growing people newsletter - summer 2008

8/4/2019 Growing People Newsletter - Summer 2008

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GICD WISH LIST:

garden benches

garden tool shed

new lap top computer

wheelbarrows

gardening tools

canning jars

Mantis tiller

Kubota tractor withloader and tiller

friends with trucks

volunteers

Gardeners In Community Development

Our Saviour Participates inCinco de Mayo Parade

Mission: improving the quality of life in neighborhoods through community gardening

Summer 2008Dallas Area Community Gardening

Gardeners In Community

Development

901 Greenbriar Lane

Richardson, TX 75080

www.gardendallas.org

In this issue:

P. 1 O.S. Parade

P. 1 20th Anniversary

P. 2 Plant Sales

P. 2 East Dallas Market

P. 2 Support GICD

P. 3 Our Saviour Blessing

P. 3 Reduce Carbon Footprint

P. 3 GICD Featured in Book

P. 3 A Bountiful Harvest

P. 3 Harvest Donation

P. 3 Carbon Footprint Reduced

P. 4 Garden Gleanings

P. 5 Water Wise Tour

P. 5 Pioneer Gardener

P. 5 ED featured on KERA-FM

P. 5 Interested in volunteering

P. 6 Papayas in Dallas?P. 6 Don’t Forget

Ever Growing

Dallas Area Community Gardening

On May 3, gardeners, GICD

supporters, members of Our

Saviour Episcopal Church,

special guest Mike Everett

from Heifer International,

and even a dog,horse, and pet goat

took part in the an-

nual Southeast Dallas

Chamber of Com-

merce Cinco de Mayo

parade.

Dressed as farmers,

some participants

rode in a colorfully

decorated float and

others pushed wheel-

barrows along the 2.3

mile parade route. The group

tossed flower decorated carnival

beads and seed packets which

included information about

GICD, Heifer International,

ACGA, Church of Our Saviour,

and Our Saviour’s Plot Against

Hunger garden to the excited

by-standers.

Our Saviour’s float won

2nd place with their

entry theme "growing

community through

community gardening."

Special thanks go to

Amanda Brown and

members of Our Sav-

iour Episcopal Church

for putting together

such a colorful display

and for reaching out to

the community.

Asian Garden’s 20th Anniversary

Celebration Sept. 6Plans are currently underway

for the 20th Anniversary

Celebration of the East Dallas

Community Garden to be held

on Sept. 6 from 10:00-3:00

at the garden. Tentative plansinclude entertainment,

speakers and food.

Join GICD as we celebrate two

decades of great gardening

and other contributions to the

Dallas region. Conceived as a

project to assist refugees from

Cambodia and Laos, this

garden flourishes as a much

appreciated haven for new

immigrants, visitors from

around the world,

and long time

Dallas residents.

This is a Dallastreasure.

An exhibit of the

East Dallas

Garden and

refugee

experiences will

be on display

during August at

the Casa View

Branch Library, 10355

Ferguson Road, Dallas 75228.

Former Mayor Annette Straus

at opening ceremony in 1988

Cinco de Mayo float



Beautiful weather and the opportunity tobuy flowers, herbs, and vegetables drewmany GICD supporters and area garden-ers to the April fundraising plant sales atthe East Dallas and Our Saviour Commu-nity Gardens.

Many thanks go to the volunteers whohelped grow plants and work the sale,and to area businesses and nurseries whogenerously donate plants and supplies.When you visit these businesses, pleasetake time to personally thank them forsupporting GICD.

A very special thanks goes to BarbaraHeuerman, Don Lambert’s sister, whohas come down from Seattle for severalyears to help with the sale and who is a

fantastic raffle ticket salesperson. It isvolunteers like Barbara, who are willingto take “working vacations” and give of their time and talents, that makes GICDand community gardening so special.

Ever Growing Summer 2008 Gardeners In Community Development www.gardendall as.org grower@fla sh.net

Fresh From the East DallasCommunity Garden’s Market

For the freshest, most locally grown produce

available in Dallas, come to the East Dallas

Community and Market Garden, 1416 N. Fitz-

hugh.

Now that the weather is hot,

hot, hot, look for all those spe-

cialty tropical Asian crops such

as bitter melon, water spinach,

Asian eggplant, long beans,

taro stem, etc. For those of us

wondering how to cook with

some of these vegetables,

check out archived issues of

Growing People News on

GICD’s website for recipes.

