Grow Team - Why We Do What We Do

We are trying to start a neighborhood garden on a lot on Archibald Ave. and Walnut St., right by H.O.Wheeler. Chris and I wrote a grant application to fund purchasing compost and timber for raised beds. Below is an excerpt from that letter. I think it starts to paint a picture of who are and what gets us all riled up.

"Grow Team ONE is a group of community minded gardeners who have come together to share skills and resources with their neighbors and to foster and inspire a culture of gardening in the Old North End. Our goals are: 1) to work with community partners to start neighborhood gardens in the Old North End; 2) to support and encourage neighbors to transform their lawns into gardens; and 3) to connect neighbors who want to garden and don't have the space to neighbors who have the space and want to share.

"Grow Team ONE is organized through the Old North End Time Bank, a local network that brings neighbors together to identify community needs and resources and promote the exchange of labor and knowledge.

"...We are passionate about starting this garden because many people in the Old North End do not have access to gardening or community gardening. We rent apartments with limited to no green space, have limited incomes, and limited transportation. With no permanent community gardens and few neighborhood gardens in the Old North End, our ability to enjoy this invaluable resource is hampered. The many benefits of gardening – fresh and nutritious vegetables, exercise, fresh air, connection to nature and place – can increase the quality of individual and community life in the Old North End. A neighborhood garden can begin to heal the division between neighbors, between people and the land, and between refugees and U.S. citizens. It can rebuke the image that our neighborhood is less valuable or worthy of paying attention to and caring for. People and place are interconnected. Low income and marginalized individuals are consistently told that they are less valuable, less worthy of attention or care, less able to be active and essential components of our community. Our neighborhoods reflect this sense of inner neglect. By taking ownership of our space and working together to create something beautiful and nourishing we prove to ourselves and all who walk past it that we have the power to change our community and improve our lives."

Grants, Violins, and Snow

At 6pm weak sunlight grew and warmed behind a layer of clouds. the air became wetter, softer, warmer. And for a moment it felt like spring. Chris Howell and I met at an empty lot on Archibald Ave and Walnut St - right by H.O. Wheeler and Dot's Market. We pulled out a small tape measure and a pencil and proceeded to measure out the dimensions of our canvas - an empty lot ripe for community gardening, maybe a mural, some community events and live music, a block party, vegetables, neighbors... ooh. It was sandy, nutrient poor, and might be contaminated, but it was a beautiful site. Right in the heart of the Old North End. Owned by the Visiting Nurses Association. And hopefully, we were going to be able to start a neighborhood garden on it.

As we walked back to my apartment snow tumbled down all around us in thick flurries. From the warmth of my coral living room Chris typed away at a grant application for the garden while I contemplated my navel in the faith that a passionate grant cover letter was stirring in the deeper recesses of my being. Meg arrived and Chris finished the grant to a fury of fiddle tuning. Soon Jen, Meg, and myself were gathered on the sofa with our fiddles. Scottie had his guitar. And a raucous and heartfelt sing along ensued.

Grow Team Working Manifesto

“Grow Team ONE” will help residents test their soil, turn lawns to gardens or put in raised beds/containers, and create a culture of gardening in the Old North End. The project will grow out of the Old North End Timebank, allowing residents to trade time and skills/knowledge for gardening help.

Grow Team One will consist of 5-10 ONE community members who agree to spend 3-10 hours a week working with residents to start gardens and facilitate the process of beginning a neighborhood garden.

Grow Team One Goals:

• Connect ONE residents to gardening resources
• Soil testing
• Gardening knowledge
• Seeds, soil, and construction materials
• Promote personal and community gardens in the ONE
• Act as a resource to residents who express the desire to start a garden
• Facilitate the creation of sustainable home and community gardens
• Improve access to fresh vegetables among residents in the ONE
• Connect residents looking for garden space

Grow Team ONE will not provide funding or receive U.S. monetary compensation for their work. However, members may receive Time Dollars.

This summer, we hope to:

· Enable 5 residents to begin a home vegetable garden

· Locate a possible ONE neighborhood garden site

· Engage 15 community members in home and neighborhood gardens

· Have a ridiculous amount of fun digging, planting, growing, learning and eating beautiful fresh vegetables!

Grow Team O.N.E.

