Homegrown Community Garden Tour 2012

This past Sunday was our 3rd annual Homegrown Garden Tour. With a break in the late summer heat, it was a beautiful evening to showcase 5 of our community and school gardens and the people that make them possible. More than 50 community members came out to experience and celebrate the State Street, Cleveland Lane, Plowshares, South Ukiah Head Start and Thunderbird Apartments gardens. Garden members served tasty bites made from their own produce, played music, grilled out and gave tours of their bountiful plots.

The evening wound down at the Grace Hudson Museum as people enjoyed fresh caprese salad, sipped wine, traded garden tips and discussed how adorable the Head Start garden is while they listened to lovely music provided by Steven Hahm and Sid Bishop. Thank you to all who came out to support the Gardens Project! We hope to see you again next year! 

A big thank you to everyone who  made the event possible!            

Garden managers and garden members from all five gardens

Grace Hudson Museum

Husch Vineyards, Fetzer Vineyards and Jaxon Keys Winery

Sid Bishop and Steven Hahm

Wipf Construction

Patrona Restaurant and Lounge

For more pictures visit our facebook page or our flicker page

Homegrown in Ukiah was a success!

Thanks to all of you who came out and helped make "Homegrown in Ukiah: A Community Garden Tour" such a wonderful event!



Over 50 community members came out to see 5 community and school gardens. During the tour we ate delicious snacks made from garden produce, shared gardening challenges and tips, heard stories about the gardens, and visited with new and old friends.

We visited the gardens at Orchard Apartments, Head Start (on S. Orchard), Cleveland Lane, Washington, and Plowshares.

After touring the gardens everyone gathered at Bella Vida where we drank wine, ate more delectable treats, and grooved to the music of Mendo Zone.




Hope to see you next year at our 3rd annual Homegrown in Ukiah: A Community Garden Tour!

Homegrown in Ukiah: Community Garden Tour!

Join our gardeners for the 2nd Annual "Homegrown in Ukiah: Community Garden Tour!" This year's tour will feature five gardens: The Cleveland Lane Community Garden, The Washington Avenue Community Garden, The Orchard Head Start Garden, The Plowshares Peace and Justice Garden, and The Orchard Apartments Garden.

The tour will begin and end at the Garden at Bella Vida (formerly Tierra). Reserve a ticket today: call 462-1955 or contact The Gardens Project

Homegrown in Ukiah

Last Saturday was a celebration of Ukiah's efforts to become a more self reliant community. We hope that everyone who came out had a blast, enjoyed lots of good food, met some new people, and got a different preservative on whats being grown in our community spaces of Mendocino County.

In case you missed it some highlights include: Jack Simpson gardener Oliver Schearer dazzling us with his vibraphone skills. Cleveland Lane gardeners showing us what a mini Ukiahn-Michoacan would look like. Washington Ave. gardeners celebrating their successful first season with Ensalda de Nopalitos. April Cunnighman from Head Start showing off school garden curriculum. Grace Lutheran gardeners sharing their favorite recipes.

Thank you again to all of our supporters: Tierra-Art,Garden, and wine for the use of their space. Ukiah Brewing Company, Patrona Resteraunt and Lounge, and The Ukiah Valley Medical Center for chef time of Molly Vogel, Phil and Craig, and Jim Stuart. Together we Can! for providing us with volunteers. Mara Montiel, Sid Cooperrider, and Will Siegel and friends for providing music, and of course all of our wine donors - Rivino Wines, Frey Vineyards, and Raye's Hill vineyard.

Check out some pictures below taken or check out our facebook page. Pictures were taken by two awesome volunteer photographers Cate Oliver and Paul Taylor. Again, thank you all for your support - we hope to see you again next year.

Natural Building in Community Gardens

I recently attended a week long Natural Building Intensive course at Emerald Earth in Boonville. In this course, we learned how to use basic materials such as wood, earth, rock, and straw to build beautiful, safe structures. The methods feel so intuitive, and the work is most often accomplished as a community. Using these techniques, you can build large homes and skyscrapers, but I'm to take what I learned and start small by constructing some structures and garden features in community gardens throughout Mendocino County. We are starting with a small cob greenhouse at the South Ukiah Head Start Preschool garden, a cob bench at the Cleveland Lane Community Garden, and counters and benches to surround the earth oven already constructed at Talmage State Preschool (there is also a cob greenhouse there!). In Willits, Mason has plans to also build a shed in the WISC garden, and in Ft. Bragg at the Learning Garden, Veronica Morales of the Noyo Food Forest plans to build an earth oven.


This is an example of a cob bench at Emerald Earth.

These structures will make the gardens even more functional, beautiful spaces for communities to gather. And the best part is, we're going to build them together, strengthening partnerships with different organization, such as the Solar Living Institute and Head Start Preschools, and building community so that we can then take what we know to share with others. I can't wait! See you out there.

happily yours,

Gardener of the Month - Genaro Vega!

Congratulations to our first Gardener of the Month: Genaro Vega! At The Gardens Project, we know Genaro as The Chili Man, for his knowledge and cultivation of different varieties of chili peppers. Genaro is also the volunteer coordinator at the largest and oldest community garden in Ukiah – the Cleveland Lane Community Garden. To witness the tremendous work Genaro dedicates to this garden and to hear him speak of his respect for chili peppers is truly inspirational. The Gardens Project interviewed Genaro one afternoon and, unsurprisingly, he offered some valuable insight into the world of Ukiah community gardens. To watch the interview, click here.

Do you know someone who should be our next Gardener of the Month? Nominate them! Contact us and tell us why you think they deserve be highlighted.

To see pictures of the Cleveland Lane Community Garden, click here. To see Cleveland Ln. in person, visit it! It’s located behind the Grace Hudson Museum. Here is a map.

La Cosecha Se Acabo

La cosecha del jardin de Cleveland Lane Community Garden se esta acabando y estamos preparando el jardin para el Otono. Vamos a tener un dia de festejar y trabajar en el jardin en las proximas semanas. Busca mas informacion y vengan a ayudarnos a echar composto, limpiar las camas, y sembrar nuevo legumbres.