2020 – Celebrating 20 Years of Feeding the Hungry
Many of you are new friends of the Garden. Here is a summary of what we do.
The Faith & Grace Garden is a 1.1 acre donation garden, meaning all of the 20,000 pounds of fresh, organic fruits and vegetables we grew last year were donated to local food pantries. The Faith & Grace Garden Greenhouse is a 48’x26’ all season structure where about 40,000 vegetable starts are grown each year. Garden partner Lutheran Services raises about 30,000 of these plants as part of their Global Greens Program.
The Master Gardeners grow about 2,000 flower and vegetable plants in the greenhouse for their community gardens. We give about 5,000 vegetable plants to 12 other local school and donation gardens. The remaining vegetable plants are either set out into the Faith & Grace Garden or given to the local community through annual plant giveaways in April and May.
Vegetable Giveaway extended to this weekend……
Many thanks to the students of Waukee High School for volunteering in the garden last week.
Last Wednesday 28 students from Waukee High School helped spread mulch over weed cover in the cabbage patch. About 800 plants are now growing there.
Garden volunteer Joe Van Derask prepared seed potatoes for planting in April. We will plant more cabbages between the potato hills.
What’s growing in the Faith & Grace Garden:
|
How many plants (approx) |
Progress |
|
|
Onions & garlic |
9,000 or so |
Planting complete |
|
Cabbage |
850 |
Need to plant 350 more |
|
Broccoli |
170 |
Planting complete |
|
Cauliflower |
90 |
Planting complete |
|
Kale |
45 |
Need to plant one row |
|
Potatoes |
400 pounds of seed potatoes |
Planting complete |
|
Peppers |
600 |
Need to plant 600 |
|
Sweet potato plants |
3,000 |
Planting over Memorial Day weekend. |
|
Swiss Chard |
45 |
Need to plant one row |
|
Tomatoes |
250 |
Need to plant 600 more |
The following plants will be row planted from seed into the garden this year: radishes, turnips, spinach, lettuce, and beets. Asparagus and blueberries are growing in established beds now. We will harvest asparagus this month and blueberries in June.
As you can see, May is a busy month in the garden…can you help? Become a garden volunteer! Volunteer times in the garden are as follows:
|
Monday |
Wednesday |
Thursday |
Friday |
|
|
May |
5-7 pm |
5-7 pm |
9-11am |
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|
June-Sep |
5:30-7:30 pm |
5:30-7:30 pm |
9-11am |
5:30-7:30 pm |
|
Oct |
5-7 pm |
5-7 pm |
9-11am |
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To volunteer in the garden, please sign-up here.
Why sign-up? It helps us to plan our activities and to communicate with you, especially when the weather looks bad and we need to cancel.There are also opportunities to volunteer in the garden by appointment, contact Mark Marshall at 988-5381 or wdmmarshall@msn.com to arrange a convenient time.gloves if you have them. Gloves are also available at the garden if you do not have them. Volunteers should dress for the weather, wear hard soled shoes, and bring garden them.
If you cannot volunteer your time, consider a financial donation to continue this important work. Send your check to St. Timothy’s, 1020 24th Street, West Des Moines, IA, 50266. Please note Faith & Grace Garden in the memo line.
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For more information about the Faith & Grace Garden
|
Tim Goldman -745-9842 timothyjgoldman@gmail.com |