how to organize #communitygarden for a food pantry

The #Mountainair Community Garden, a joint custody project (for lack of a better term but equally colorful designation) of iCreate, community gardeners not affiliated with iCreate, is in the process of applying for a New Mexico Centennial Garden Program grant. Supporting local food security programs is just one of the garden goals presented in the grant proposal due January 13.

Food banks and pantries today can be a lot more than a place to hash out donated – and often leftover, unwanted – food to the hungry. Right in tune with the current ecological-minded climate from “green buildings to green bodies,” they often infuse teaching the hungry how to grow their own nutritious food, how to cook it and sometimes spark careers in food.

Follow the link to read the rest of "How to organize a Community Garden for a Food Pantry" by Mary Jasch. DIG IT! mag online is a worthy and recommended gardening resource to add to your reader, bookmark file or link list. Subscribe to email newsletter on the website.

'via Blog this'

Captain Planet Foundation Grants

FD0760_NOFA_FY2012[1].doc Download this file

FYI ~ community based environmental education emphasis but not limited to school programs. Right up the iCreate and community garden mission alley but could also be fit for other environmentally conscious community groups with 501/3c status and an education mission

Captain Planet Grant Program

The Captain Planet Foundation (CPF) provides grants to schools, as well as community-based environmental and educational organizations — no grants are made to individuals or businesses.

Grants from the Captain Planet Foundation are intended to:

• serve as a catalyst to getting environmental activities in schools and communities.
• inspire youth to participate in community service through environmental stewardship activities.

 The Captain Planet Foundation primarily makes grants to U.S.-based schools and organizations with an annual operating budget of less than $3 million. CPF will fund unique and innovative projects that do not precisely match the grant guidelines but otherwise promote the foundation’s mission of hands-on environmental activities.  Applications that are outside of this description or do not meet the grant guidelines will not be considered.

Announcing the #NMCentennial #Gardens Program

Something for #Mountainair #CommunityGarden or perhaps the Manzano Mountain Art Council (partnering with MPS) to consider. Please note  that "priority will be given to both limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate strong collaborations and community support." 

Centennial Gardens - Call for Proposals
The New Mexico Centennial Gardens Program is an initiative of the New Mexico Centennial Foundation, working in partnership with state agencies and private partners. Thanks to the generosity of the Coca-Cola Foundation, the NM Centennial Foundation is able to provide grants to support school and community garden projects in New Mexico in 2012. Grants will be available at levels of $2,500, $5,000 and $10,000. To be eligible for a Centennial Garden grant, applicants must be a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization or nonprofit K-12 school that is developing or currently maintaining a garden project that will help communities engage with fresh fruits and vegetables. Garden projects may be at any stage of development; planning, construction or operation. In selecting grant recipients, priority will be given to both limited-resource communities and to projects that demonstrate strong collaborations and community support. Relationships with food banks or other outlets to distribute food to New Mexicans in need are a plus. To download the guidelines and application please visit the NM Centennial website or call 505-984-2012. The application deadline is January 13, 2012.

Good gardening and other news

I see from my mailbox that Tomas has submitted the the ScottsMiracle-Gro Grant. He writes,

The MiracleGrow  gardening grant application has been submitted. 

Phone numbers and e-mails are included in the grants for Kay Stillion as Executive Director of iCreate, 

Joan Embree as project director (of the community garden) 

and me, Tomas Wolff as garden coordinator are included.

We should hear by May 20th for a grant up to $1,500. 

That's a lot of drip hoses, wheel barrows and perhaps some shade cloth, and other necessities. 

Lets keep our fingers crossed.

PS. We should start planting some spring vegetables. 

Joan is returning from California soon, so we should plan a garden meeting, 

say Saturday, April 9th at 10 am AM? or the week following?

In other news, not about the Community Garden or gardening but about the other side of iCreate, the call for submissions for the memorial poetry anthology project is, pending just a bit more feedback, ready to roll on schedule, April 1st, the first day of National Poetry Month. More, much more on that and the month itself in separate posts... a month of poetics-appropriate festivities, rollicking versification and general merry-making planned at both Poets and Writers Picnic locations, in the blogosphere and on Facebook, (none IRL or, as far as I know, recognized by the MMAC poetry/writing subcommittee).

We interrupt this short update on and commercial for poetry to return to our gardening news....

