Backyards SproutingBackyard Gardens built, planted around community

I n early April, we broke ground on one of our most exciting new projects, one that took us into the

backyards of families and households around our community – our 2010 backyard garden project.

* Inside this issue *

� Backyard Gardens Sprouting � Community Garden Opens � New Mulberry St. Comm. Garden� School Gardens Planted � 2010 C.C. Farmers’ Market � Culinary Class Teaches Job Skills� CC Fresh Network Site Online

The Garden Issue

After a lengthy applica-tion process, we chose 12 families scattered around Clinton County to be participants in the first year of this new project, which provides small-plot gardens completely free of cost to the families. We planned, built and planted these 12 beds over the course of three weeks, and we’ll continue to provide assistance to the families as they learn the basics of weeding, watering, harvesting and maintaining their vegetable gardens.

Eric Guindon, our Com-munity Outreach Coordinator who oversees this new initiative, said he is excited so far with the response from the families, especially the children. “Families have been active in all parts of the project,” Guin-don said, “from soil preparation, to garden builds, and planting. The children have been exceptionally enthusiastic and eager to learn. They ask tons of questions and talk excitedly about their garden.”

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CommunityGarden Open, Bigger in 2010

The Grow Food, Grow Hope Community Garden, locat-ed on a tract of land across from Pyle Center on the Wilmington College campus, has expanded from 20 to 40 plots in 2010, now accommodating upwards of 100 people in the raised bed garden.

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Grow Food, Grow Hope Garden Initiative Newsletter | June / July 2010 | Issue 3

BACKYARDS, FROM PAGE 1

COMMUNITY, FROM PAGE 1 Kids Get Their Hands Dirty, Learn About Food in School Gardens

In addition to the garden beds built in backyards of families around the county, we’ve also built raised beds at the Clinton County Youth Council and the Wilming-ton Homeless Shelter, where fresh produce can be harvested and prepared to help feed the residents and participants in those programs. As the growing season progresses, we’ll continue to help monitor and assist the families and host sites with their garden’s main-tenance, and answer any questions

they might have. “We really hope this proj-ect helps make our garden families sustainable in the future when they want to plant the gardens them-selves,” Guindon said. “That’s the end goal.” So far, 12 gardens have been planted, and by 2012 we hope to have upward of 35 backyard gardens built around the county. By that time, we will be near-ing 100 gardens built and planted around our community.

The 40 plots are maintained by a range of community members and garden mentors who assist in any technical questions the fami-lies might have about gardening. The children who come each week are paired together and our Youth Outreach Coordinator, Mariah Fulton, leads youth garden activities at two of our kids garden beds. This year, we have con-tinued the practice of presenting a cooking demonstration using what-ever harvested produce we have on that given day. A radish dip, for example, will be the practical recipe on a night when radishes are ready to be harvested. As the growing season continues, we’ll shift the cooking demonstrations to align with what-ever is fresh on that given week. As always, the public is invited to attend any of our com-munity garden events, which take place every Tuesday from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m, and Saturdays from 9:00 to 10:00 a.m. For more information, contact Jennifer Kerschner at jen-nifer_kerschner@wilmington.edu.

Building off of the suc-cess of our community garden and backyard garden projects, we’ve begun the process of taking gar-dening into the schools and child-care facilities of Clinton County. Summer might be here, but our garden curriculum is just getting started at Wilming-ton Childcare & Learning and Patri-Tots Learning Center, and school garden plans are underway at Wilmington Middle School, Hillsboro Elementary School and others around the county once the students return.

We are also in the prelimi-nary stages of receiving a grant from the Ohio Department of Agri-culture which would fund a mobile garden unit that could be trans-ported to schools for demonstra-tions with the students. This grant, while not finalized, would greatly improve our youth outreach, and would build on our future sustain-ability as an organization. For more updates on our school garden builds, visit www.growfoodgrowhope.com, or con-tact Mariah Fulton at 382-6661 ext. 488.

Clinton County Farmers Market Opens in Downtown Lot The Clinton County Farmers Market opened its Summer season on Saturday, June 5, in the mural parking lot adjacent to the General Denver Hotel in downtown Wilmington. This year, the farmers market expanded to include 15 local vendors, and our Farmers Market Coordinator Dessie Buchanan has helped implement some exciting new features. “This year we’ve co-ordinated with the Wilming-ton Transit System which will stop every half-hour at the market to give people rides to and from the market,” she said. “We’ve also instituted a Market Board of Directors which will help navigate the future of the market moving forward.” Another added market feature, Buchanan said, is the

option for shoppers to pre-or-der products online using lo-caldirt.com. Shoppers can log on and order at www.localdirt.com/ccfarmersmarket. On the opening mar-ket day, a steady stream of customers shopped amid the booths of produce, baked goods, herbs, health and body products and pastured meats and eggs, among other things, even while a thunderstorm threatened to wash out the day. While the rain did even-tually come, it didn’t deter the vendors or the intrepid market shoppers who filled the mar-ket throughout the day. The market will be open every Wednesday from 1:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturdays from 8:30 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. More information can be found at www.clinton-countyfarmersmarket.com, or by calling 382-6661 ext. 488.

