- Everyone's Garden has been planting & harvesting since March 2015
- Each week we donate approximately 60 pounds of produce to the Open Hands & Yad Ezra food pantries, serving the hungry in Oakland County
- We've sold 21 CSA (community supported agriculture) farm shares which help pay our expenses
- Each family receives a bag of produce per week for 16 weeks
- We set up the farm stand every Wednesday where we sell our excess harvest
- This year, we've established a relationship with the owner/chef of Republica Pub and Grill- the chef is buying specific vegetables for the restaurant!
- As we did last year, in an agreement with Our Lady of LaSalette, we are gardening the “annex” section behind their parking lot
- We continue to provide an accessible gardening experience to community members of all abilities
- There are numerous groups who will visit, learn & help in the garden all summer long
- Check out our "calendar of events/volunteers" page for more information
- We give each group tours of the garden, talk about our mission, and teach composting, planting, harvesting and the appreciation of a sustainable planet
- For many of these participants, we present a significant growth experience which we are sure also meets some of your goals
- For the second year in a row, we are hosting a group of young volunteers from Catholic Heart who, on their one week mission trip, will build gardens, clean up the area and develop community as they assist those in need
- We have a farm manager this year: Mike Shikhmanov. Mike is an Oakland University horticulture student and will be working 30 hrs/wk with us!
- We have regular volunteers that spend many hours planting, weeding harvesting and supervising, as well as many behind the scenes hours in planning and organizing
- This year, we piloted Saturday "Meet-Ups" which are intended to bring community together
- We installed a drip irrigation system which cuts down on water usage
2015 Update
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Hi! I am in a wheelchair and would like to help harvest and plant. Sometimes, I can use a walker - but I do need to sit down a lot and cannot bend down far or walk on uneven ground. I have read that you say you are accessible to people of all abilities, but (via your pictures) it looks like I cannot access your garden. Is that true? I am confused because your pictures and text seem to be at odds with each other, no offense. I would like to participate in the garden, though so please let me know. Also, do you still work with the Michigan Disability Rights Coalition?
ReplyDeleteHi there! Sorry for the late reply. I did not notice your comment... I'm just getting used to the social networking power of the blog. Yes, we do strive to be accessible to people of all abilities. We have areas of the garden with wider rows and have a material covering the bare ground that works well to support wheelchairs and walkers. We have portable benches/stools that some participants use if sitting is easier. We have raised beds of different heights as well as traditional beds on the ground. There is variety to meet a variety of needs. Our grant with the MDRC was for our first year. We now operate on donations and through fundraising. Maintaining the accessibility factor is probably our biggest challenge- we are raising money to install more permanent and more effective accessibility features. This is our constant goal! We hope to see you at the garden!
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