Grow Your Own – Time To Start Digging! Posted: 30 Mar 2011 07:14 AM PDT by John Weckerle Well, it's past time to start digging, at least for some of us, and digging we have done – largely sponge pits for new and existing trees and shrubs, but we've also taken some time to start prepping the beds for this year's crop.  With luck and time, we'll be adding new beds this year, and maybe even experimenting with some new varieties and soil mixtures. As we approach the season, we thought we'd share a few resources that might be useful to our readers in getting (and keeping) the ball rolling  (go to John's "Grow Your Own" post for the rest ~ a hint, more good Extension resources; while there check out other articles in the gardening category and admire the pictures) Happy tilling!

#Mountainair Community Garden updates

Correction to last iCreate post: Tomas not Scott as incorrectly reported is writing the the Community Garden application for the Scotts (no doubt where the 'Scott' came from) Miracle-Gro Community Gardens and Open Spaces grant that I pointed them to (a hint to keep me posted). We have no idea how tight the competition will be, but the grant requirements look like a good fit.

And now back to the garden... 

Recently, Tomas Wolff (assistant garden manager and Joan Embree stand in but not dressing the part) and other Community Gardeners have been occupied with getting the new art center ready for use ~ but not before starting early seedlings in the Mojave Rose greenhouse to have a selection, including popular herbs and tomato varieties, ready to sell at the May 5 opening of the new Mountainair Farm & Garden Market.  

Reports have been scant but seedlings are coming along nicely and a good selection will be available for opening day. Some may also be available for purchase directly from the Community Garden on workdays. I'll keep you posted... if the gardeners do the same for me (and will remind them if they don't).

March Garden Update from Tomas (should be more, my next step will have to be writing exciting fictional updates to post):

March 12: The tomatoes are popping out all over. I also planted 25 bell peppers and have them over at my house where I can put them on a heating pad. There are some more cups available, but we are running out of planting soil. I'll try to get some this weekend, so we can plant more peppers and spices and seedlings for our own community garden, perhaps during this coming week. We probably have about 250+ seedlings planted so far.

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More information about the Scotts Miracle-Gro Grant ~

The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company Offers Grants for Community Gardens and Green Spaces: World's Largest Lawn and Garden Company Launches Program Helping Communities to Cultivate a Green Thumb   

The goal: to plant 1,000 gardens and green spaces across the U.S., Canada and Europe by 2018. The Scotts Miracle-Gro Company wants to make that happen and launched a new program called GRO1000, offering $1,500 grants to deserving communities and organizations in the hopes it will get people involved in creating more community gardens and green spaces where they call home. 

"Something happens when communities grow and learn together," said Jim King, ScottsMiracle-Gro's senior vice president of corporate affairs. "People develop a sense of pride and accomplishment when they get involved in cleaning up their neighborhoods, growing flowers, or cultivating their own healthy local food, and we want to help them get the job done." 

Communities interested in pursuing 2011 GRO1000 grassroots grants can apply online by March 31, 2011. Projects should include the involvement of neighborhood residents and foster a sense of community spirit.

This year's crop of ScottsMiracle-Gro's community gardens is already underway. On March 1, teachers, parents and students at Morning Star School in Tampa, FL, got their hands dirty planting edible and learning gardens on the school's campus. 

Throughout 2011, Scotts Miracle-Gro and its partners: Keep America Beautiful, Plant A Row for the Hungry, Garden Writers Association, the National Gardening Association and Franklin Park Conservatory will establish gardens and green spaces in Los Angeles, Houston, Chicago, New York, Ontario, Canada and Lyon, France. 

Carol Ledbetter

 Program Administrator, Plant A Row for the Hungry
5281 Holly Springs Dr.~ Douglasville, GA 30135
Tel/Fax: 877.GWAA.PAR, E-mail: par@gardenwriters.org
PAR is a public service campaign of the Garden Writers Association Foundation

RBEG Applications Now Being Accepted

Applications are currently being accepted for the Rural Business Enterprise Grant (RBEG) Program, which is available to public bodies, nonprofits, and Indian tribes to facilitate and finance the development of small and emerging private business enterprises in rural areas. "Rural" is applicable to those communities up to 50,000 in population. The RBEG Program is aimed towards developing businesses which will employ 50 or less people, with less than $1 million in projected revenues. Projects focusing on the following areas are encouraged: