Home Gardens
This month the Home Gardens team has been working hard to get ready for beginning gardening classes and garden building. At our monthly team meeting (pictured above) we reviewed and updated our curriculum to emphasize hands-on learning in the garden. We are working closely with the Youth Grow team to prepare garden beds at school gardens for participants to practice thinning, turning in cover crop, and direct seeding.
We are also preparing to build 25 new gardens this spring. If you’re interested in learning in-depth our in-ground garden-building process, sign up to be a volunteer Crew Leader! Crew Leaders attend a day-long training and then lead small crews of volunteers to build gardens for families enrolled in the Home Gardens program.
We are also still looking for volunteers to help with seed sorting, packaging, and delivery. Contact emily@new.growing-gardens.org for more information and to sign up.
Youth Grow
“On a scale from 1-10, I rate this a 160!” This was the reaction of a 4th Grade Garden club student referring to Apple Cabbage Crunch. How do we get kids so enthusiastically eating cabbage and carrots? We let them grow, harvest, and prepare their veggies!
Recipe apple cabbage crunch
Ingredients:
- 1 carrot, grated
- 1 apple, grated or cut into small pieces
- ¼ cabbage, sliced into ribbon or torn into small pieces
Dressing:
- 1 tbsp. lime juice
- 1 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. honey
- 1 tsp. Apple Cider Vinegar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
Directions:
Use grater to grate carrot into a large bowl. Slice the apple into small pieces and add. Tear cabbage into small pieces and add. Whisk dressing ingredients together in a small bowl. Taste and adjust if needed and then stir into the bowl.
Enjoy!
Growing Gardens partnered with TRiO for a big work party and cleanup of the Davis school garden. Forty Four participants and alumni of the TRIO College Readiness program from Mt. Hood Community College came out and spent three hours working in the Davis school garden and inside the school on projects for classroom teachers. It was so impactful have high school and college students from the neighborhood beautify the school grounds and help out teachers! Thanks TRiO!!!
Want to get involved? We are currently seeking volunteers for after school garden club assistants. We also are looking for volunteers for a very special cooking with kids event in partnership with Umi Organic! We will be taking over Slappy Cakes to offer an Okonomiyaki cooking class and dinner featuring local and seasonal produce. Please see the website for tickets and details Contact sarahc@growing-gardens for more information.
Our School Garden Coordinate Certificate Training will be June 26-30th in Southeast Portland.
Through this 35 hour training, leaders in the field will share best practices for building, using and maintaining school and youth food gardening programs. By the end of this training, you will have knowledge, skills and resources to implement and maintain an edible school garden project built on a foundation of broad community involvement. Participants are also eligible for credit through Portland State University.
For details and to register, please follow this link:
Our Lettuce Grow garden education programs have started up in all sites across the state. All Lettuce Grow participants start with the Oregon Food Bank Seeds to Supper course. Thanks to all the amazing volunteers across Oregon who make our programming successful! Gardening planning is happening and everyone is ready to get out and start their hands-on garden education.