Kids Program

Weed or Plant ?

A Visit to the market

The Jr. Master Gardener / Kids Program continues to be a great success story. bringing in kids from all around the neighborhood . This week we did weed is it a weed or is it a vegetable plant in the garden, also made a visit to the local Urban Garden Market , Made bird feeders , and Macaroni Necklaces ...a Busy day for sure .

This Weekend

Tour De Unity is this Sunday June 17th you can Still sign up the day of the ride starting at 7:30 am ,
Until june 15th you can sign-up online at active.com

We are waving any late registration fees . The cost will be $ 25 right up until ride time , If we run out of t-shirts we will order you one

The Ride will start at 9am from the Food Bank of Northern Indiana

The ride will tour several gardens and end up back at The Food Bank where we will have a Cookout with Hamburgers or Veggie Burgers

Most stops will have water and some will have snacks
There will be a truck following the ride in case anyone has a problem and needs a ride to the finish.
We will have written directions for everyone and ride leaders to help make sure everyone knows the way.
We have also marked most of the the route with green arrows on the road telling you which way to go

For more info
www.tourdeunity.blogspot.com

or call 574-315-4361

Tour De Unity

Tour De Unity is this Sunday June 17th you can Still sign up the day of the ride starting at 7:30 am ,
Until june 15th you can sign-up online at active.com

We are waving any late registration fees . The cost will be $ 25 right up until ride time , If we run out of t-shirts we will order you one

The Ride will start at 9am from the Food Bank of Northern Indiana

The ride will tour several gardens and end up back at The Food Bank where we will have a Cookout with Hamburgers or Veggie Burgers

Most stops will have water and some will have snacks
There will be a truck following the ride in case anyone has a problem and needs a ride to the finish.
We will have written directions for everyone and ride leaders to help make sure everyone knows the way.
We have also marked most of the the route with green arrows on the road telling you which way to go

For more info
www.tourdeunity.blogspot.com

or call 574-315-4361

Unity Story

A e-mail from a new Garden Leader
Hi Sara,

I am SO very sorry that I am just sending you this now, over a week after we had our big planting event for the garden. Attached are 5 pictures from our big day and we have many more here if you are interested (I just don't want this stuck in cyber space).

 The planting went wonderfully. Mitch provided us with a great variety of plants and seeds so we now have 2 boxes that each have tomatoes and peppers, one box with cucumbers, one box with egg plants, and one box with green beans. We also have one little box with a sign and we planted zinnia seeds in it.

 Today I looked and we have 13 little green bean seedlings growing! I also have an intern and a senior aide prepping the area around the boxes to be completely mulched because the grass was destroyed after a plumbing project this summer.

 

 Thank you and Mitch SO much for including us in the Unity Garden movement. It is a really awesome opportunity and we are excited and grateful to be involved.

 My work e-mail is rebekah.deline@redcross.org and so you can catch me there if you have any questions.

Thanks!

 Rebekah

Community Plots

Last year Unity Gardens toyed with the idea of Community Plots at The LaSalle Square Unity Garden. Traditionally the garden has been open to everyone to harvest . Since we did not want to get away from our roots we had new water put in a area far from the open garden. Last summer we had a few takers for the community plots , and just fair results . So not to ever fail at a mission we decided bigger and better was the way to go. So we wrote a grant for a garden to market/ educational area complete with raised beds, composters, fence , shed, and more . With mostly word of mouth the community plots have taken off . We were looking at doing 6 to 8 people , but the number is at 16 right now , plus a plot for the Jr. Master Gardeners . In addition we have a season extender bed , straw bale garden bed. a Handicap Access bed , 3 different compost stations. , and more to come. What is clear to me is the diversity of people coming together to work in the garden. This out weighs even the healthy food that will come from these plots. We have a ND professor, and his wife from China, a family from Beacon Heights Apts , School Teacher, Landscape Architect, Saint Mary's Social Justice Professor, Jr. Master Gardeners , A guy named Kevin that just Showed up , Bruce who works at Goodwill , Master Gardeners, An IU South Bend intern ,  and I am sure I missed a few. I am so excited to see this grow and take off like a rocket. Growing healthy food , making friends , and learning that's what this is all about. What a great project !!

New Intern

Hello world, thank you for taking the time to read more about me, Reginald Young. I am senior at Indiana University of South Bend. Like many college students, I constantly changed my mind and my major, but I believe that that form of indecisiveness helped create the well round-rounded individual that I am today. I am a General Studies major, with a concentration in science and math, and I also have minors in Business Administration, Marketing, Psychology, Sociology, and Sustainable Development. Upon graduation, I plan on helping businesses understand how to bring their employees, profit, cost, and company sustainability into one interlocking model of growth.

This is the first internship that I've ever had and I would like to thank Unity Gardens for the opportunity. I believe that we (Unity Gardens and I) offer each other valuable information that we may or may not have had access to previously. While interning at Unity Gardens, I plan on integrating all of my academic knowledge as well as my love for life, prosperity, and happiness to help transform and motivate sustainable development into the volunteers, the community, the staff (Yes, everyone is constantly learning!) and, most importantly, the skeptics who don't fully understand the mission and goal (s) here at Unity Gardens. I believe that I can accomplish this because Unity Gardens already has a positive foundation of support from both businesses and the community. I would like to utilize my talents by adding a new marketing aspect to Unity Gardens that gets the overall message out, while at the same time, acting as an empowering tool which would foster additional community based activities that would create new friendships and an additional sense of belonging to members in the community who may feel as if they don't belong.

Radish Pods

Random Tips

Some thing I learned and tried . Plant some radish and let them go to seed . Pick the seed pods when they are plump, they are great raw or in a stir fry . An added bonus is its a early flower the bees like.