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!

A Community Treasure

This December brings great promise to Mendocino County! There's the welcome rain, of course. But there's also a new social movement afoot... a movement towards creating a culture of health and wellness. It's called Leaders for a Healthy Community.

Over 40 service professionals (including professionals from health clinics, school gardens, family resource centers, afterschool programs, Health and Human Services, high schools, preschools,  hospital foundations, teen leaders, and parent leaders) came together in both Ukiah and Willits for the first of 10 monthly Leaders for a Healthy Community meetings. The participants officially signed on as Health Leaders, committing to work within their organizations to implement health, nutrition and physical activity programming and policies, and committing to collaborate and form new health connections across the community.

What a community treasure! The Health Leaders bring so much enthusiasm and experience to this work. All are dedicated to creating a community where health and wellness are front and center, where opportunities to eat well and be physically active abound. They are excited about sharing resources, learning more about nutrition education, promoting activity, building relationships across the community, and truly moving the dial towards greater health and wellness in Mendocino County.

In the new year, expect to see "health happening here" as the Health Leaders roll out their programs and make presentations to decision-makers and governing bodies around Mendocino County.

Coast Garden Leaders On The Rise!

Created with Admarket's flickrSLiDR.

Eighteen Garden Leaders from thirteen gardens along the Mendocino Coast and Willits area gathered to network, learn from each other and build the movement for an accessible, sustainable food system!  The gardeners represented a great diversity of gardeners and communities within Mendocino County

Co-hosted by The Gardens Project of NCO and the Noyo Food Forest on the Coast, the goal of this three year program is to train community gardeners to share, organize, lead, and continue to build the movement for expanding and sustaining spaces for community and school gardens.

The Leadership Program is a component of NCO Community Action successfully receiving a USDA Community Food Projects grant to train community leaders in food production and work to alleviate poverty through re-building our local food system.

The group will meet every six weeks in Fort Bragg with each meeting focused on a different theme such as effective leadership, garden advocacy, market opportunities and growing community. Meetings are co-facilitated by Gardens Project coordinator Miles Gordon, Gardens Project and Noyo Food Forest staff.

This year's cohort represent the following gardens:Stone Soup Family Garden, Senior Kitchen Garden, Fort Bragg Grange Community Garden, Ecology Action Garden at Stanford Inn, Mendocino, Caspar Community Garden , Noyo Come-Unity Garden, Redwood School Rainbow Garden, Dana Grey School Garden, Fort Bragg Middle School Garden, The Learning Garden, Fort Bragg High School, Willits Charter High School Garden, Brookside School Farm, and the Willits Community Garden.

For more information about this year's Leadership Training, contact The Gardens Project or The Noyo Food Forest.

North County Garden Leaders Graduate!

Year Two of the Garden Leadership Training program concluded on November 18th with a celebration of photos, plans for the future and of course, cake!

15 Garden leaders from Willits, Laytonville, and Covelo spent the last ten months strengthening community, building leadership skills and sharing hopes, triumphs, tips, challenges and delicious meals with each other.

The goal of this three year program is to train community gardeners to share, organize, lead, and continue to build the movement for expanding and sustaining spaces for community and school gardens. The Leadership Program is a component of NCO Community Action successfully receiving a USDA Community Food Projects grant to train community leaders in food production and work to alleviate poverty through re-building our local food system.

The group met every six weeks at the NCO Willits Action Group offices and each meeting focused on a different theme such as effective leadership, garden advocacy, market opportunities and growing community. Meetings were facilitated by Gardens Project coordinator Miles Gordon and other Gardens Project staff.

The group's final venture of the year was a PhotoVoice project in which Garden Leaders documented their experiences by taking photos of their community members at work in the gardens.  These photos, with their interpretations, are being compiled into a traveling exhibit so look for them around town or view them online now!

Now that year two has been brought to a close, Garden Leaders from the North County have chosen to continue meeting as a Garden Leadership Council next year without facilitation by the Gardens Project. The Gardens Project will be moving onto year three of this three year program by starting  the same training cycle with gardeners from the Mendocino County Coast this January. The training will be hosted by the Noyo Food Forest and facilitate by the Gardens Project of NCO.

To learn more about Year One and Two's journey through the Leadership Training Course, read all of the Leadership blogs.

Garden Leaders on the Rise - North County!!

The Gardens Project of NCO has begun its second year of our intensive Garden Leadership Program to train community gardeners to share, organize, lead, and continue to build the movement for expanding and sustaining spaces for community and school gardens.  This year - Mendocino County North!

The Gardner Leadership Program began in January 2012 and brought together 24 gardeners from 12 different community and school gardens in the greater Ukiah area and Anderson Valley. In November of 2012, the Gardens Project graduated this first class of participants.  Check out our new Ukiah based Garden Leadership Council!

