Hey everyone, it’s Greta here! It’s been almost 10 months since our last blog post!! Time sure does fly when you are growing food! And what a wild 10 months it was. It will be hard to sum up our entire year’s work, but there are definitely some highlights worth mentioning that have lifted me up and kept me inspired.
First, we hand-raised 2500 seedlings! This feels like such a huge accomplishment. What do I mean when I say, “hand-raised?” Well, it started by making connections and purposefully selecting seeds from Minnesota farmers like Cherish in Bagley, MN. Then, we sanitized all of our upcycled seedling containers and made our own soil mix from supplies we purchased locally at Mother Earth Gardens and EcoGardens. We turned our house into a greenhouse! We had 4 shelves going, 32 lights and so many little plants. It was a wild ride that required a lot of attention, care, and love that resulted in seedlings that made me a very proud plant mama. And it is about to start again, our seedling shop is now open for 2023!
Another awesome highlight was selling at the Northeast farmer’s market. It felt great to be a part of commerce that supports local farmers and real food. It inspired me to eat and shop more seasonally, and to continue to re-invest my money in the community. Also new this year, we donated seedlings to Appetite for Change’s annual seed and plant distribution. It was a great way to share the opportunity of growing food. We are excited to keep working with Appetite for Change in their efforts to combat injustices in our food systems. More to come on that later!
One of the most personally profound things for me this year was our events; and the relationships we built with other Northside gardens and farmers. We hosted over 15 events this summer at 3 different gardens! Movie nights at the Old Highland Peace Garden were some of my favorite events, and something we are absolutely doing next year. Our work with Queen at RRoots garden has really bloomed this year as we shared resources, goals and visions for the future. I am filled with gratitude to work with these incredible gardens and communities. In 2023 we plan to expand on these relationships and include even more gardens into our event rotation!
Some other awesome things we got done this year was hosting two different youth groups at the garden. First, a mission group from Texas joined us for a day of hard work; pruning tomatoes, weeding, and, best of all, planting a pollinator garden! Of course we celebrated with a pizza party with the outdoor pizza oven. We hosted the Youth N’ Power summer program in the community garden. They learned some gardening basics, helped maintain and re-named the garden. It was formerly the “community garden at Redeemer”, and is now called the “Peace and Power Garden.”
This year we are working again with them as we move away from this “community garden” model and reclaim this place as an urban farm designed for growing food for preservation. We are calling it “the Preserving Power Project”. Instead of growing food for free distribution in the summer months, we are going to harvest, preserve and then host distribution days in the winter months, thus extending the access to locally grown organic vegetables! This is still in its infancy, but you’ll definitely be hearing more about this as the season gets going.
As we gear up for another full season, we just want to thank you again for your support. Each year has been better than the previous one and we cannot wait for what this coming year brings. We have been working very hard planting seeds, figuratively speaking and literally, and are tending with the utmost love and respect. We are so thankful you, farmers, gardeners, and stewards of our precious planet, have joined us in this process. We love hearing from you; so reach out with any questions, thoughts, ideas or random inspiration!
Until next time,
Greta
