July was a very busy month for Rose Roots gardeners. Below is a recap of all the wonderful ways gardeners are growing community and supporting our thriving garden.
Garden Community
Buzz about Bees Pollinator Workshop
Many thanks to Nicole and Tyler for providing a helpful breakdown of the Pollinator Garden's various species they’ve planted and maintained with the help of many gardeners over the years. The Pollinator garden is located at Rose Root's entrance and with such a banner year, we've seen many community members perusing the species and learning about native drought resistant species from the genus and species labels. Check out Nicole's wonderful tour of the pollinator garden Here.
Gardener Outreach
Patty has been talking with gardeners on Thursdays and weekends about what their gardening information needs are and also have collected some ideas as to how to help new gardeners get their plot in the ground. Gardeners have been most interested in learning what to plant, when to plant, when to harvest, succession planting, how to recognize pests and what to do about them. We will continue to offer mentorship and workshops to focus on these areas.
Music in the Garden Night: Kelan Spinden
Many thanks to Kelan Spinden for a lovely evening of song at Rose Roots Garden on July 19. We enjoyed his original scores and cover music whilst the youth scavengers were sleuthing around the garden.
Movie In the Garden Night: "Kiss the Ground"
John Malito, our Rose Roots Treasurer, volunteered to pick up the blow up Video screen provided by the City for our first ever movie night!
John, Patty, and Margaret prevailed with the convoluted movie equipment setup and though it was a small group, those who caught this award winning uplifting documentary about regenerative farming and nurturing soil to improve our environment highly recommended it.
Service Hours
Over 700 service hours have been logged using our online logging form Here and in the barn log book. Well done you busy bees! If you'd like to check to see how many hours you've logged, see our combined totals from the online and barn logging in the third tab Here. If you're looking for ways to fulfill your 12 required service hours per plot per season, check our calendar Here for upcoming Thursday and Saturday work days. Ten gardeners came out for our most recent work night and enjoyed community time together. Come join the fun!
Finances
Our garden is doing well with our small budget and strategic purchases this season. We've replaced all hose hangers, improved plot borders, maintained weed cloth and edging in community spaces, and replaced our refrigerator which died. See our financial Budgeted and Actuals to date Here.
Gardener Feedback
-In our gardener feedback form Here on our website, we received a suggestion to designate one of our parking spaces for ADA access. The City has been contacted to see if this can be accomplished.
-Another gardener requested more help mowing the compost pile which gets quite big this time of year. This is a great way to get service hours!
-A gardener requested that we encourage gardeners to hang their hoses up, don't let them cross other garden plots, and be sure to put tools away, so here's yall's reminder!
-Our dedicated composters requested that we remind people not to put anything in the compost pile you wouldn't mow over with your own mower including plastic, metal, thick sunflower stems, and rocks.
Operations
An organic 30% vinegar mix was tested, purchased and applied to community garden spaces to help reduce weeds and preserve our weed barrier.
We purchased a new fridge mid-donation season when ours died. Donations continue to come in full force.
Two Fans were installed by Fisher Thompson Construction in the barn roof to help pull the heat out as the building is not currently insulated and heats up. Fisher Thompson Construction's time, expertise and materials were donated and there is already a notable difference in temperature! When gardeners are present, we are propping the door open to pull cooler air in as the fans suck the hot air out.
Community Outreach
Food Donations
Thank you to Rose Roots Gardeners providing donated produce in the barn on Mondays and Thursdays for distribution to the Community Table and Veggie Van. The new fridge has been full, donations are increasing as gardeners have more surplus produce, and the Community Table and Veggie Van have been loaded with Rose Roots Garden delights. To date, approximately 230 pounds of produce have been donated by Rose Roots gardeners. All food was distributed to local community.
Community Volunteers Chip In
Patty Sacks reported: "We would like to extend our heartfelt appreciation to former Rose Roots gardener Jason Andersen and his youth group of 12 energetic missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ Latter Day Saints. They showed up on relatively short notice on July 10, from 9-11 am to turn our "cooking" horse manure pile and to weed in the garden common areas. They approached these mundane but necessary tasks with a positive attitude, cheerfully tossing manure and pulling our pernicious weeds with vigor. Jason and the team expressed interest in returning in August to assist Rose Roots Community Garden with any upcoming volunteer projects in the mill. I, for one, look forward to working with these volunteers again. Many hands do make for light work! Many thanks to Theresa McKinney for stepping up to make the Gatorade run and for snapping a group photo of the team."
Jason’s Feedback: "Hey All, It was our pleasure to assist such a great non profit organization. Thank you Patty for the kind words, it really made mine and their day.
Looking forward to working with you all in the future." -Jason Andersen
DUG Sister Garden Visit with Beeler Garden
We had a wonderful visit with Beeler Gardeners, our Sister Garden in Aurora, paired by DUG. George Washington Garden, a half community/half school garden was in attendance and we shared ideas and experiences. Beeler Garden recently experienced vandalism to their chairs, table and kiosk so Rose Roots offered a donation for recovery. Most of the gardeners are Nepali and we were treated to an insightful tour from garden lead Jim Warland and Michaely, a young enthusiastic gardener who shared with us her experiments in the garden. Other Nepali gardeners pointed out their favorite plants to grow, including saag, a tasty spicy green. See an interview with the composed Michaely Here. Thank you to DUG and intern Katie Cmil for organizing.
Artist in Residence at the Garden
Artist Janice Wright’s Report:
"We had 7 members painting in the garden this morning. It was beautiful, albeit warm!! There was so much to paint/sketch it was hard to choose:). I love how the garden has such a wonderful peaceful vibe!! I bet gardeners feel that meditative spirit when they are there. Thank you so much for allowing us to experience the gardens!!"
Thank you,
Janice Wright
Contemporary Landscapes
www.janicewrightart.com
Native Bees and Cucumber Study
Emma Briggs and a team of researchers at North Carolina State University are conducting an urban pollinator study this summer. They selected Rose Roots Community Garden as a study site. Here is more info about the study in our recent Blog post.
Below is Emma's report after their first visit:
"Thank you so much for letting us visit the garden. We collected a bunch of great data and saw tons of bees! We set up our mini weather station in one of the pollinator garden beds near the back of the garden. It will record important temperature and humidity data throughout the year. Thanks again for hosting our three year study and we will be back in Spring if not before!" -Emma
Note: If you read this far, and are among the first five gardeners to email us at leadership@roserootsgarden.org with the Secret Word "Cucumber", you will receive some fabulous recently delivered Rose Roots Apparel!
Gardener Reminders
Upcoming Dates-Check calendar for details
Mon Aug 2, 6 pm: All Gardener monthly meeting
Sat Aug 7, 9 am: 17.5 mile Arvada Gardens Tour Bike ride with Bike Friendly Arvada.
Thurs Aug 19, 7 pm: Music at the garden: Laurie Dameron
Wed Aug 25, 5:30-9 pm: Rose Roots Hosts Micro-Network Social sponsored by DUG (34 gardens invited. Don't miss it! )
Tuesday Sept 7, 6 pm: Next RR Monthly Meeting
Note: Pollinator Garden Breakfast Work Parties every Sunday 8-10 am and every other Thurs at 6 pm we have Work Parties with leads Patty and Julie at 6 pm. This is a great way to get your service hours in and socialize with other gardeners. Check calendar for dates.
In Service to our Garden Community,
Erin Newton, Rose Roots President
and Rose Roots Leadership Team
Website: www.roserootsgarden.org
Email: leadership@roserootsgarden.org
Phone: (720) 702-8806
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