well as being able

to take home some varieties of seeds for

their own use. The cost for this class is

$15.00 for an individual or a family.

The third class will offer participants the

opportunity to become a certified Master

Composter. A.L. Nickerson, Master

Composter and certified instructor (as well

as being a Master Naturalist), will teach

this nationally recognized program. The16 hour course, on November 1-3, will

enable the students to educate the public

about composting, vermiculture (worm

raising) and their importance to our soils

and environment. There will be two eve-

ning classes (November 1-2) that will be

held at Central Market at Lovers Lane

and Central Expressway from 5:30 to

9:30 as well as an eight hour class on

Saturday, November 3, from 8:30-4:00

that will be held at Our Saviour Commu-

nity Garden for hands-on experience.

Participants will make their own wire

compost bin and receive all written ma-

terial, including a book on composting.

The three day class costs $45.00 and

includes lunch on Saturday. In order to

receive Master Composter certification,

participants must volunteer as a Master

Composter in their communities for 40

hours within the following year.

GICD is very excited to be able to

offer these classes to the public and

spaces should fill up quickly. To sign up

for any of these classes, send a check

made out to GICD to 901 Greenbriar

Lane, Richardson, TX 75080.

GICD will be offering three classes

this fall. The first, Starting A Commu-

nity Garden will be held on Saturday,

September 15, at Our Saviour Commu-

nity Garden, 1616 N. Jim Miller Road,

from 2:00 to 7:00 p.m. Led by Don

Lambert, who is the Executive Director

of GICD and has extensive experience in

starting and running community gar-

dens, and the GICD training team, this

class will include what should be consid-

ered before starting a community gar-

den, finding suitable space, recruiting

volunteers and leaders, sources of

funding, etc. The cost is $30.00 and

includes a stir-fry lesson and light dinner

from the garden. If you are thinkingabout starting a community garden, or

just want to learn more about starting

community projects, this is the class for

you.

Thank you for leeting us go see the garden. I like all the thing that

you all shode me. All the thing like the pumkin, squash, pepper,

worms, okra and all the stuff and thank you for the cake and juice.

It was good and I wish I went agin. I will always remember this day.

And one from a child who came to the garden during a school tour:


4/6

Let Us Give Thanks

Let us give thanks for a bounty of gardeners, volunteers and supporters:

For generous ones with hearts and smiles as bright as their blossoms;

For feisty ones as tart as apples;

For continuous ones, who, like scallions and cucumbers, keep reminding us that weve had them;

For crotchety ones, as sour as rhubarb and as indestructible;

For handsome ones who are as gorgeous as eggplants and as elegant as a row of corn,

and the others, as plain as potatoes and as good for you.

For funny ones, who are as silly as Brussels sprouts and as amusing as Jerusalem artichokes,

and serious ones, as complex as cauliflower and as intricate as onions;

For ones as unpretentious as cabbages, as subtle as summer squash, as persistent as parsley, as delightful as dill,as endless as zucchini, and who like parsnips, can be counted on to see you throughout the winter;

For old ones, nodding like sunflowers in the evening-time, and young ones coming on as fast as radishes;

For loving ones, who wind around us like tendrils and hold us, despite our blights, wilts and witherings;

And finally, for those now gone, like gardens past that have been harvested,

and who fed us in their times that we might have life thereafter.

For all these, and more, GICD gives thanks.


Garden Gleanings:

Author Unknown


5/6

Report from the ACGA Conference


Gardeners in Community Development

A 501 c (3) Non-Profit Organization

Board of Directors

Cathi Haug, President

Amanda Brown, Vice President

Carolyn Bush, Secretary

A.L. Nickerson, Treasurer

Patsy Aguilera Azenath Wright

Don Lambert, Executive Director

Support Community Gardening

Your tax-deductible donation will support

GICDs community gardening programs. Any

and all donations are gratefully accepted!!

Please make your check payable to: GICD and

send to 901 Greenbriar Lane, Richardson, TX

75080

HARVEST

DONATIONS4231 Pounds

Donated to area food

pantries

Interested in volunteering?

East Dallas Community and Market Garden: contact Don at (972) 275-8473 or [email protected]

Hope Community Garden: contact Carolyn at (214) 328-0102 or [email protected]

Our Saviour Community Garden: contact Rebecca at ( 214) 564-5801 or [email protected]

GICD was well represented by Don

and Tiah Lambert, Amanda Brown, Re-

becca Smith and Nancy Wilson at the

annual American Community Garden

Association Conference held in Bostonfrom August 9-12, 2007. The following

is an article written by Nancy Wilson

about her experiences at the confer-

ence:

Our visit to the community gardens and

urban farming projects in Boston was in-

credibly eye-opening to a novice like

me. Listening to program directors from all

over the United States and Canada made it

clear that community gardening has broad

applications. Some of the most interesting

projects are ones inspired by and sustained

out of local need. Neighbors banded to-

gether to address neighborhood quality oflife focusing on eye-sore vacant lots and

vacant lots being used for illicit and illegal

purposes. Out of the need to find creative

solutions arose beautiful gardens which unite

neighbors and build a sense of commu-

nity. Gardens also provide safe places for

children to play and for cross-generational

and cross-cultural relationships to develop.