Our new group of garden leaders will meet every six weeks through November to teach each other greater skills in: Building Community and Communication, Effective Leadership, Accessing Resources and Hosting Work Parties, Marketing Opportunities, and Garden Advocacy.

By the end of the year long training, the participants will comprise our North County Leadership Council that will continue to meet, share, plan, and advise The Gardens Project. In year three, the training will move to gardens on the Coast (Point Arena to Fort Bragg).

The Leadership Program is a component of NCO Community Action successfully receiving a USDA Community Food Projects grant to train community leaders in food production and work to alleviate poverty through re-building our local food system.

The gardens represented at this year's training are: Willits Community Garden, Brooktrails Community Garden, Bobcat Garden at Brookside Elementary, Willits Charter High School, Willits Charter Elementary School, Yuki Trails Community Garden in Covelo, and the Commonwealth Gardens of Howard Hospital. For more information about this year's training, contact The Gardens Project.
 

Garden Leaders Celebrate a Successful First Year!

Year one of the Garden Leadership Training program concluded last Wednesday with a celebration of photos, plans for the future and of course, cake!

20 Garden leaders from Ukiah and Anderson Valley spent the last ten months strengthening community, building leadership skills and sharing hopes, triumphs, tips, challenges and delicious meals with each other.

The goal of this three year program is to train community gardeners to share, organize, lead, and continue to build the movement for expanding and sustaining spaces for community and school gardens.

The group met every six weeks at the NCO conference room and each meeting focused on a different theme such as effective leadership, garden advocacy, market opportunities and growing community. Meetings were facilitated by Gardens Project coordinator Miles Gordon and other Gardens Project staff.

The group's final venture of the year was a PhotoVoice project in which Garden Leaders documented their experiences by taking photos of their community members at work in the gardens.  These photos, with their interpretations, are being compiled into a traveling exhibit so look for them around town soon!

Now that year one has been brought to a close, Garden Leaders from Ukiah and Anderson Valley have chosen to continue meeting as a Garden Leadership Council next year without facilitation by the Gardens Project. The Gardens Project will be moving onto year two of this three year program by starting  the same training cycle with gardeners from Willits, Laytonville and Covelo this January. The following year will be with gardeners on the coast from Point Arena to Fort Bragg. 

Happy Fifth Anniversary Gardens Project of NCO!

This week marks 5 years of building community, health, and resilience with The Gardens Project of North Coast Opportunities' Community Action Agency.  With the tremendous support of you, our community, we have accomplished so much:

• 24 New Gardens - comprising a diverse mix of 6 Head Start and State Preschool Gardens, 3 elementary school and youth gardens, 7 community gardens, 3 tribal gardens, 4 family and senior apartment gardens, and the Plowshares Peace and Justice Garden.
• A Gardens Network supporting 68 school and community gardens in Mendocino County
• A vibrant corps of new community leaders, transforming our landscape, our eating habits, and our economy.

What do these numbers represent?   A culture shift of long lasting impact.  In the month of June, we developed 4 new gardens in Ukiah (2 community gardens with 81 plots and 2 apartment gardens with 35 plots).  Within weeks, all the community garden plots were taken and now have waiting lists.  There is a literal unmet hunger to reconnect to community and food production in our county.


What are our next steps?  Become obsolete!  We are completing Year One of three of our Garden Leadership Training series.  A burgeoning Leadership Council of Community and School Gardens is preparing itself to lead the Community and School Garden Movement to sustain and expand our work.  Learn more about these leaders in Garden Leaders Rising!

Join The Gardens Project in our anniversary celebration of Mendocino County's Community and School Garden Movement.  Step into a garden, meet the gardeners, start a garden, support garden development and donate!

Garden Leaders On The Rise! Pt. III

The Leadership Council of local garden leaders is growing in strength, knowledge, and abilities.  In the third session of our Garden Leadership training series, our 20 plus garden leaders joined together to share strategies and practice their skills at Effective Leadership - focusing on conflict resolution, organizing and running effective meetings, and organizing work parties at their gardens.

Since the Leadership series began in January, many of these Garden Leaders have taken over the tasks of The Gardens Project staff and organized and lead their first garden meetings, organized and lead garden clean up days, solicited donations and volunteer recruitment, practiced their hands at being listeners, problem solvers, and conflict resolvers.  Go gardeners!  Their homework between now and our July 18th meeting - organize and hold a new work party in your garden!

Additionally, these leaders have begun a PhotoVoice project where they will document their experiences by taking photos in the gardens and of their community members at work in the gardens.   These photos, with their interpretations will be presented at the end of the training series and used to advance the movement of creating greater access to land for more gardens throughout our region.

Up next in the training series:  Market Opportunities.  Our Garden Leaders will meet at a community, commercial kitchen, learn how to use it for preservation, and the safety and labeling requirements for sales at Farmer's Markets and retail outlets.  For more information on the Garden Leadership Training series, see our previous posts under Garden Leadership Training.