Buy really local !!

Produce that travels ZERO

MILES to reach its market !!

Plant Sales Draw GICD Supporters

Plant Sale at East Dallas Garden

Left to right: Barbara Baughman, Tiah

Lambert, Barbara Heuerman

Bitter Melon

How To Support

Community Gardening

PainlesslyAs with many non-profit

organizations, our nation’s

economic situation is taking

its toll. With the price of

gasoline, seeds, supplies,

postage, etc. increasing

dramatically, just going from

garden to garden and

conducting GICD’s everyday

activities has put a

considerable dent in GICD’s

yearly budget. ExecutiveDirector, Don Lambert, has

been an excellent steward of

GICD’s money; and GICD has

been given an award from

Heifer International for

“Accountability.” Still, we

need your help!! So here are

some suggestions for

“painless” ways to donate to

GICD: 1) Use your grocery

store reward cards,

community partnership

cards and numbers to

donate money automatically

to GICD. You can request an

Albertsons and Kroger card

from Don Lambert at (972)

231-3565. GICD’s Tom

Thumb number is 6714. 2)

Use matching funds

opportunities from your

employer to match your

donation or volunteer hours.3) Buy Carbon Credits (see

article on page 4) 4) Match

our pounds of produce

donated to the food pantries

with a dollar amount (even a

“half penny” per pound will

do!!).

Of course, cash donations of

any amount are also most

gratefully accepted.

Plant Sale

Business

Supporters

Y-C Nurseries, Inc

Bruce Miller Nursery

Casa Flora, Inc.

Vickery Wholesale Greenhouse

Green Lake Nursery

Ruibal’s

Rohde’s Nursery and Nature

Store

Jimmy’s Food Store

NorthHaven GardensCalloway’s

Walton’s Nursery

Aggie Feed Store

Brother’s Tree Service



GICD Featured in Book on Community Gardening

2008 HARVEST

DONATION

2165 Pounds

donated to area

food pantries from

January-June

member of a community gar-

den, want to get involved in

one, or are just curious, this

guide will inform and inspire

you. Models include vegetable

gardens, aesthetic and art

gardens, children’s and youth

gardens, and several others.

Using real-life case studies

from around North America,

the expert contributors show

how community gardening

produces safe, eco-friendly

food; brings neighbors together; offers

valuable lessons for children; and gives

each participant the personal satisfaction

GICD is one of several gardening pro-

grams featured in the Brooklyn Botanical

Gardens All-Region Guides: Community

Gardening by Ellen Kirby and Elizabeth

Peters, eds.

The following is a review of the book

from www.amazon.com:

Today, more and more people are think-

ing green—and there’s no urban activity

greener, in every sense of the word,

than community gardening. This all-

region guide, filled with hands-on tips,

offers a snapshot of today’s vibrant

North American community gardening

movement. Whether you are already a

On May 4, Rev. Canon (Bishop-Elect)

Paul Lambert of the Episcopal Diocese of

Dallas and Rev. Wylie Miller officiated at

the blessing of Our Saviour’s two gar-

dens, Plot Against Hunger and Just

Greens. Special guests who gave read-

ings during the service included Don

Lambert, Executive Director of GICD,

and Mike Everett, SW Regional Director

of Heifer International. After the liturgy

Our Saviour Garden Blessing


that comes with cultivating

the land and making things

grow. Like all Brooklyn Bo-

tanic Garden handbooks, this

entry features sustainable

and organic gardening prac-

tices.

The book can be ordered on

line from Amazon or perhaps

found at your neighborhood

book store. Give a copy to

all your gardening friends.

At $10.00, it is the perfect

stocking stuffer to help spread the word

about community gardening.

and sermon in the

church, the congre-

gation and guests

walked to the pavil-

ion to conduct the

mass and garden

blessing.

Canon Lambert was

very supportive of

the garden, the church’s mission, and its

ability to give back to the community.

As a show of support, he has already

reserved a plot in his name.

Following the ceremony, the congrega-

tion and guests had a wonderful pot-

luck lunch served by the women of the

church.

Are you concerned about your “carbon

footprint” and have you thought about

purchasing a “carbon offset?” If so,

your volunteer and/or financial support

of GICD meets that requirement.

