Our First Corporate Donation!

Our garden has been so blessed with donations from local businesses, neighbors, and garden lovers in general. Today we received a donation of two picnic tables from AT&T's office in Bridgeton, Missouri.

AT&T's Vice President of External Affairs in St. Louis wrote, "We applaud your efforts to improve local neighborhoods and we're pleased to make these tables available. We hope they will be enjoyed by all visitors to your community garden."

Children's fun days, garden work days, and garden tours will all benefit from our new garden tables!

Thank you to AT&T for recognizing our efforts and for your donation!

June Work Day Progress!

Braving a St. Louis heat advisory, our volunteers accomplished so much today! Julia, Sharon, Bev, John, Emily, Ed, Linda and Gail helped mulch and weed and plant more cantaloupe in the community area. We also had the benefit of admiring Heidi's artistry as she painted whimsical characters and flowers on our picnic table. We made sure to stay hydrated and rested as often as necessary. Julia brought a kiddie pool for the kids, but several adults got their feet wet to cool off!

Lunch was a good stopping point and we devoured a vegetable "bread pudding" and strawberry shortcake provided by Ed and Linda. Linda had soaked the strawberries in Limoncello and it was a refreshing end to our workday!

Prior to lunch we had a group of friendly bicyclists stop by to quickly tour the garden. Craig and Blue Tapp Scheffer and Gerry Noll were among the group. It's fun to share our progress with anyone who stops by. In fact, area resident Marvin Bruce comes each work day to "supervise" for a few minutes! There is a great picture of him in front of the corn above.

Thank you to everyone who participated and to each and all of you that support our garden through hard work, donations, and especially well wishes!! 

Progress of the Community (shared) Crops

The individual plots are doing great although a few of us had issues with lettuce bolting. Best to plant something else where that lettuce was growing because once it bolts it is too bitter to eat.

It is time for a community crop update. Here is the status by the pictures ordered 1-5:

1. This is the corn that was planted about a month ago during the children's fun day. If you haven't seen it in person go check it out! It is already about 16 inches high! The second round of corn and the popcorn planted last week are coming up too and are about 3 inches tall. 
2. The grape vines are all growing (even the one we thought we lost) and the one in the picture has started attaching itself to the trellis. It is so much fun to watch how each fruit or vegetable grows. They each have their own growing personalities! We may get a small grape crop this year, but next year should be excellent.
3. The herb garden has several plants ready to share. The lemon balm can be picked and used fresh to flavor drinks or dried to use in teas. The cilantro could stand to grow just a bit more, but feel free to take a small amount to flavor your Mexican dishes or guacamole. Sage, Rosemary, Dill and Basil can be snipped for individual use. Please only take what you need so others can enjoy it too!
4. The strawberries have been producing very well. If you see any ripe ones, enjoy them! I let one of the neighborhood boys pick one while he was helping me weed. He said "it looks just like a *real* strawberry!" What a great opportunity to share where our food actually comes from!
5. The watermelon plants are growing! As are the squash, eggplants, cucumbers and pumpkins. Late summer and early fall should be fun!

The community blackberries are starting to form berries now and are growing quickly. The apple trees in the orchard are continuing to grow, but we aren't expecting apples until next year.

All of the plots got a drink of water today, and it is impressive how well everyone is keeping the weeds pulled. Great job to each and every one of you!!

May Work Day Update - Mural and Chair Installation!

We had around 20 gardeners gather in the sunshine today for our monthly work day. Several folks were harvesting food from their individual plots. Our garden is definitely growing!

We were able to accomplish the following:

• Built a frame and installed the completed garden mural against the fence
• Installed Ann Fink's beautiful mosaic chair in the orchard - set the posts in concrete
• Painted the first coat on the picnic table (Heidi Lung will add some whimsy to the table this week!)
• Planted flowers in the children's garden
• Planted popcorn, sweet corn, pumpkins, watermelon, eggplant and cucumbers in the community area
• Mulched around grapes and blackberries
• Weeded, weeded and weeded some more
• Turned the compost bins
• Enjoyed some freshly picked strawberries from the community pyramids

A special thanks to Sue Odell for providing an excellent lunch. Gardeners looked for a piece of shade to enjoy a meal of pasta with peas and squash and a spectacular salad (with lettuce from the garden!) with strawberries, cranberries and nuts. Her homemade cookies were a hit too! There is something very rewarding about working hard and then eating well.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today or stopped by to say hi. We look forward to our next workday the last Saturday in June!

