Garden Starters
Garden
Starters is a project of ClearWater Conservancy that grew out of the
Sustainability Initiative of the Spring Creek Watershed Association and
meets at the ClearWater Conservancy twice monthly.
Mission
The mission of Garden Starters is to introduce individuals and families to the economic, health, and social benefits of gardening. These include increased self-sufficiency and food security, reduced grocery bills, access to fresh vegetables at the peak of their nutritional value, improved health, and community fellowship through harvest sharing.
Increasing local food security and independence reduces a community’s reliance on imported products and subsequently its carbon footprint. This is a crucial step towards achieving long-term community sustainability.
The Garden Starter team is focusing on three short-term goals in 2010.
Goal One — Demonstration Garden and Workshops
The first goal is to establish a demonstration garden at Millbrook Marsh Nature Center, a high traffic public location. The demonstration garden will consist of four 4’x8’ raised beds. Garden Starters chose raised beds because the versatility of this type of garden will appeal to a much larger audience, including apartment residents, people with impaired mobility, and the elderly. Raised beds can be installed in paved areas, small yards, or even on balconies.
The Garden Starters, with the help of Master Gardeners and others, will hold a series of public workshops at the demonstration garden throughout the 2010 growing season to assist members of the community in building, planting, and maintaining their raised bed gardens. The initial workshops will involve the construction of the four raised beds at the demonstration garden site. Other planned workshop topics include soil building, composting, general garden maintenance, integrated pest management, native plants, rain barrels, harvesting, cooking, and canning. The demonstration garden will be maintained by Garden Starters volunteers.
Workshop topics and dates will be posted on the Centre Daily Times calendar and on our Facebook page.
Workshop Schedule and Poster
June 12, 10 am - noon, Millbrook Marsh Nature Center
Building a raised bed; What goes in - soil; Let's plant a pizza garden
June 19, 10 am - noon, Millbrook Marsh Nature Center
Garden management through the seasons; Native plants and why to plant them
July 10, 10 am - noon, Millbrook Marsh Nature Center
What in the world is compost! Also an update on the tomato blight.
July 17, 10 am - 2 pm, Tudek Park Butterfly Garden
“Wings in the Park”: Bees, Butterflies and Blossoms, a Celebration of the Tudek Butterfly Habitat and Pollinator Garden. Fun for all ages!
August 28, 10 am - noon, Patton Township Alpha Fire Station behind the ClearWater Conservancy office
Make-Your-Own Rain Barrel Workshop
Goal Two — Create Opportunities
The second goal is to encourage small community gardens in neighborhoods in the Centre Region. Community gardens create opportunities for people who would like to grow some of their own food but lack the garden space. Community gardens can be established on church lots for the benefit of the congregation and community outreach, in parks and other public spaces and in vacant lots. These gardens may consist of ten, twenty or more small plots and are managed by the members. Such gardens provide not only wholesome food but a daily opportunity for building neighborhood community. Members may attend Garden Starters workshops at the demonstration garden to learn the skills they need to start growing their own food, herbs and flowers.
Goal Tree — Community Celebration
Finally, at the end of the growing season, Garden Starters plans to host a Harvest Celebration where workshop participants, gardeners and community members can come together to share their harvest and join in celebration of the bounty of our good Earth. In addition to cultivating fellowship among local gardeners and providing a sense of accomplishment to the new gardeners, this celebration will increase community awareness of the Garden Starters and kick off the project for 2011.
For more information please contact ClearWater Conservancy at 237-0400.
Garden Starters is on Facebook at http://www.facebook.com/pages/Garden-Starters/106499152712639?ref=ts&v=wall#!/pages/Garden-Starters/106499152712639.