GROW – Gardening Reshapes Our World

At a meeting on April 25, 2010, the GROW team decided some initial goals:

• Short term:
  • Build a small hoophouse at FCC in May 2010
  • Use raised beds at FCC also starting in May 2010
  • Small scale demonstration of extended season gardening suitable to Sheboygan
  • Search out mechanisms for distribution of our food products
    • to church members and volunteers through sales with donation pricing (based on ability to pay)
    • to needy community members identified by social services or others with whom we can “follow our food” and identify cultural, economic, or skill sets that we can enhance or learn from
  • Participate in the farmers market primarily to show extended season capabilities and talk about our programming with other vendors and customers
• Medium term:
  • Teach cooking and preserving skills, both home kitchen and commercial prep
  • Teach urban gardening principals through volunteering and small group classes
  • Create garden spaces in other neighborhoods, with hoop houses or appropriate technology
• Long term:
  • Promote neighborhood gardens throughout our community
  • Provide nourishment to those in need, expand distribution and processing
  • Involve youth and schools in our programming

Decided to adopt the acronym of G.R.O.W. which means to us Gardening Reshapes Our World!

After significantly more questioning of ourselves we set our Mission Statement:

The GROW mission is to educate and demonstrate urban gardening techniques and to provide quality food for our greater community.

Update on 9/7/2010 – some photos of the GROW team’s work in summer 2010 (sites around Sheboygan)