We are gearing up for the spring at the Head Start Family Garden in Fort Bragg. We are planting seeds in our new greenhouse! It was generously donated by Dave at DIY Greenhouse Kits. If you are on the coast you check out his greenhouses at Simply Succulent on Airport Road just north of Fort Bragg, or on the web at doityourselfgreenhousekits.com. Thanks Dave!!!
We also planted raspberry bushes this month that should be bearing delicious ripe berries when the next school year starts up in August.
More broccoli and lettuce starts went in last week and we are still harvesting kale, chard and herbs.
And of course our favorite garden friends…the worms! This week they came inside for a classroom visit on a rainy day.
We’ll be having a garden work party on March 20th along with all the other Gardens’ Project gardens for the Spring Garden Blitz. Our focus will be digging three more beds and starting a mural on the tool shed. Many thanks to Rossi’s for donating the paint!
The Noyo Food Forest entertained about 300 guests at the Black Tie Boogie, held at the Redwood Coast Senior Center on February 13th. The Senior Center was transformed into a red, black and silver classy dining room and adjacent jazz lounge, complete with a kids activity room and silent auction. The event had something for everyone and truly brought together people from different generations and pockets of the community.
The Senior Center served 180 meals that featured locally grown and organic food. Everyone was dressed to the nines and enjoyed a beautiful meal by the Senior Center’s Chef and yummy desserts provided by the Montessori del Mar Learning Center.
In the other room the Richard Cooper Trio and Lavender Grace entertained the crowd that mingled at the bar and relaxed at the cocktail tables while sipping local wine and beer. The silent auction was a hit with exciting items generously donated by local businesses and community members. The kids had a great time with activities provided by Sue Magoo and Jenny, Too of the Mendocino Coast Children’s Discovery Mooseum.
Later in the evening the jazz ended and DJ Selector Science played as people young and old boogied down on the dance floor. There was even a special performance by three superstar hula hoopers!
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The Food Forest would like to thank everyone who helped make his event possible! We are so grateful for all of our WONDERFUL VOLUNTEERS and all the SUPPORT from our GENEROUS COMMUNITY!
Save the date for the Noyo Food Forest’s next fabulous and fun FREE fundraising festival…. Earthday 2010 Be the Change! Saturday April 24th at the Learning Garden at Fort Bragg High School. Live music, food, pedal-powered smoothies, workshops, interactive community art, kids activities and performances, and more!!! For more info or to get involved please contact the NFF office at 964-0218.
Putting most of its informational eggs together in one basket, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has created and released a new web-based mapping tool called Your Food Environment Atlas. The Atlas presents highly detailed information on local food environments and health outcomes, including grocery store access and disease and obesity prevalence. The tool is intended to help researchers, policy makers, and the public more readily find information about a variety of factors that affect access to healthy and affordable food.
USDA’s Economic Research Service developed the Atlas as a follow-up to First Lady Michelle Obama’s recently-announced Let’s Move! campaign. Let’s Move!, which highlights healthy choices, healthier schools, physical activity, and accessible, affordable and healthy food, “has set an aggressive goal of solving childhood obesity within a generation.”
The Atlas contains county-level information on 90 indicators in three, broad categories: food choices, health and well-being, and community characteristics. The first category offers information on proximity to grocery stores, the number of food stores and restaurants, and data on fast food consumption. The second category includes statistics on food insecurity, obesity, and physical activity levels. Entries in the third category provide information on income and poverty, demographics, and urban-rural demarcations.
To see Your Food Environment Atlas, go to: www.ers.usda.gov/foodatlas. For further details on the Let’s Move! campaign, click on: www.LetsMove.gov.
Saturday proved a huge success at the Willits Head Start garden - 15 volunteers showed up at the head start to get the garden back into shape! Volunteers helped build new beds, remove pesky blackberries and bermuda grass, pulled weeds, and added new hose faucets in the garden. Check out the slide show below to see more pictures from the volunteer day.