Great Turnout for Children's Fun Day

What a fantastic day to play in the dirt!

Kids of all ages enjoyed decorating a flower pot and planting a flower for Mother's Day. Many had the chance to help artists Heidi Lung and Mary Nichols paint the first panel in our garden mural. The panel is nearly complete now. Heidi will have the second panel at the Ferguson Farmers Market on May 22nd for more budding artists to assist!

Between seed planting, eating, hula-hooping, eating, painting, flower planting, eating and playing king/queen of the dirt pile, the kids had a great time! Did I mention eating? It was nice to see all the fresh fruit devoured. Many also took take home a packet of flower seeds to try their green thumbs at home.

There were probably 60 people in the garden throughout the day, happy for the opportunity of a *free* fun-filled day. We look forward to doing it again next year!

Upcoming Children's Fun Day at the Garden

Old Ferguson West Community Garden
CHILDREN’S FUN DAY!!!!

When: This Saturday May 8th From 9:00am – 2:00pm
Where: Community Garden (Corner of Mueller and Suburban in Ferguson)

Fun Activities: (FREE!!!!)

•  Decorate a pot and plant a flower for a Mother’s Day gift
•  Help our local artist paint part of the new Garden Mural
•  Help plant sweet corn, pumpkin and watermelon seeds
•  Help plant seedlings for a local food pantry
•  Hula Hoop, jump rope and blow bubbles!!

Free Lunch for Kids!
Hotdogs, pasta salad, fresh fruit, water and lemonade

For more information contact:
Larry at 314-308-5631 

We have a WINNER!

 

The "Growing Together" Mural contest winner is: HEIDI LUNG!!! 

Here is an excerpt from her Artist Statement: "The theme of my design includes hands emerging from the soil holding vegetables, fruits and flowers. These hands represent the diverse people of our community, from past and present. The hands also symbolize our community, working together to create not only a beautiful space, but dedicated to the process of staying connected and working together."

Better yet is Heidi's process: 

Public Painting and Art Happening, Collaborative Process with the Community
Under the direction of the artist, children and adults will be given the opportunity to paint parts of the mural in a “paint by number” style in order to maintain the overall vision and continuity of the art.  The artist will coordinate volunteer artists and Northern Arts Council members from the community to assist with public events.

Public events could include one or all of the following possibilities:
1) A booth at the Ferguson Farmers Market
2) OFW Garden Children’s Event, May 8
3) an artist event/party with community artists at the artist’s home.

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Heidi's winning sketch won't be shared. ;-)

Stay tuned for the installation of the final mural on the last Saturday of May!

April Work Day Update

Spring fever is definitely in the air! Seeing seedlings come up, and plants once dormant that are now reaching for the sun served as inspiration today. The enthusiasm, volunteers, work, dirt, and laughter managed to keep the "April Showers" at bay until we finished early this afternoon.

Rain or shine was the call, and the following volunteers answered: Peggy, Sharon, Sue, Gail, Bev, John, Julia, Heidi, Freddie, Dwayne, Trudy, Brian, Darius, Tony, Jessica, Chase, and garden gnomes Ben and Claire. It's a good thing Peggy planned to feed 24, because there were 20 of us there standing in line for lunch! (more on that in a bit!)

As a community of gardeners we weeded, planted rose bushes along Suburban, put down garden paper and mulch, turned over the compost bin, finished the grape trellises, constructed most of the weather-proof sign, put up the last blackberry post, planted the last two blackberry plants, moved the hedge from in front of the sign, planted grasses and cannas near the fence in the orchard, and spread the wood chips around the strawberry pyramids. Did I mention that we had so much fun we didn't even notice how much work we had done?!?!?

Lunch is always provided during our work days, and Peggy created a moment of garden hilarity by her presentation. Spaghetti salad was served out of flower pots, and cheese garlic bread was served on an inverted flower pot (email me for pictures if anyone wants ideas!) The best was the cake with a miniature square foot garden!

