TV Gleaners Gardening Project for families needing a little help

[maricybele]

Post closed thanks

[plantoneonme]

It is wonderful that you can do so much. I was involved in a smaller project which was started by a woman on another forum I belong to. She calls it Need4Seed. She started by posting an open invitation to people who needed seeds to grow their own food. We were some of those in need and she sent a generous amount of seed. My family of 6 adults and 1 child ate very well during the summer.

My granddaughter and I also started a small project with the help of a cubscout group and taught 4 other families how to grow some basic food using the sq ft method. The cubs helped make 4 boxes 2'x6' and one of the dad's picked up compost to fill them. We gave enough seeds to get the kids started in growing along with some information on how to grow veggies. We were also able to gather enough returnables to purchase each kid a watering can, trowel and garden gloves.

Jordan and I were also able to grow a TON of radish and rhubarb to share at a local food bank for needy children and seniors. It feels so good knowing that the little we were able to contribute helped others.

We also saved a lot of seeds and were able to give back to N4S as well as the families we helped last year. I know our family will eat very well next year as I have already started to expand our gardening space.

Kim

[maricybele]

That is fabulous. Would love to know more about n4s.

Would love to see some photos if you have any of the cubscout project.

I am just starting to save seed. Tomato, tomatillo, and lettuce works well, peppers are iffy so far. My home garden is a bit exotic I plant weird unique veggies not normally found in grocery stores like lemon cucumber, serpent cucumber, round zuchinii, purlple and red anything! and not for big production yet as still working on soil and new beds.

Thanks.

[plantoneonme]

Sorry, I am terrible about taking pictures and do not have any of the scout project. The boys made simple 2'x6'x8" deep boxes with landscape fabric on the bottom. I gridded out a simple plan of easy things for the families to grow but used a more generous spacing than sq ft gardening so little kids could work with the plants easier. I have a grid posted on the need for seed list and will see if I can copy and paste here. Here is a link to the need4 seed yahoo group

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Need4Seed/?v=1&t=search&ch=web&pub=groups&sec=group&slk=1

We are a small group that simply wants to share seeds with those in need. The originator, Robin, has been very generous and has mailed off seeds at her own expense to those who cannot even afford postage...all she asks is that you try to give to others if possible and to try to learn to save some of your seeds to continue with independence in food production. The group is small but very friendly...much like our forum right here.

Hope you get a chance to check us out. Kim

[plantoneonme]

Sorry I could not get my planting guide to post but basically in the 2x6 box I gave the kids some seeds to plant in each square. They had 2 squares of popcorn with 4 plants per square, 3 squares of beans with 4 plants each square (1 sq yellow, 1 sq green and 1 sq purple bush beans), 2 squares of dwarf sugar peas with 4 plants per square and a large 2'x2' square with a bush cucumber with sunflowers planted in the corners and radishes and carrots on the edges (these could be harvested before the cucumber got too large). A final square was a choice of plants I started from seed of either a tiny cherry tomato called Garten perle' or a broccoli or cauliflower or a few lettuce plants. Hope this explains how we started the kids off. Kim