A big thank you to everyone who came out to help at the Willits Head Start garden!
On the morning of Tuesday February 16th, 18 garden coordinators from community-supported gardens around Mendocino County came together in what we called a 'Garden Coordinator Workshop,' but might have more appropriately been called a 'Garden Coordinator Summit.'
Our desired outcomes for the summit were to 1) build the network community by getting to know each other and the gardens, 2) build confidence as a garden organizer and ownership of the coordinator position, and 3) assess needs of individuals and the network and to connect with resources.
The Gardens Project offered skill building sessions on organizing a work-party and connecting to resources, but the most exciting part of the day was the sharing that took place between the garden coordinators throughout the morning and over lunch. These coordinators are not often able to interact with each other, so the reassurance that there are others in the County with whom to learn, share, brainstorm, and grow was invaluable.
Creating a space for community members to empower each other is vital to The Gardens Project mission, and this summit proved how hungry we all are to work together, with revolutionary zeal, towards a healthier food system in Mendocino County.
There will be more events like this in the future, as the feedback we received was overwhelmingly positive.
Gardens around Mendocino County are abuzz with Spring! As things warm up, it's time to plan and plant your garden. Don't let things you want and need to get in the ground now slip by! Timing does matter (things will still work if you don't time them great. They just won't work as well).
Below are things to do in your garden during the next month. They come from the 'Planting Chart for Mendocino County' in Mendocino County's Local Food Guide, and Peter Huff and Kate Frey's Monthly Planting Calendar for Inland Mendocino, which you can download here at the 'How To - Grow Food' page on The Gardens Project website. It is more straightforward there than us retyping it all below.
HERE ARE THIS MONTH'S GARDEN TIPS AND TASKS:
During February, these are plants you can sow directly outdoors: spinach, radishes, carrots, turnips, beets, peas, asian greens, cilantro, and garlic. In early March, you can plant all those as well as lettuce, broccoli, fennel, potatoes, scallions, amaranth, dill, and parsley.
During Feburary, these are fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers that are good to start from seed indoors: artichokes, cabbage and collards, celery, eggplant, onions, lettuce, brassicas, kale, chard, peas, leeks, Asian greens, fennel, dandelion, shallots, raddichio, mache, hollyhocks, scabiosa, calendula, gaillardia, centaurea, helenium, viola, yarrow, rudbeckia, columbine, agastaches, and lavender.
During March, you can start indoors from seed: artichokes, onions, lettuce, brassicas, chard, kale, tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, cucumbers, melons, zucchini, basil, summer squash, and pumpkins.
Flowers and herbs you want to start from seed indoors in March are: Lobella, Alyssum, Limonium, Zinnias, Amaranth, Petunias, Marigolds, Cosmos, Tithonias, Ageratum, Strawflowers, Calliopsis, Cleome, Celosia, Sanvitalia, Morning Glory, Nasturtiums, Dahlia, Heliotrope, Gomphrena, Geraniums, Sunflowers, Impatiens, Nicotiana, Thunbergia
During February, you can transplant the following outdoors: asparagus, rhubarb, strawberries, cane berries, grapes, fruit trees
During March, you can transplant: artichokes, kale, brussel sprouts, lettuce, leeks, onions, brassicas, peas, Asian greens, and parsely.
Some garden maintenance tasks you will want to take on in February include: plant bare root fruit trees, plant asparagus, plant new strawberries, add compost to existing strawberries, repair tools, mulch bare soil w/straw or chips, compost and mulch asparagus beds, prune deciduous trees and apply compost, cane berries and grapes, check irrigation systems and repair, etc.
In March, you will want to: repair tools, mulch bare soil w/straw or chips, check irrigation systems and repair, etc
While getting ready to garden this season it's important to align your personal values to your garden. The Garden Workshop on March 6th , 2010 at the Willits Grange, will help you do just that.
Featuring local experts in Permaculture, Bio-Intensive, Bio-dynamics, and the Master Gardeners of Ukiah, this work shop will have a class for all levels of gardeners.
