Location:
5510 – 26th Avenue NE, Calgary, AB, T1Y 6S1
Contact:
Alex Summerfield Phone: (403) 467-3086 Email: galacticbugs@hotmail.com
The McClure Fellowship of Gardeners is a non-profit community garden which offers the public opportunities to participate in gardening through plot rentals, shared garden space and community outreach programs.
Opportunities for Participation
Rent a Plot
Our community garden currently rents out 30 plots (4’ x 10’) at a cost of $30 each for the season. We hold monthly potlucks and work bees so gardeners can socialize while maintaining the garden.
Garden in the Shared Garden Space
In addition to rental plots, we have common garden spaces that include:
- four flower beds
- A community orchard with apples, cherries, grapes, June berries, currants, strawberries, and raspberries.
- Community vegetable beds contain squash, herbs and whatever other vegetables gardeners put in to share with everyone
- Composters
- A shady, peaceful patio area and picnic table
If you do not rent a plot, a small $5.00 membership fee will entitle you to garden in the shared spaces and to share what’s grown there.
Volunteer in the Garden
Volunteers are always welcome. We have something for everyone. Regular volunteers we always need are:
Gardeners – to supply TLC to flowers, fruit, vegetables and trees. Duties include watering, weeding, dividing, pruning, thinning, planting, harvesting, composting and mulching.
Handymen/women – to help us build and repair plots, composters, eaves troughs, tweak motors, put up shelves and fences, pour cement and many other tasks that need someone who has tools and knows how to use them.
Educators – we need instructors to hold workshops for everything related to gardening and also for food preservation and garden tours.
Special projects – these range from small ongoing duties like picking up donations or preparing snacks for volunteers to large, one-time building projects.
Writers and shutterbugs
We need people to help document the garden’s progress and show it off to the world. Desktop publishers and graphic artists also welcome.
Fundraisers – Can you write persuasive grant applications? Can you charm birds from the trees and sell refrigerators to polar bears? If so, we need you to help us fundraise.
Customize it – is there a special skill you have that you would like to contribute? A particular way you would like to help? Talk to us. We’ll fit you in.
Volunteer in Your Community
Fruition is McClure’s community outreach program. It encourages people in the community to garden to support the environment and their favorite causes at the same time. Contact us if you want to volunteer for one of these city-wide projects or if you would like to propose your own:
1. Green Cats - growing organic catnip to donate to the MEOW Foundation charity to help with their fundraising efforts. Organic growing methods reduce energy consumption and artificial chemical inputs that can harm the environment.
2. Peas on Earth – Beautify your space by planting some sweet peas. Take a moment to smell the flowers. The more peace we can cultivate in our own lives, the more peace there will be in the world. Support the cultivation of peace by collectively growing a row of sweet peas to circle the globe. Free seeds are available to community groups. Go to www.greengate.ca to log your row.
3. The Great Cover Up – creative use of mulch and cover crops to control weeds instead of using herbicides. Edible cover crops give the added benefit of providing a source of food.
4. Metro Grow-Ops – this year’s project helps the Calgary Drop-In Centre’s clients convert a smoking balcony into an oasis of green vegetables and flowers which will help clean the air instead of pollute it.
We are also collaborating with the Village Square Leisure Centre and the Drop-In Centre to transform 2,000 square feet of under-utilized space around the Leisure Centre into an education space for growing fruits, vegetables, herbs and flowers. Food grown in these beds will be donated to the Drop-In Centre and other high needs groups in the area.
5. Home-grown Goodness – promoting local food that is grown at home in Calgary. Food represents 1/3 of Calgary’s Eco-Footprint. Growing food conventionally and shipping it thousands of miles consumes a lot of energy. To reduce our impact on the environment we’re encouraging people to grow their own organic food. For those who don’t have gardening space, Eco-Pots are the answer. They reuse plastic nursery pots to keep them out of landfills and they are filled with potting soil and planted with vegetables.
6. The Melon Colony – a test project to grow watermelons. If successful, the melons will begin colonizing schools across Calgary next year. It’s a fun way to introduce kids to growing food and teaching them to care for plants.
7. The Planting of the Red Sea – get a group of loyal fans together and plant red flowers in a public space to show your support for your Flames.
No comments:
Post a Comment