GICD Ever Growing
Don Lambert
EVER GROWING
December 2011
News from Your Community Gardens
Plant Sale 2012. Save the dates for our 16th annual plant sale. This year on Earth Day weekend, April 21-22 at the East Dallas Community Garden, 1416 N Fitzhugh. And, if you miss that, come the next Saturday, April 28 to Our Saviour Community Garden, 1616 N Jim Miller Rd for a continuation. We need to make some money, so get your ground prepared, and come ready to haul away whatever bedding plants, herbs, flowers, vegetables and anything else GICD can grow or get donated for this fundraiser. We hope to see you there.
Our Saviour Community Garden’s Hunger Mission.
You can watch a new video that shows harvesting, pantry delivery, and people “shopping” for fresh produce at a food pantry. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nll0OsX0Mu8&feature=share. Another perspective on this same harvest and sharing is featured in an article in the Duke Divinity School online publication Faith and Leadership, in the Stories of Hope section titled: “Growing in relevance” at http://www.faithandleadership.com/features/articles/growing-relevance.
GICD Funding
GICD sent out a fundraising letter on December 1st. If you would like to read this letter please go to www.gardendallas.org and click on the Executive Director Letter link. All GICD funding is from public donations, some from individuals and occasionally from foundation or corporate grants. Our plant sales are also important -- for 2012 these are planned for April 21-22 and 28. For the first time ever water costs exceeded plot fees at our East Dallas gardens, so unless someone makes a special donation the fee for the coming year will increase $10 from the usual $30.
Picnic at the East Dallas Community Garden
This annual event, this year on October 15, celebrates the successes of our refugee gardeners and brings together project supporters. It was family time, old friends meet-up, with much visiting and good food to share. It was great to have some members of the Cambodian American Association of Dallas (CAAD) in attendance. These hard working seniors sell fresh picked vegetables at the garden every Saturday, and welcome your visit to buy mustard greens, bunching onions and other seasonable offerings.
GICD Welcomes New Refugee Gardeners
Once a week a group of women, 4 refugees from Bhutan and interns from the International Rescue Committee (IRC), are seen gardening together in their plots at Live Oak Community Garden. Early in the spring, they attended GICD training at the Center for Growing People. Pending the removal of several looming and dangerous old trees, especially if some tree service can donate this work to GICD, this group will add more members and take over several more plots. Our Cambodian gardeners at East Dallas have run a successful in-garden market for many years, and it would be a great step forward for these and other new refugee gardeners to become more involved in local agriculture. Dallas needs skilled gardeners and farmers, including new immigrants, to grow quality fresh produce locally and to become major vendors at farmers markets, like we see in many other cities.
UTD Volunteers “Make a Difference Day,” Oct 22
A group of 12 VIVA volunteers from the University of Texas at Dallas came to learn about the market garden known as the East Dallas Community Garden, and spent the morning digging compost from the pathways and spreading fresh wood chips. Video at: https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10150514669694392 on our Facebook page shows them touring the garden and its market, and their hard work, laughter and smiles that made the day one to remember. Thank you all!
Drought Doesn’t Stop Hope Community Garden. GICD staff visited a number of area gardens during our hellish summer to access the effect of several weeks of high temperatures and drought. The weather took its toll on midsummer crops, and it was obvious that the heat kept many gardeners indoors. But at the Hope Community Garden on Cristler near Tennyson Park just of East Grand Avenue, things were different. For seven years these gardeners have nurtured this spot, carefully improved the soil, mulched beds deeply, used good watering techniques, planted the right things at the right time, worked as team, and become skilled at growing an abundance of fresh vegetables. Year around, and especially throughout the summer, they come to harvest and maintain the garden each Sunday evening. And what a harvest it has been. With dedication and hard work the share given to local food pantries this year was 1,022 pounds by the end of October. The portion not eaten by them, but donated, has now exceeded 10,000 pounds over seven years of operation. This may be the smallest GICD community garden, but it is very big on success.
Buy Fresh Asian Vegetables: East Dallas Community Garden
The garden market still has mustard greens, spring onions, and a few kinds of fresh herbs. Your best time to drop by is early on Saturday mornings. This market is a little bit of Southeast Asia right here in Dallas. All earnings go to support these hard working seniors.GARDENERS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT: FaceBook & online www.gardendallas.org
-- Don Lambert Executive Director Gardeners in Community Development 972-231-3565 www.gardendallas.org