Here is the schedule of events:
9:30 volunteers arrive to help set up tables and final decorations
10:00 Doors open to public,
10:15 Opening words and introductions by Mason Giem
10:20 History and philosophy of the gardening techniques, 15-20 minutes for each approach.
11:30 Break for lunch, Lunch will be available for donation by WELL at the new commercial kitchen from the grange. This will be a good time for networking, enjoying great food, and getting seeds, starts and tools from the tables presented by Sanhedrin Nursery and Bountiful Gardens.
12:30 Welcome back and direction to the break out groups.
12:45 Begin breakout session 1
Room 1: Master Gardeners of Ukiah
This section will be for beginning gardeners.
Room 2: Permaculture- David Partch
This section will discuss the Permaculture way of life as it pertains to backyard gardening.
Room 3: Grow Bio-Intensive- Carol Cox
This section will be getting into the scientific approach to growing the most amount of food with the least amount of water.
Room 4: BioDynamic- Charles Martin
This section will be for the spiritual gardener.
2:10 End session 1
2:15 Start session 2: The Permaculture, Bio-intensive, and Biodynamics sections will repeat but the Master Gardeners will build on the first section.
3:45 End session 2
3:50 Bring people back to Great Hall for closing thank you's.
4:00 Volunteers to start cleaning up.
Tickets are for sale at $10 and can be found at all MendoMill locations, Leaves of Grass Book Store, and the Ukiah Natural foods co-op. Get them now before they run out.
For more information or if you wish to help in promoting human ecological conscience contact:
What do worm composting, tackling Bermuda grass, growing chili peppers, and canning tomatoes have in common? They are all part of The Gardens Project’s inaugural “Do It Yourself (together) Garden Workshop Series”! This life affirming series will kick off in late March and run through September, taking place at the Ukiah Farmers’ Market and community gardens around town.
The idea of this workshop series is for Mendocino folk to teach each other the things we need to make our community healthier, livelier, and more self-reliant. There is an abundance of knowledgeable people in this county, and the Do It Yourself (together) Garden Workshop Series is a collaborative forum through which people can share their knowledge with the rest of the community.
Below is a list of workshop topics that we plan to offer. We are still looking for people to teach some of them. If you know much about one of these subjects, or you know someone that does, please consider sharing your knowledge with your community. It will be fun! It will be life-affirming! You don’t need to know everything about a subject, just more than your average Jill Gardener. And we can work with you to lead the class.
Some of the classes:
- Starting your own vegetables from seed
- Transplanting
- Worm composting/Vermiculture
- Composting
- Seed Saving
- Tackling Bermuda Grass
- Spring Vegetable Garden
- Double-digging
- (Sub)Urban Chicken Coops
- Pollinators
- Gardening in Small Spaces/Container Gardening
- How to Start a Community Garden
- How to Change a Flat Bike Tire
- How to Grow Chili Peppers
- Solar Cooking
- Preserving the Harvest (Canning, Pickling, Dehydrating, etc.)
- Planning your Fall/Winter Garden
- Cover Cropping
- Rain-Water Harvesting in Barrels
If you are interested in leading one of these classes, have a tip for someone we should ask to lead a class, or have another skill you would like to share, please contact The Gardens Project by emailing lneely@ncoinc.org or calling (707) 462-2596 x186.
And check out next month’s Real DirtE-Newsletter to see the full schedule of events, including the community all-stars that will be leading classes! (subscribe on the left hand side of our homepage)
The Career Technical Education (CTE) Regional Occupational Program, a component of the Mendocino County Office of Education (MCOE) is now taking registrations for the Spring Organic Gardening class in Fort Bragg. Classes will be held the second Saturday of each month from 10:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. Garden lab time, hands-on instruction, and consultations are available during the week. The initial class will begin on February 13th, and classes will run until June 12th. Classes will be held at The Learning Garden on the Fort Bragg High School campus, 300A Dana Street. There is a $20.00 fee for the course.