Also, by now most of you have heard about Ferguson as a finalist in the "All-America City" competition by the National Civic League. Each and every one of you should be proud to have contributed to the success of this great City! Check out the NOCO blog to learn more about this great honor:

http://nocostl.com/2010/04/ferguson-a-finalist-in-2010-all-america-city-competition/

Call for Artists for a Garden Mural!

Fom the NoCo blog today! http://nocostl.com/2010/04/sunday-news-clips-411/  (Thanks Shannon!!!):

• If you’re a talented local artist, why not consider submitting a design in the Old Ferguson West Community Garden’s “Growing Together” mural contest! Both groups and individuals are invited to enter the competition, which will yield two 4×8-foot painted MDF panels that will serve as a backdrop to the garden. Judging will be based on which design best represents what a community garden means in a diverse neighborhood, and you should be prepared to explain your concept in those terms. The application deadline is April 23.

Please contact me for the application or the rules! (hlrobinett@yahoo.com)

Volunteers Tackle Ambitious Agenda

As kids we learned, "March comes in like a lion, and out like a lamb." Today's cold March wind proved otherwise. However, in a battle between the spirit of our volunteers and the weather, we'll call it a tie. :-)

Our first official workday was beyond successful. Aside from the physical progress we made in the garden, several new friendships were cultivated. Who could ask for anything more?
 
Agenda items completed:

* Ed, Linda, Cortez, Freddie, Peggy and John carried wheelbarrow after wheelbarrow of mulch between the beds where Bev, Sue, Sharon, and Gail raked it all out evenly
* Brian, Larry, Martin and Keith dug holes for the posts for entryway posts and blackberry posts
* Dwayne and Larry constructed the 4x4 herb communal herb bed and the last raised bed
* Martin and John finished the last 2 pieces of screen in the compost bin
* Sue and Bev helped plant lettuce and onions in the sponsors' plots
* Bev helped neighbor kids plant onions in one of the children's plot.
* The crew replanted 4 hedges and mulched that entire line.

* Several gardeners were impressed by Julia's square foot gardening guides in her plot, and were inspired to do try their own this spring. (If anyone is interested in more details of square foot gardening please email me for more information.)

* Special thanks to Bev for feeding our hungry volunteers. Everyone raved about her taco salad, orange slices, and brownies. Word has it Ed had 4 helpings of salad, and the brownies disappeared quickly.

It's hard to believe that a year ago this "little garden that could" was an overgrown and abandoned lot. We should *ALL* be proud of what we have accomplished, and excited about the potential in the years ahead!





Picture of the lot from mid-April 2009:

First Official Workday for 2010

Fellow Gardeners,

The last Saturday of March is upon us, which means our first formal group garden workday! Mother Nature has tried to dampen our spirits today by reminding us how fickle spring weather can be, but the weather man
says Saturday will be cloudy and a high of 62 with little to no chance of rain!

What will be doing?

- We have a fresh pile of nice hardwood chips (thank you Sanders Tree Service!) to spread in the orchard and in between the raised beds, we need 3" of depth.

- The City delivered a load of mulch that we can put down around the hedges.

- We will construct the herb bed and one last raised garden bed to square things off.

- Finish 2 pieces of screen in the last compost bin.

- We plan to finish the garden posting sign so we can post all our flyers and important data.

- The water line to the strawberries needs to be installed.

- We will be digging the holes and setting the posts for the gates and the tool shed.

- And you can plant in your beds!! We have some free plants left (onion sets, broccoli, lettuce, and a few cabbage plants.) If you can find brussels sprouts, herbs, or other sets they can go in now also.

It is a good time to plant the following seeds: leaf lettuce, spinach, radish, carrots, peas, beets, scallions, and turnips.
What to bring: Shovels, rakes, & hand tools for your bed work and a friend!!

Bev Walker will providing lunch (yeah Bev!) and we would like to hear from the rest of you which date you would be interested in providing lunch. You can pick from any of the open dates below. We have a grill if you need it, and bottled water is always supplied by the garden.