Market Hours

Above, vendor Deb-bie Linebaugh sells

produce and pastured meats. Right, vendor Nancy Pickard sells onions and baked goods to a market

shopper.

Wednesday1:30 - 5:30 p.m.

Saturday8:30 - 12:00 p.m

Culinary Training Class Teaches Practical Career Skills As Food Distribution Coordinator for Grow Food, Grow Hope, Jessica Braun has imple-mented some unique and innova-tive programs for Clinton County food pantries. First was the transi-tion of Sugartree Ministries from a normal food pantry to a choice pan-try, which allows guests to “shop” along the shelves and choose their own groceries. Now, with the help of Wilmington College and Sodexo, Braun has introduced a successful culinary job training class for local residents who are eager to restart their careers as cooks or chefs in the food service industry. WC Executive Chef Tom

Tiner is the primary instructor during the 10-week class, which focuses on topics ranging from knife handling and maintenance to menu selection, from searing and braising to breakfast cookery and eggs. “By providing this class, I hope we can give people a new and viable career choice for their future,” Braun said. The class is completely free of cost to the students enrolled, and upon completion each participant will receive a graduation certificate and will learn how to seek work in the food service industry. “We have such a great group of students. I am so excited

to see what they do with these new skills,” Braun said. For more information about the class, pictures of past cook-ing demonstrations or information about upcoming sessions, visit www.growfoodgrowhope.com or contact Braun at 382-6661 ext. 488.

Executive Chef Tom Tiner teaches students in the Culi-nary Job Training program how to properly slice bell peppers. Tiner is the head instructor of the free class.

Clinton County Fresh Network Website Goes Live The Clinton County Fresh Network, a Grow Food, Grow Hope initiative meant to strengthen the local food econo-my in Clinton County by con-necting growers to consumers and distributors, is now online. At ccfreshnetwork.com, community members can learn what farmers in the area are growing, farmers can connect with consumers who want to buy their products, and distribu-tors and restaurant owners can find farmers in the area who can supply their needs. “If we can connect all of the individuals in our local food economy, it will be beneficial for

Grow Food, Grow Hope Summer Associates Begin Work

The Grow Food, Grow Hope Summer Associates, all 21 of them, pose with the original GFGH AmeriCorps* VISTA volunteers and Sarah Brady, an AmeriCorps* state program specialist for Ohio. Sarah was in town on Tuesday, June 1 to swear-in the associates as AmeriCorps volunteers and to visit our different garden sites.

everyone: the farmers, the local citizens, restaurants. Everyone,” said Growers Co-Op Coordina-tor Aileen Ash. The website currently features 20 local farmers who maintain profiles on the site. Two local restaurants, the Gen-eral Denver and Jen’s Uptown Deli, are also featured on the site as local eateries who are inter-ested and invested in sourcing their products locally. While still in its early stages, Ash said she hopes the site will grow into a practical networking tool for the local food economy, and for those interested in local food issues.

A screen shot from ccfreshnetwork.com, where farmers can feature their products and consumers can connect with them.

This summer, we are lucky to have the help of some extra hands - 42 of them, to be exact. On June 1, we welcomed 21 new summer associates who

will assist us in our projects for 10 weeks. The majority of the summer associates were recruit-ed directly from the Wilmington College campus, but some come from across the country to work

in this unique program. We’re excited to have them, and we hope you’ll join us in welcoming them to our team when you inevitably see them around Wilmington.

New Mulberry Street Community Garden Built & PlantedTo further expand our outreach in Clinton County, we established another community gar-den on a tract of land donated to us by Wilmington’s Scott Kirchner. Below are photos from the construction and planting of that garden, which is maintained by Aileen Ash and located next to Sugar Grove Cemetery on Mulberry Street.

To help lengthen the growing season and to illustrate methods of sustainability, Aileen is currently con-structing a pop-bottle greenhouse at the Mulberry Street Community Garden using recycled plastic bottles. If you would like to donate your empty pop bottles, please contact her at aileen_ash@wilmington.edu, or by calling 382-6661 ext. 488.

Do you want a backyard or community garden plot?Contact us at growfoodgrowhope@wilmington.edu, online at www.growfoodgrowhope.com, or by calling 382-6661 ext. 488

Grow Food, Grow Hope Garden Initiative1860 Quaker Way, 1145 Pyle CenterWilmington, OH45177

Grow Food, Grow Hope | growfoodgrowhope.com | growfoodgrowhope@wilmington.edu | (937) 382-6661 ext. 488Grow Food, Grow Hope Newsletter - Sign Up Online To Receive E-mail Only Updates!

Hearkening the Days of OldWith the help of 9-year-old Erma and her 8-year old brother Leon, Mike McCormick, above, plows a field in late May at the Wilmington College farm in preparation for a

potato planting. In 2009, Grow Food, Grow Hope and W.C. planted and harvested more than 6,000 lbs. of potatoes which were donated to food pantries around Clinton County

as well as neighboring counties. All told, more than 12,000 lbs. of food was grown on the farm, all of which was donated to the hungry. In 2010, we hope to increase that number.