Many programs developed gardens as a

tool to teach teenagers about personal re-

sponsibility. Kids vie for these positions and

commit to them. The self esteem they de-

veloped from their garden experience was

amazing. The kids we met not only learned

about gardening, but they learned to work

with others, to supervise other kids, to de-

velop business plans, to market their vegeta-

bles, to take care of the earth and plants and

each other. They were enthusiastic and

articulateand their land had fewer weeds

than many of the adult gardens!

The things that made me most envious

of the gardens I heard about were that they

seemed to have plenty of workshops training

gardeners how to grow and how to cook the

food they grew. They also offered a lot of

socializationplaces to gather together totalk or to hold events like cookouts or musi-

cal performances. Many gardens spun their

sense of community into outreach to address

literacy issues, self esteem issues, and per-

sonal development issues. Over and over,

we heard examples of 90% community and

10% gardening.

I was surprised at the diversity of non-profit

organizations that center on community gar-

dening. Not only are these organizations

funded by philanthropic grants, they are

backed by city governments and citizen organi-

zations that care about quality of life issues like

green space, open space, air quality and the

mental and physical health aspects enhanced

by gardens. We heard several examples of city

mayors and city environmental departments

who supported and promoted the gardens not

only for the greening of their cities, but also for

the promotion of public health and safety. It

struck me that Dallas is an environmental Ne-

anderthal compared to cities larger and smaller

than we are.

Community gardens met the needs of

cities and citizens by increasing the safety of

neighborhoods by removing sites where crimes

happen, eliminating eye-sore trash dumps or

weed-eaten lots, providing nutritious food to

populations with little access to good food and

providing life changing out-reach to troubled

kids, ex-cons, struggling immigrants and oth-

ers. Gardens were able to span across cultural

and economic barriers through people sharing

common interests. Gardens were also the

catalyst for unusual partnering such as bringing

books and literacy programs to kids who came

to play or work in the garden and homework

mentors who met neighborhood kids in the

garden.

Neighbors in cities today dont much know

one another. We drive home from work, pull

into our garages, go into our houses and stay

there until we climb back into our cars. Gar-

dens offer a place to bring people out of their

houses and into a beautiful placewhat a res-

pite they offer!

Watch a video about donation

gardening at Our Saviour

Community Garden:

http://www.wfaa.com/mojo/

or

http://www.wfaa.com/video/index.html?

nvid=171935


6/6

Gardeners In Community Development Ever Growing901 Greenbriar Lane

Richardson, TX 75080

Pass-a-long this newsletter: help sow the seeds of community gardening.

To subscribe or un-subscribe, or to offer suggestions, contact [email protected]


Salsa Class and Tiahs Special Salsa RecipeAbout twelve people attended the salsa

making class on July 6, learned about the

proper methods of canning and made

Tiahs Special Salsa and Sweet and Hot

Peppers with produce freshly picked from

the gardens. In addition to having a good

time chatting while slicing tomatoes and

peppers, each class member took home a

pint jar of salsa. The members of the

class also made three dozen extra jars of

salsa and peppers which will be sold to

raise money for GICD.

TIAHS SPECIAL SALSAIngredients:

4-5 lbs. tomatoes, chopped

1 lb. sweet peppers, chopped

1/4 lb. hot peppers, chopped

2 bunches cilantro, chopped fine

1 bunch green onion, chopped fine

1 sweet onion, chopped fine

2 Tbsp cumin powder

2 Tbsp salt

1 Tbsp black pepper

1/4 cup brown sugar -or more for sweet salsa

3 Tbsp olive or canola oil

1 pint bottled lemon juice

Directions:

Heat oil in a deep stainless steel pot until hot

and saut the sweet onion for 2-3 minutes.

Add green onion, cilantro, peppers, cumin

salt, and black pepper, Stir for a few minutes.

Add in the chopped tomatoes and sugar. Bringto boiling point.

Lower heat and

simmer for 1

hour, stirring

often.

Get jars and

lids ready

(washed, steril-

ized and hot).

Put bottled

lemon juice in

each jar: for

one pint jar add

1 Tbsp or for

one quart jar

add 2 Tbsp. Fill jars with hot salsa, add lids

and screw on rings. Process in boiling water

bath: pint jars for 35 minutes and quart jars

for 45 minutes. Remove from bath, cool, and

label.

Slicing and Dicing

Tiah Lambert

growing people newsletter - fall 2007 - part b

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