GICD has calculated that in the East

Dallas Garden alone over 27 tons of

carbon is sequestered in the form of

mulch and compost in the garden. Since

all GICD projects use environmentally

friendly practices (mulching/composting/

growing appropriate plants/planting trees/

use of organics/growing locally/etc),

supporting community gardening is a

perfect way to reduce your carbon

footprint.

Want to Reduce Your Carbon Footprint?

“A Bountiful Harvest”Our Saviour Garden in DMN

“We’re a little-bitty church but doing a

pretty good ministry” said Our Saviour

Community Garden’s coordinator,

Rebecca Smith, in a front page article

written by Sam Hodges about the

garden in the June 25, 2008, edition of

the Dallas Morning News.

The article recounts how the garden has

revitalized the small church, reached out

to the community, and has donated over

18,000 pounds of produce to the food

pantries since beginning in 2003.

For a copy of the newsletter article plus a

a letter to the editor about the article, go

to GICD’s website, www.gardendallas.org

and click on “GICD in the News.”

Rev. Canon Paul Lambert



Ever Growing Summer 2008 Gardeners In Community Development www.gardendal las.org grower@fla sh.net

Garden Gleanings:

Talking Harvest Time Blues***

Harvest time (Break out the canning jars!)

Harvest time (Man the pressure cooker!)

Harvest time (you have to take zucchini— we’re related!)

Harvest time (Now THIS is a tomato!!)

*** abridged from lyrics by Stephanie Davis,

www.stephaniedavis.net

Well, it starts with a catalogue that comes in the mail in the middle of the

winter... And there on the cover sits THE juicy, red, ripe homegrown tomato

you’ve had dancing in your head. Never mind you said last August that you’d

had it up to here with the hoeing and the weeding-that’s what you say every

year! Then it’s on to peas and carrots, lima beans and beets and kale. And

you’ve never tried kohlrabi—say the lettuce is on sale!

.some months later after unexpected freezes/etc……

…..and even when the rabbits take your lettuce …… and a fungus coats your kale ‘cause it’s

rained for two weeks solid– do you falter? Do you fail?

You throw the hoe down, stamp your feet and call it quits— Declare to all the neighborhood that gardening

is the pits and you’ll never plant another and this one can bloody rot, then suddenly the sun breaks through

the clouds and, like as not, you see a couple of weeds you must have missed the last go-round and shake

your head and meekly pick your hoe up off the ground; and hoe and keep on hoeing ‘till your romas dangle

red, ripe and juicy on the vine, sweet corn towers overhead. Beans hang from their trellis, big orange pumpkins sprawl

about and you get that satisfying feeling once more when you shout:

Well, the days turn to weeks and the next thing you know there’s a robin at the feeder and the

last patch of snow disappears ‘bout the time that a UPS truck backs up to your house and you

stand there, awestruck as 47 “Perishable-Plant Right Away”- marked boxes are unloaded on

your porch as you say, “Are you sure?” “Yes, ma’am, need your signature here— Looks likesomeone’s gonnna have ‘em quite a garden this year!” Well, you watch him drive away, then

you sink to your knees “cause you feel a little woozy: 47 boxes—Please! God I knows I’ve got a

problem and we’ve had this talk before, but help me this one last time— I won’t order anymore!

Yep!!



about everything he believed in and

loved.

Jack’s final project

was to help design a

handicapped accessi-

ble garden at Our

Saviour. It will cost

about $10,000.00 to

complete this pro-

ject. If you would

like to help make

Jack’s vision a real-

ity, please send a

donation in Jack’smemory to GICD.

Hope Garden Participates in Water Wise Tour


Gardeners in Community Development

A 501 c (3) Non-Profit Organization

Board of Directors

Cathi Haug, President

Amanda Brown, Vice-President

Carolyn Bush, Secretary

Nancy Wilson

Helen Harrell

Azenath Wright

Gerald Askew

Paul Thai

Don Lambert, Executive Director

Rebecca Smith, Education Assistant

Support Community GardeningYour tax-deductible donation will support

GICD’s community gardening programs. Any

and all donations are gratefully accepted!!

