What's growin' on this Spring with the Gardens Project!

The Gardens Project is feeling the spring fever, and we want to tell you all about it! 

Students from the Ukiah Junior Academy volunteering at the Vinewood Park Community Garden in March

We are digging into our 9th year of community garden work with fresh new ideas on the horizon as well as old events coming back to life... all to grow food and community in our beautiful Northern California land!

Wanna learn about all we're doing and get involved? Here's a look at what's growin' on, click on the links to dig deeper into each topic.

New Garden Projects in Mendocino and Lake Counties

We are working with communities from Leggett to Lucerne this year to help build new garden projects for different communities, agencies, and apartments. The first few groups we'll be working with this year include:

• Arbor Youth Resource Center of Redwood Community Services in Ukiah - New Garden
• Community Transition Program Garden at Observatory Park in Ukiah - New Garden Fence, additional raised beds 
• FLOW Community Garden in Lucerne - New Garden Fence
• North Shore Senior Apartments of RCHDC in Lucerne- 3 new 4x20ft
  Raised Beds and Irrigation!
• Village Circle Community Garden in Ukiah (new in 2014) - Large Hoop-house for season extension.

North Shore in Lucerne will have new raised beds for easier gardening!

 More about projects in Leggett, Boonville, and Hopland coming soon!

Garden Leadership Training in Ukiah

Garden Leaders from the Arbor, Jack Simpson & Village Circle

Community Garden Managers from 7 gardens in Ukiah are in the middle of a 4 week training to become effective leaders for their gardens- with lessons on community building, communication, event planning and more!
Participating are leaders from the Arbor Youth Resource Center, Vinewood Park, Village Circle, State St, Washington Ave, Thunderbird and Jack Simpson Gardens.

The Gardeners' Gathering

A NEW EVENT FOR THE GP- the Gardeners Gathering will bring together community and home gardeners from Lake and Mendocino Counties together to learn and share gardening skills, with a special presentation on the Drought and how it impacts our gardens, mini-workshops, free seeds, plant starts, resources and more!

FREE and ALL are welcome to attend, click here for more details.

Supporters of the Gardens Project 

Fetzer Vineyards has partnered with the GP to donate 5% of their Community Wine Sale proceeds to community garden development! Community Wine Sales are held at Fetzer in Hopland every other month during the year. We are grateful for this new partnership that will provide funding for garden projects throughout the year! 
The next Community Wine Sale starts now! Place your orders by Friday, April 10th to pick up your wine at Fetzer on Saturday, April 18th. Click here for ordering information.

SAUCY restaurant in Ukiah will be hosting a Dine-Out day for the Gardens Project on Tuesday, April 21st. Come to Saucy all day for a meal and we'll be donated a portion of the proceeds from the day! Don't forget that it will be Earth Day WEEK- so there will be local farm fresh specials on the menu!




Want to make a donation to the Gardens Project?
You can donate online at anytime, just click here!

We also sell our Gardens Project T-shirts for a $20 donation (for pick up in Ukiah). Contact GP Coordinator, Stephanie, at 462-1958 or slogsdon@ncoinc.org to get one!

The Homegrown Garden Tour- coming back to life!

Genaro in the Cleveland Lane Garden showing off his Nopales in 2012!

Have you been to the Homegrown Garden Tour in Ukiah? It's been a few years since the GP has hosted the tour for the community to visit the gardens, but this year it's coming back this August! Keep a check on our events page for tour information.

Gardens Project VIDEOS

Did you know that the GP had a video intern last summer? Kenny Logsdon, Anthropology student at Appalachian State University, spent last summer interviewing our community gardeners and documenting workshops.

Take a look at this video about our drip irrigation workshop last summer- and then get inspired to set yours up to for water conservation!

Thank you for your continued support of community and school gardens in Mendocino and Lake Counties!

Saturday October 26, 2013: Make a Difference at Nokomis School Garden

Come out and enjoy a national day of service at Nokomis Elementary School!

A garden work party will be held from 9am - 12pm at Nokomis Garden; Saturday October 26, 2013. That's just a few days away! We'll be ridding the garden of Bermuda grass, laying and securing weed cloth, and spreading wood chips to help form clearer paths for students.

