Grow Your Own (GYO) is gearing up for another great season. Recruiting continues through community outreach events, social media, and word of mouth. So far, 10 community gardens, 24 potential home gardens, and 4 market gardeners are in the pipeline for the 2017 growing season.
This season, we are trying something new by holding Kick-Off Meetings to allow folks time to get to know one another, understand how the program can benefit them, and have a few nibbles. We’ve done this with market gardeners in the past with great success, so inviting our home gardeners for their own meeting just made sense.
This past Sunday, the local library held a community seed exchange and GYO was there to distribute last year’s seed and recruit potential new gardeners for our program. It was a great time to learn how to save seed and reinforce our commitment to our community. The best part was the speaker, a small family farmer, told his story of growing seed for Southern Exposure Seed Exchange. Learning how forgiving it can be to grow seed and the income potential is another great avenue to send our more experienced growers who may not have interest in market gardening.
For those who have aged out of the program, we are offering tilling service in exchange for help sorting and labeling seed, measuring out garden sprays, and stuffing notebooks. When the only barrier between someone and a garden is tilling, we have to find a way to support that effort.
Deni and I are looking forward to seeing everyone in Berea next week to learn and grow from and with one another. Until next week, stay warm and safe. Please enjoy just a few photos from the prettier months to remind us all of what is to come.
Middle Schoolers and High Schoolers work together in a mentorship program to share gardening knowledge.
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