YouthBuild Revitalizes Nokomis School Garden

Fifteen young people celebrate the winter holiday by gifting Nokomis School Garden 10 new garden beds!

YouthBuild of Pinoleville Pomo Nation devoted the first half of their holiday break (Nov. 25 - 26) to support a garden revitalization effort by FoodCorps Service Member Keegan Niland. The project was coordinated by YouthBuild's Vaughn Pena and led by Licensed Contractor Mike Sherosick.

North Cal Wood Company sourced nearly a ton of beautiful Redwood to help in the effort.

The YouthBuild Team prepared, flushed, and constructed ten (plus two) garden beds on day one. They tore through the batteries of their power drills and had a great time doing it. The young folks showed their creativity, talent, and drive to gain experience in the trades. They even organized a game of pick-up football during lunch break!

On day two the team dug, sunk, and leveled the garden beds into the ground. This was not an easy feat and took patience and persistence. The YouthBuilders worked efficiently and were good to sprinkle in some humor along the way. 

The new 18" tall garden beds at Nokomis Garden were built with the intention of simplifying maintenance, emboldening the space, and promoting productivity for the 430 students and staff.

YouthBuild is an incredible organization -- help the Ukiah branch grow!

See more pictures on our Flickr account.

Pictures courtesy of Tara from YouthBuild 2013

 

California Conservation Corps Partners with FoodCorps at Nokomis School Garden

Three cheers for the Triple-C's!

15 members of Ukiah's California Conservation Corps volunteered their Saturday to help maintain Nokomis School Garden on November 16, 2013 from 9am - 3pm.

The CCC's Members muscled through Nokomis Garden's Bermuda Grass problem by hacking through it with McLeod Hoes and covering it with landscape fabric. After the fabric covered the garden floor all members were hands on moving wood chips supplied by Johnson Family Tree Care (note: the wood chips came from a Caltrans project one of the CCC members interned for earlier in the week).

The CCC's Team also helped FoodCorps Service Member Keegan Niland reshape the garden maze into it's new form - a fantastic reading circle for Nokomis School students and educators. Keegan and the CCC's Members also excavated nearly 10 cubic-yards of non-compostable materials and wooden pallets from the garden.

The group was re-energized when a neighbor walked by the garden mid-day and exclaimed, "You all do great work - I know the kids will enjoy this!"

 

Super-Fun Lunchbreak at NCO!

Such a beautiful day for an Open House in the NCO courtyard! Great to meet, greet, and talk with local community members and tell them all about community gardens, nutrition classes, and Farm2Fork success stories. We sold some beautiful Gardens Project t-shirts and blended up some pedal-powered smoothies. Special thanks to Sid Harper of the Savings Bank for being our first ever guy in a business suit to ride the smoothie bike!

In addition to the exciting things going on in NCO Community Action’s group of projects, all of NCO’s programs were out on display at today’s Open House. Did you know NCO works to build healthy, vibrant, compassionate, and strong communities through…

·         a Foster Grandparent program that places retired “grandparents” in local classrooms...

·         a Volunteer Network that connects volunteers with organizations who need them in Lake and Mendocino County...

·         the Leadership Mendocino program that brings leaders together to enhance their leadership skills and to expand their networking connections…

·         the Rural Communities Childcare program that supports working parents with daycare costs…

·         the Head Start program that provides excellent education for local preschoolers…

·         and MORE!

Four New Gardens!

2 residents at Thunderbird Apts. stand by their garden plots

The Gardens Project and community gardeners have been very BUSY this spring creating four new residential and community gardens!