As the high harvest season continues, we love seeing all of your garden successes! Below is important information as the season begins to wrap up.
Important Date Change Update: Due to Leadership Team conflicts we have rescheduled the Sept 21 BBQ to October 26th at 9 am to coincide with our final work party followed by live music and a Season Celebration Potluck BBQ. We hope to see you there!
Event Recap
Wed Aug 28, Community Volunteer Day: We had a wonderful community volunteer work day with Jason Anderson's Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints working with Rose Roots gardeners for one of our busiest work parties of the season! The pollinator garden, community spaces and west side were weeded and watered, gravel was spread, compost was turned, and fun was had! Thank you to garden leader Erin Newton for shopping for the grub and community member Joanne Leibowitz for grilling the goodies. Thank you to the Rose Roots Leadership Team for guiding work teams and especially to Jason's Youth Group for their hard work beautifying our very special community space!
Check out the slideshow below of the stunning evening!
Leadership Opportunities for 2025 Season
People who have served in leadership roles, done volunteer work in the past, enjoy being part of a competent team, and thrive on connecting with neighbors and serving their community, we would love to hear from you! Below, current and past leaders reflect on serving in Rose Roots leadership.
Jack Nix, Rose Roots Board Member-at-Large, says he joined because he had never gardened before, but had served in leadership on many other teams and enjoys the opportunity to serve his community and get more integrated, building friendships in new places and working towards a common cause.
Gary Williams, Operations Lead, and founding member, says he likes seeing everyone grow successful gardens. He enjoys supporting community success and volunteers for leadership whenever he can, serving on the HOA, Men’s Book Group and many other teams.
Tom Glum, Treasurer, says he loves connecting with community members of all ages, seeing young people get excited about growing their own food, and having brief but genuine human connections with gardeners. He also loves the opportunity to connect on a deeper level with leadership team members who have become good friends!
Here is the Leadership Interest Form for the following positions available in the 2025 season. No experience is necessary, just a love for community gardening! We are happy to mentor new leaders. Elected positions for 2 year terms include:
President
Vice President
Treasurer
Administrator
Membership
Please let us know by Sept 30 if you would be interested in serving in one of these roles as we will be sending out a ballot by Mid October 2024.
Dumpster Rental
Our end of season rental will be from Oct 20 to Nov 1. The cost of the rental is $700 and as this is a big chunk of our seasonal income, we would love help paying for the rental. A suggested donation is $10 and can be paid to Treasurer Tom Glum via Venmo at 914-447-2610 or @trglum1586. Note your payment is for the Rose Roots Dumpster. Any contribution you can provide is much appreciated!
Service Hours
As a reminder, the contract signed by every gardener states each plot will log 12 service hours Here. for full size plots and 6 hours for half and raised plots to help maintain the community spaces since this is a 100% Volunteer community garden. There is $7 per hour fee for service hours not completed which can be paid via Venmo (or Zelle) to Treasurer Tom Glum via Venmo at 914-447-2610 or @trglum1586. Leadership will reach out after October 31st to settle up garden accounts. All invoices must be paid in full to lease a plot the following season.
Season Wrap Up Guidelines
We must have our garden plots cleared by Oct 31 per DUG rules.
For plots that are not cleared there is a $40 fee as the plot will need to be prepared for the next gardeners by the leadership team.
If you aren’t returning for next season, all vegetation and non-organic material should be removed. If you plan to return and have veggies still growing, feel free to leave your greenery growing.
Please pile any non-organic garden stepping stones and supplies you want to share with future gardeners behind the West Barn.
Please pile organic material next to the West Side compost pile.
End of Season Plot Prep: Tips from Pro Gardener Jim
Jim preps his plot by removing his vegetation, leaves things like carrots and garlic and onions, spades the soil to turn it over and keep the ground loose for Spring, and adds organic fertilizer, lime to break apart the acidic soil, and add the hay to the top to protect plants past the winter date. That's it in a nutshell!
Produce Rotting on the Vine: Can we Help?
If you are a Gardener or neighbor who sees produce serially left on the vine to rot, reach out to us and we will help share your garden donations and connect you with your neighbors if you'd like to communicate but have different gardening schedules. We'd love to see all those stunning tomatoes and zucchinis (what is the actual Plural of zucchini anyway?!) feed appreciative humans instead of the squash beetles and grasshoppers and hornworms who have already gorged themselves!
Produce Donation Gratitude
Shelley Cook, Owner of Veggie Van, said August's donation numbers were incredible! Rose Roots Gardeners donated 452 lbs of fresh organic produce, not including Karel's donated bagels which everyone also loves. Shelley reports that Rose Roots continues to offer a huge part of Veggie Van's total offerings, currently averaging over 19% of their distributions! Shelley and the Community would like to thank all Rose Roots gardeners profusely for sharing their harvest.
Thank you to Those who Serve
A big thank you goes out to Shannon Sawyer who served as Rose Roots Administrator for two seasons as well as Pollinator Garden Lead along with Katie Meis. Shannon, a professional Landscape Architect, shared her skills, expertise and ideas with the Rose Roots community, spearheading Pollinator Garden maintenance by leading volunteer teams for regular maintenance socials. She offered guided tours to community during the Annual Arvada Pollinator Garden Tour, and dedicated countless hours to helping beautify our community spaces. Thank you Shannon for your service!
Garden Finances: A Chat with Treasurer Tom
As the season comes to a close, Rose Roots Treasurer Tom Glum noted we are financially in good shape. We have spent around $4700 this season and had revenue around that amount, so we will likely break even for the season he says. Outstanding expenses include the dumpster and the water and electricity invoices which come from Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) at the end of the season. We are grateful Tom has been dutifully submitting our invoices for reimbursement to our DUG-managed account to support garden maintenance and appreciate his efforts to keep running totals for us!
In Memory of Sue Donaldson
A beautiful garden bench was donated by Dan Donaldson in memory of his wife Sue Donaldson to our garden, where they loved spending time together and with our community. It will be placed on the East Side facing her garden looking out to the west where she loved to watch the sunset and be visited by her hummingbird pollinator friends.
Sue maintained two stunning plots, one of which was dedicated to supporting pollinators. It was decided this plot will be added to our community shared plots, to carry on her legacy, and will remain Sue's Pollinator Garden, maintained by the community, connecting her with us, and us with her, the pollinators, and the land forever more.
Upcoming Events
Tues Oct 8, 6 pm: All Gardener Monthly Meeting, at the garden if weather allows. Call or text Vice President Erin Newton at (303) 253-5090 if weather looks iffy and you plan to attend in case we have to move the location.
Oct 26, 9 am: Final Work Party, Live Music and Potluck BBQ. Join us to clear your plots together, bring a side dish and we will have food to grill to celebrate the end of another fabulous Rose Roots season together!
Happy Harvest Season,
Rose Roots Leadership Team
Laura Bennett, President
Erin Newton, Vice President
Tom Glum, Treasurer
Gary Williams, Operations Lead
Jim Richards, Operations Lead
Patty Sacks, Special Projects
Katie Meis, Pollinator Garden Lead
Please contact Rose RootZone Newsletter Editor Erin Newton with edits and additions at erinskinewt@gmail.com.
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