Please make your check payable to: GICD and

send to 901 Greenbriar Lane, Richardson, TX

75080

Pioneer Gardener Remembered

East Dallas Garden Featured on

KERA-FM’s Morning Edition

Our Saviour’s beloved church and gar-

den member, Jack Boedeker,departed this life and was me-

morialized at a service at the

church in late April. A longtime

church member and one of the

founders of Our Saviour’s gar-

den, Jack, in spite of disabilities

from polio, tirelessly worked to

see that the garden ministry

became a reality. Known for

his love of family, the church,

the Boy Scouts of America,

gardening, computers, and his

friends, he was passionate

For the third year, Hope

Community Garden

participated as a

demonstration garden in

the annual Water Wise

Tour sponsored by the

Dallas Water Utilities.

Over 38 visitors viewed the

front native and adapted

plant xeriscaped flower

bed, were envious of our

fresh vegetables, and

learned about community gardening and

our harvest donations to the

food pantries.

Kudos go to the gardeners and

GICD volunteers who braved

the heat and little shade to

show off the garden to the

public; to Dana McGuire who

took pictures of the gardeners,

mounted them on cut out

vegetable shapes and posted

them throughout the garden; to

Hope Garden Coordinator

The East Dallas

Community Garden and

its upcoming 20th

anniversary were

featured in the North

Texas segment of

KERA’s Morning Edition.

Producer Rachael

Dunlap interviewed

several of the

gardeners including

Savorn Touch and Nuon Chun

with translation by Lt. Paul Thai.

They talked about fleeing from

Cambodia and the importance of

the garden in maintaining their

heritage, culture, and providing

supplemental income. To read a

copy of the radio transcript go to

GICD’s website,

www.gardendallas.org and click on

“GICD in the News.”

Interested in volunteering?

East Dallas Community Garden: contact Don at (972) 231-3565 or [email protected]

Hope Community Garden: contact Nancy at (214) 348-1126 or [email protected]

Our Saviour Community Garden: contact Rebecca at ( 214) 564-5801 or [email protected]

Don and Tiah Lambert,

Hope Gothic gardeners

Nancy Wilson who painted the large

Hope Gothic

sign; and to

Linda Seidel,

Hope Gardener

and Dallas

County Master

Gardener intern,

who was the

coordinator for

this year’s

tour.

Savorn Touch

Jack Boedeker

Support

Community Gardens



Don’t Forget:

20th Anniversary

Celebration

at the East Dallas

Community Garden

Sept. 6

10:00-3:00

Gardeners In Community Development Ever Growing901 Greenbriar Lane

Richardson, TX 75080

Pass-a-long this newsletter: help sow the seeds of community gardening.

To subscribe or un-subscribe, or to offer suggestions, contact [email protected]


Though normally considered a tropical

fruit needing a very long growing season

to ripen, it is possible to grow papayas

here in North Texas— and even eat

them.

Three years ago,

Hope gardeners (and

bee experts) Susan

and Brandon

Pollard found a

papaya seed

sprouting in their

compost pile. On a

whim, they planted it

in their plot at Hope

Community Garden.

To everyone’s surprise, it grew into a

beautiful six foot very tropical lookingtree that actually produced papayas

along the stem. Unfortunately, our

growing season was not long enough for

Papayas in Dallas?them to ripen, but an internet search

showed that green papaya salad is a

favorite dish in Thailand. So, if you

want to grow an unusual plant and eat

its fruit, you might try:

Som Tum (Green Papaya Salad)

Ingredients:

2 cups green papaya, grated

1 cup green cabbage, cubed

1/2 pound string beans, julienned

3 garlic cloves, minced

3 dried red chilies, chopped

1 Tablespoon sugar

3 Tablespoons soy sauce

3 Tablespoons lime juice

3 small tomatoes, cut into wedges

5 Tablespoons peanuts, roasted and crushed

4 Tablespoons cilantro leaves, chopped

Preparation:

On a large serving platter arrange in layers

the cabbage, papaya, and beans. In a small

bowl, mix together the garlic, chilies, sugar,

soy sauce, lime juice. Just before serving,

Green papayas at

Hope Community

Garden pour the dressing over the salad and garnish

with the tomatoes, peanuts, and cilantro.

Yield: 4 servings

Recipe Source: Delightful Thai Cooking by Eng

Tie Ang (Ambrosia Publications)

Papaya plants recently seen for sale

at Jimmy’s Food Store on Bryan!!

M U S I C

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growing people newsletter - summer 2008

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