March 27 - Bev Walker
April 24 - Peggy Carson
May 29 - Sue Odell
June 26 - Available
July 31 - Available
August 28 - Available
September 25 - Larry Robinett
October 30 - Available

Your Garden Coordinators,
Larry & Heather

Boy Scout Troop 686 Deserves Two Green Thumbs Up!

On behalf of the OFW Community Garden, I would like to extend a heartfelt "thank you" to the wonderful volunteers of Boy Scout Troop 686, Blessed Teresa of Calcutta. They joined several of our garden members and lined the pathways between the plots with garden fabric and then covered it all with mulch.

UMSL's Neighborhood Leadership Academy class toured the garden early this afternoon and the Boy Scouts had already finished. It looked fantastic. We will be happy to "hire" them again!!

I would also like to thank each and every one of you that were able to make it to our initial garden meeting. The turn-out was excellent and the energy was a lot of fun. People are excited to get digging.

See you at the garden!

Opening Gardening Meeting

CALLING ALL GARDENERS!!!!

We will have our opening gardening meeting at 6pm at The Corner Coffee House in Ferguson, Thursday March 18th. Hope to see everyone interested there!

Some people pay for mud baths, right?

Wheelbarrows and several inches of mud made for a serious workout. The group of troopers yesterday was able to mound dirt in each of the raised beds and finish and fill the strawberry beds. A couple of boys in the neighborhood even came by to help.

Many thanks to the volunteers on a chilly Saturday morning: Ed and Linda, Gail, Cortez, Dwayne, Ben, Chase and the friends shown in one of the pictures above. A good portion of the mud in the garden made it home with each of us. (shoes, boots, gloves, socks, pants, hair... you name it!)

Next Saturday a group of Boy Scouts is going to meet us at the garden at 9:00am to assist in moving mulch between the beds. That will help in controlling the slip-n-slide Mother Nature has so graciously provided.

Don't forget about the garden meeting at the Corner Coffee House this Thursday evening (March 18th). Larry will be sending a reminder to everyone. Don't miss the kick-off to this fun-filled planting season!

Raised Beds!!!

The weather was a little cool and damp, but was no match for our volunteers today! Led by Mara and Amber from Gateway Greening, 17 of us built 20 raised bed in under five hours. The "before" picture is just above this paragraph, and the "after" is the first picture posted. What a difference! We also moved the three strawberry pyramids in place (each has a built-in sprinkler.)

Thirty-nine yards of dirt is a lot. The sore shoulders and backs around the neighborhood are proof. Shortly after a chili lunch in the rain, we breathed a collective sigh when someone suggested calling it a day. I believe it was Shannon who so eloquently put it, "I'm not moving ANY MORE DIRT." We'll finish topping off the beds and filling the strawberry beds tomorrow.

A very special thank you to the big crowd that was able to make it on a Friday morning: Bev and Emily, Keith and Shannon, Martin, Julia, Dwayne, Sue, Angelique, Peggy, Joe, Molly, and Ben the garden gnome. Thank you all for the hard work, the laughs and the reminder of how great this neighborhood truly is.

Gateway Greening Grant! Please help March 12th and/or 13th!

Here are some tomato seedlings we planted just waiting for warmer weather to enjoy some fresh air, sunshine and great soil. The good news is after next weekend the garden will be one step closer to accommodate them!

The following is a letter that Larry sent out last week. We are very excited to be building raised beds next weekend but we'll need help! We are also going to construct the strawberry beds this weekend to have in place for the soil that's being delivered. We are so close to planting and digging in the dirt!!!!!!

-----------------------------------------

Garden supporters,

I am very pleased to share the news that we attended the Gateway
Greening (GGI) awards ceremony and were presented with a grant to
cover all the lumber soil to cover construction of 5 of the raised
beds!! We also will be using Gateway Greening's resources to to get
the best possible price on the rest of the materials that we need to
construct the remaining beds not covered by the grant.