In an effort to spread the word and the garden fever, here's our first Grow Team Email. Interested in getting involved? Want to learn more? Email: growteam@yahoo.com

Hello Dear Ones,

Grow Team has been up and running for three business days and already a team of excited bicyclists have hit the streets and Chris Howell has gotten the ball rolling on a likely community garden space.

For those of you new to the list, Grow Team ONE is a group of community minded gardeners who are excited about increasing food security in the ONE, spreading the fresh veggie/garden joy, and fostering urban permaculture. We are organized through the Old North End Time Bank. Questions? Hunt me down.

In this email you will find: Next Meeting - When, Where; ONE Neighborhood Garden Update and Next Steps; and Minutes from Friday's Meeting and Next Steps.

Next Meeting:
5pm Friday, April 6 at Chris Howell's house
185 N. Winooski Ave, 2 houses south of Viva Espresso.

ONE Neighborhood Garden Update:
It looks like the Family room may be able to partner with Grow Team to create a community garden on the VNA lot (next to Dot's Market). (The Family Room is a VNA program).

VNA lot: partnership of Family Room and Grow Team

Sara Sinnott, Family Room Garden Program coord.

Susan Landsman, supervisor

Family Room provides:

Brush hogging

Use of site

Liability insurance

Family Room is:

Program of VNA, educational programs for people in poverty, recent immigrants, operates family room garden at Ethan Allen Homestead

There’s something big growing in the Old North End…
- Chris Howell

Neighborhood Garden NEXT STEPS
In anticipation of the project going through this season, we are applying for a VCGN grant.

Postmark deadline is Friday April 6th.

We need to go to the VNA lot and take measurements and see what it needs.
We'll be doing this 6pm Wednesday April 4th. All interested parties come to Dot's Market (on Archibald, next to H.O. Wheeler).

Minutes from Grow Team Meeting 3/31/07
Since this was our first meeting we wanted to get a sense of who we were and why were involved with the project.

Personal goals:

ß Experience
ß Learning
ß Greater connection to food
ß Apply experience
ß Apply personal passion
ß Implement permaculture design principals in the ONE
ß A garden no more than three blocks from every Burlington resident
ß Ownership/stewardship of space, as resident & tenant
ß Link interests – design, gardening, permaculture
ß Get residents out in Burlington's green spaces
ß Evoke the creative potential of the community

A Note on Focus and Organizational Structure:

Grow Team has three main focuses:

To work with like minded community partners to start accessible neighborhood gardens in the Old North End. Neighborhood gardens are categorized as small community garden projects that are coordinated by a housing project or neighborhood group. Friends of Burlington Gardens offers technical assistance to groups or organizations interested in starting and sustaining community-based garden projects that serve multiple people.

To support and encourage neighbors to transform their lawns into gardens or put in raised beds/containers.

To connect neighbors who want to garden and don't have the space to neighbors who have the space and want to share.

These projects will help to create a culture of gardening in the Old North End, which, as Chris Howell so eloquently stated, changes the fabric of community.

Organizational Structure:
Julie Epstein is Grow Team ONE's primary coordinator with Melissa Stiebert acting as assistant coordinator.

Grow Team ONE is organized through the Old North End Time Bank (burlingtontimebanks.blogspot.com). The time bank has 78 members who agree to spend and earn Time Dollars. A Time Dollar is something you earn when you help a neighbor or area non-profit for one hour. You can spend that Time Dollar with neighbors to get your needs met.

Everyone in Grow Team can earn Time Dollars for all the sweat, tears and glory they put into beautifying this sweet Old North End.

NEXT STEPS:
ß Bike around the ONE to investigate possible community garden locations—done! (I'll bring photos to the meeeting).
ß Firm up our network and organizational structure
ß Group brainstorm to hear everyone's ideas
ß Solidify the Grow Team ONE model—how we approach and work with the community
ß Map resources through a questionaire: people, materials, skills, connections
ß Spread the word about Grow Team One: Neighborhood Planning Assemblies, Meetup, Front Porch Forum, Vermont Refugee Resettlement Program, Sustainable Living Netowrk, door-to-door
ß Create an resource kit/flyer to pass out
ß Assemble resources
ß Mark - can you email everyone the Sustainable Living Flyer?
ß Determine Grow Team ONE costumery (overalls, t-shirts, tanks, etc.)


Yeehaw!
Melissa and Chris