Seed and Seedling Distribution at Powderhorn Park

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What an awesome sunny day to distribute information and seeds to my fellow local food resource hub participants! Thanks to the hardworking people at Gardening Matters this event was more than a success today. I have been meaning to write more about this organization since participating in their fundraiser a month ago at Powderhorn Park. For those who are not familiar with a food resource hub I urge you to visit www.gardeningmatters.org and click on the link for Resource Hubs under the Projects header. There you will find in the description that a hub is made up of City Residents who have networked together to build a larger gardening community. 

I love this idea because it is a great way to find that we ALL have things in common and working together with shared knowledge towards common goals is a recipe for success. My personal goals are to have access to the healthiest foods right outside my doorstep, meeting like minded individuals and families, broadening my gardening repertoire, and helping where help is needed. 

Through their hard work at Gardening Matters they are literally "Growing a Healthy City" [quote borrowed from their website] by providing seeds and seedlings at a steeply discounted price to members. I briefly touched on some benefits of membership above; but members are encouraged to make donations within what ever price range fits their particular budget and they are then afforded the opportunity to receive gardening assistance or to provide assistance to beginning gardeners as well as enough packets of seeds and plants to grow in a small ~ medium ~ or large garden space. Also members can receive assistance finding land to grow their garden if none is currently available to them (ie. apartment dwellings, home associations, etc..) It just can't get any better than that can it?

The pictures I've posted today show some of the seeds/plants, participants, as well as the organizers of this event. I was pleased to meet and work with Margaret, Heidi, Theresa (master gardener), my daughter, and a host of other volunteers today. Not only did I get to assist with the cold weather plant distribution, I was able to talk to Master Gardener about pressing issues I have. Like, when the weather drops to freezing again or we get snow how do I protect my strawberry plants and gooseberry bushes that have already started to bloom? 
(NOTE: If frost is emminent water the plants as much as necessary and cover with a sheet)

Something else I'd like to share is that I found out I can further assist Gardening Matters by participating in the Measure Your Harvest program. Knowing how much of a harvest Hub members achieve is very pertinent to showing the success of this community based initiative. Therefor I will do my best to document and submit as much data I can to help achieve this goal. I'm hoping that several other hub participants document and submit their information as well. A community that grows together stays together.

If your community has a program similar to this and you have tips you want to share please submit a comment or if you are interested in joining a local food resource hub in Minneapolis or St. Paul please check out the Gardening Matters website. On a side note, if you are reading this today April 14, 2012 in the Twin Cities get on out there and enjoy this 70+ degree weather it may not last long.

Happy Planting,
Getting more people in the garden in my community is what I fuss about!
Franksgreengirl




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