Equally or even more important than the financial support is the fact
that we are a part of the Gateway Greening community circle now.
Attending the Growing Gardener training classes I have found that the
Gateway Greening community is an awesome support mechanism for any
project or issue that you need help with in your garden. They have a
staff horticulturist who is willing to share her in-depth plant and
gardening knowledge, they have wonderful advice on anything we may
find that we need help on in the future. The have master gardeners
that are members of the the gardens they already support and they are
willing to come when needed. The also give grants for garden
expansions so we may be able to get additional financial assistance in
future years for an irrigation system.

We have targeted March 12th & 13th to do the raised bed construction.
We have 12 raised beds that have applications on them and we plan to
build 15 this spring in the event some late applications come in. The
plan is that GGI will deliver all the materials on Thursday and we
will begin constructing the beds on Friday morning. GGI also will
bring an array of tools needed for the construction. Saturday will
consist of filling the beds with soil, so we will need all the
wheelbarrows, shovels, and strong backs we can muster for the 2 day
event. I know Friday many of us will be working, but please come
either day, whenever you can and stay as long as you are able. If you
have a wheelbarrow or shovel bring that along as well. Hopefully the
weather will cooperate!

It is almost here!
Your Garden Coordinators

Meeting with Ferguson Police Department about the Garden

Community gardening on what was once an overgrown and forgotten lot has led to some interesting questions from potential gardeners. Two questions seem to come up repeatedly. The first is, "How can we make sure what we plant isn't taken?" The second is, "How safe is the area where the garden is located?"

Several of us met Thursday to discuss these two questions with 3 members of the Ferguson Police Department; Officer Dee Fuller, Officer Steve T, and Lieutenant Ray Nabzdyk. Officer Dee and Officer Steve have been patrolling the Plaza Heights area for a while now along with Officer White. They have gotten to know the kids in the area, and the parents as well. Their candid discussion and suggestions, along with Sue Odell's personal experience gardening along Suburban left us with a much more positive feeling.

Regarding potential food theft, we should all plant more than we need. There will be community crops (apples, grapes, corn, melons, strawberries, etc) that should draw would-be thieves away from individual plots. If critters become an issue we can find funds to put up small wire fences around each plot.

Regarding safety while gardening, we discussed the following "Common Sense" approach to doing anything in an area that doesn't feel like "home" yet:

1. Gardening is prohibited from dusk till dawn, so while you are gardening during the day, if you feel safer with the buddy system, use it. It might be an inconvenience, but your safety is paramount.

2. Keep your cell phone on you while gardening. Program the non-emergency number for the Ferguson Police on your phone (314-522-3100), and call if you see any suspicious activity. You may also call that number and let the dispatcher know you will be at the Old Ferguson West Community Garden, and ask that the on-duty officer patrol the area more frequently. If you feel immediately threatened, call 911.

3. While gardening, please lock your car and keep purses, etc out of sight. Officer Steve said that people are far less likely to mess with the gardeners as they would be to notice a window down and something in plain sight while walking or biking past.

4. Lieutenant Nabzdyk offered to put the garden as a watch point, meaning that officers will drive by it more frequently, and may even pull over near it to do paperwork. The offer of extra police presence was greatly appreciated. The City in general has been a strong supporter of its Community Gardens, and that goes for all departments.

5. Relax. Kids will come by and ask questions. Teach them how to weed. Our hope is that one of the plots will be maintained by a family on Mueller. We will also have 2 children's gardens to keep kids occupied and interested. (Seriously though, make weeding seem like fun, and your plot could be weed-free all summer long!)

6. Have an open mind. We all hope to learn and laugh and enjoy this opportunity we have. If something doesn't work this first year, let's figure out how to make it work next year. If you have questions, please ask. If something bothers you about the garden, please bring it to our attention. We too are learning and appreciate candid thoughts. This is a community endeavor, and we hope that each and every one of you feels comfortable and is successful!

Come learn more details about the OFW Garden!

Please plan on attending the Old Ferguson West Neighborhood Association meeting this evening, Thursday, January 14th from 7:00pm - 9:00pm at the Corner Coffee House.

A presentation will be given outlining how to apply for garden plots, volunteer opportunities for those that don't want to commit to a plot, progress and upcoming plans for this year. We will also be discussing OFWN's new website that will make applications and volunteering much easier! (The website should be available next week.)

This is going to be a great year for both our community and the garden!!!