Instruction will concentrate as follows:
Feb. 13th – principles and practices, seasonal planting guide, garden planning, and seed selection
March 13th – bed preparing, fertilizing, composting, and sowing spring crops
April 10th – drip irrigation basics, transplanting, and using row covers
May 8th – starting the Summer garden, managing weeds and pest, planning for Fall
June 12th – Field Trip to local organic farms
If you are interested in attending the class or have questions, please contact the instructor, Sakina Bush, at 964-9232.
MCOE Youth Garden gives back with a Day of Service Learning at Grace Hudson Elementary School.
by: The Students of River School
The MCOE Youth Garden in conjunction with River Schools Jonna Weidaw's Homeroom Class got out in the community and sunk their hands in the dirt for a day of Service Learning. The students had received a request from Mary Kameko, the garden site coordinator at the Grace Hudson Elementary School, that their garden was in disrepair and needed some community support to get it back and growing. The River School students spent the entire day on January 27th creating double-dug garden beds, making compost containers, hauling wood chips for pathways, weeding, removing tree stumps, laying irrigation lines, creating raised garden beds, digging french drains, filling in the newly made beds with multiple yards top soil, and taking some time to educate elementary school students about the importance of outdoor garden education and healthy nutrition practices. Junior, Brian Martinez states, "I really dug in to the project and was very glad to be contributing to such a good cause." The students and teachers at Grace Hudson Elementary School came to visit and monitor the progress throughout the day offering their support and gratitude for all the hard work. Freshman, Josh Jackson said," It felt great to help with the garden at Grace Hudson Elementary, the best part was making the students happy." Through Service Learning projects students realize what they can do to make a difference in their local communities. At the end of the day all the students involved from River School, stated how much they enjoyed creating a sustainable garden for the youth that will be utilized for years to come.
It's time for a new recipe! Jack Simpson garden has some great looking beets out right now, so we thought this recipe would be appropriate for our gardeners. This months recipe features delicious beets and sweet potato and has been adapted from a wonderful vegan recipe book, vegan for a vengeance. Beets are a great source of vitamin B, folate, and potassium. Sweet potatoes are full of anti-oxidants, vitamin A, and high in vitamin C.
Baked Beets and Sweets
6 peeled and chopped beets (save the tops for later - you can cook them just like you cook your chard) 2 sweet potatoes- peeled if that's your thing, and chopped 1 medium onion chopped 2 tbsp of olive oil 1 tsp of sea salt 1 tsp brown sugar Black Pepper to taste
Pre-heat your oven to 400. Combine beets, onions, and sweet potatoes into a large bowl. Pour olive oil over and mix with vegetables, do the same with sugar, salt, and black pepper. Place in oven and cook until soft. Enjoy!
The trees must be loving all this rain. It does make gardening a little challenging though... thank goodness for greenhouses! Anthony and I have been weeding the hoophouse, transplanting lettuce, and sowing spinach. This week we will also transplant cilantro, direct sow some radish and turnip and sow chives, kale, and chard inside for planting out next month. I am looking forward to doing some grafting this weekend... are you coming to the workshop?
The Spring Organic Gardening class starts soon. This will be a great class both for new gardeners and those who would like to increase their food production this year and get some personal consulting for a more successful garden. For details see below.
We will have kale, chard, garlic, parsley, and potatoes at the farm stand this Wednesday, 3:30 rain or shine. Workday is Friday 1- 5 as usual.
Classes are second Saturday of the month 10:00-12:30. Hands on activities and consulting weekdays in the garden, times flexible. Register first day or class. Questions? Call me, 964-9232
Feb. 13th -principles and practices or organic gardening, seasonal planting guide, garden planning, and seed selection March 13th - bed preparation, fertilizing, composting, and sowing Spring crops April 10th - drip irrigation basics, transplanting, and using row covers May 8th- starting the Summer garden, managing weeds and pests, planning for Fall June 14th - Field Trip to a local organic farm