USA Weekend Magazine and Points of Light have collaborated for over 20 years to host Make A Difference Day; a national day of service recognized by AmeriCorps.

RSVP,
Food Corps Service Member Keegan Niland
email: kniland@ncoinc.org

or

NCO Volunteer Network
phone: (707) 467 - 3200 X200

Mendocino Farmers Guild

A new hub for your local farming community

Have you heard about the new Mendocino Farmers Guild yet? Join them for the monthly meeting next week. Tuesday the 15th, 6pm at the Little Lake Grange in Willits!

*Oct 15th*		*6pm*
JOIN US NEXT WEEK AT THE
MENDOCINO FARMERS GUILD

Eat, drink, meet, and connect with fellow farmers and farm-minded folks in the county. Farmers, ranchers, apprentices, and interns of all ages and experience levels are encouraged to come! Come collaborate, communicate, commiserate! We'll meet each 3rd Tuesday of the month.

All are welcome—bring a dish or drink to share. Show off your harvest!

THIS MONTH: Hear from fellow farmers, learn about new farm-based opportunities and find out how you can take a stand against the FDA's new food safety rules. Plus a visiting chef from your sister Guild down in Sonoma will be cooking up a Mendocino-only pasta pork ragu.

Questions?
Contact Whitney at info@emandal.com
or Evan Wiig at evan@farmersguild.org

Little Lake Grange Address: 291 School St, Willits, CA

Mendocino College Fall Plant Sale - Oct. 4th, 5th!

Sharing the Bounty 2013!

 

Having difficulty viewing this great slideshow, go directly to our Flickr site:   

Sharing the Bounty 2013

 

The 4th annual Sharing the Bounty fundraiser for The Gardens Project of NCO held at Saracina Vineyards this past Saturday, September 14th was a huge success.  The event raised $10,000 for developing school and community gardens.   Over 75 community members were treated to a unique and delicious 4 course meal prepared by local chefs:

•  Nicolas Petti of Mendo Bistro and the Mendocino College Culinary Arts Program, 
•  Phil Castro of Saucy
• Craig Strattman of Patrona Restaurant and Lounge
• Adam Weiss of Piazza de Campovida

All food and wines for the event were donated by local farms and wineries, then presented to the chefs to create unique the unique flavors of our county.  Dinner was served overlooking the olive orchard, vineyards and mountains of the Sanel Valley of Hopland.  A huge thank you to John Fetzer and Patty Rock for donating their space at Saracina for the event.

Additionally, a tremendous thank you to the following individuals and businesses that made the event possible by donating their labor and products,  thus helping create a resilient and accessible local food system in Mendocino County and beyond:

The evening's chefs and restaurant owners:  Cynthia Ariosta of Saucy, Anna Beuselinck and Gary Breen of Campovida.  The wineries and winemakers that provided the supreme libations for the evening:  Husch Vineyards, Scharffenberger Cellars, Roederer Estates, Alex MacGregor and Saracina/Atrea, and The Apple Farm.   The foundation of our local food movement, the farmers and producers:  Anderson Valley High School Farm, Aqua Gardens Family Farm, Cinnamon Bear Farm, Filigreen Farm, Floodgate Farm, Green Uprising at Blackberry Bend, Live Power Community Farm, Leonardis Organics, Russian River Pistachios, Lovin' Mama Farm, Mendocino Grain Project, Mendocino Organics, Noyo Hill Farm, Ocean Harvest Sea Vegetable Company, Seely Farm Stand, Schat's Bakery, Shamrock Artisan Goat Cheese, Stella Cadente Olive Oil Company, Tres Classique, and Cuppa Joe to Go.

Special thanks also go to our volunteers from Community HealthCorps and First 5 Mendocino, Thompson's Party Rentals for giving us a great discount, Jim Stuart and UVMC for material support, Marcos Pereda for his great music, and Moira Evans for leading dinner service.

We live in an amazing community and are grateful to all for sharing the bounty to help us build school and community gardens.

Missed the event, but still want to help?  Donate!  Volunteer!  Contact us!

                                             See you at Sharing the Bounty 2014.