11-1SG Marshfield Recreation Committee
Grant Round:
2011 February
Grant Program:
Small Grants
Grant Type:
Other Grants
Grant amount requested:
1,640.00
Grant amount awarded:
$1,000.00
Please provide a brief description of the project for which you seek funding.
Community Garden start-up in the rural village of Marshfield, VT where the communit y will benefit from gathering its neighbors around a common shared effort and where enthusiasm is high for sustainability and the pioneering spirit, but not every home has a garden site available. Start-up site is next to the village gathering location including the community library, senior center, weekly pre-school playgroup, K-12 school bus stop, head start program, weekly free community supper and food shelf. In the first year of existence, sites will be occupied by individuals as well as the pre-school playgroup, food shelf volunteers, head start volunteers and senior center members. Future vision includes educational after school garden program easily accessible by local school children.
Primary Issue Area:
Food
Please break-down/categorize the program expenses:
| Proposed Item | Estimated $ Amount | Would grant funds be used for this item? | Type Of Expense |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fencing | $1,250.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Cedar Posts | $100.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Posthole Digger | $46.00 | Yes | Materials |
| 2 Shovels | $60.00 | Yes | Materials |
| 2 Hoes | $50.00 | Yes | Materials |
| 5 Hand diggers | $32.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Pine for small toolshed | $50.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Pine for compost system | $50.00 | Materials | |
| Nails | $10.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Pump for river water | $0.00 | Materials | |
| Tractor soil building | $400.00 | Materials | |
| Tractor fuel | $80.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Gas Powered Water Pump | $379.00 | Yes | Materials |
| Water Pump Fuel | $50.00 | Materials |
Whom does your group need to make this project happen?
Please explain how your group will engage members from your community in this project.
Current Marshfield Community Garden partners and their capacity is listed below:
1. Jaquith Public Library PreSchool Play Group
This group meets weekly and will work planting and gardening into their curriculum with the children. The community garden is adjacent to the library. They are also interested in connecting with the seniors who meet in the same building through gardening.
2. Marshfield Energy Committee
This committee is dedicated to lowering the fossil fuel output in the town and village of Marshfield. They have offered to encourage community members to have a community garden plot in their communications and to publicize the community garden on their website: http://town.marshfield.vt.us/Energy%20Committee/Energy%20Committee%20pag...
They are also interested in parterning with the community garden on the building of a future community root cellar through support of Transition Town Vermont.
3. Central Vermont Head Start
Volunteers are available and interested in helping with the first year's soil remediation and subsequently having a garden space for their clients in the Marshfield Community Garden. This group also resides within the Old Schoolhouse Commons Building adjacent to the garden space.
4. Central Vermont Food Shelf
This group offers food to any needy family every Wednesday from 10-2 and one Saturday of the month. They are excited about encouraging Food Shelf individuals and families to grow food in a plot and will accept overflow.
5. Further advertising efforts:
Advertise in local "Field Notes" delivered to (3000) individuals and local library newsletter (80).
Poster at local businesses: Post office, local stores, Twinfield School,
Run an ad in the local library newsletter. (80 homes)
Offer sites to rural and village community members.
Advertise at annual "town meeting" for soil building volunteers, March 1, 2011 & for garden plots in 2012.
If your group receives a NEGEF Grow grant, how do you plan to pay for remaining expenses?
| $ Amount | Source |
|---|---|
| $1,640.00 | NEGEF Grant |
Please list these materials or services
| $ Amount | Item |
|---|---|
| $500.00 | Village Land Lease |
| $516.00 | Community Donations |
| $280.00 | Local Hardware Donation |
| $50.00 | Scrapwood Building Site |
| $50.00 | Community Plot Donation |
| $21.00 | Local Lowe's Donation |
Please describe what changes will occur in your community and its environment when your group's project is successful.
The downtown Marshfield Commons currently offers a playground, basketball court and baseball fields outside as well as a walking trail along the Winooski River. The addition of a community garden will welcome involvement from seniors, children and adults in the building to comingle in the fresh air of a community garden space. Excess food will be accepted by the food shelf and weekly community supper. The garden will beautify the location, create partnerships between previously unpartnered groups and individuals, ultimately breaking down perceived age stereotypes when youth, teens and elders gather to grow food on a shared land space. It will also educate interested community members in sustainable gardening techniques, empowering beginner gardeners, food shelf clients, interested seniors and children to grow their own food from scratch.
A successful community garden in Marshfield will bring beauty, inspiration, teamwork, opportunities for donation and volunteer hours from local gardeners and farmers. Involvement will vary forms: advice, manure, & tractor work school children who live in walking distance and are interested in gardening locally will have an accessible location to garden with their parents in place of the local K-12 school garden which is driving distance from downtown Marshfield, and run by classes, not individuals.
Please list how many people in your community your group expects to actively engage in this project.
100
What relevant skills does the group need (but does not currently have access to) to help move the initiative forward?
The group needs advice from local experts, but haven't yet accessed these relationships:
1. Ed Smith, author of The Vegetable Gardener's Bible: in raised bed and successional planting
2. Wilmer Brandt, 91 year old experienced gardener advice
3. Local tractor owner: donate sod removal and help tilling the soil with organic compost or manure
4. A master gardener to guide and advise the project in its startup years. Master Gardeners study with UVM extension and have a summer project to complete before they receive their certification.
5. Brawn and Muscles: The group needs individuals to gather on a few selected occasions
throughout the start-up, manure, buckwheat cover crop rotation & soil building season of 2011. This group will create the infrastructure for the garden and erect the deer fencing.
What relevant skills do current members of the group have to help move the initiative forward?
Below, I include brief bio sketches of our group members to explain the skills they bring to the project:
Laurie Martin: Recreation Board Member has skills to gain permission for land use, grant writing, community connections
Angie Barger: Community Member, Grassroots start up project experience, school children educator, gardener and herbalist
Winnie Mundinger: Food Shelf Coordinator, 87 years of life experience in Marshfield, garden, farm and food systems experience, connection with farmer volunteers for tractor/manure
Susan Green: Jaquith Public Librarian, curriculum development for preschool play group, gardener
Marika Isom: Marshfield Community Member, gardener, herbalist
In addition, this project is in startup mode in 2011. We will focus on soil building and ask individuals throughout the community to help as the project develops. In 2012 plots will be offered to the community members and organizations mentioned above on a first come-first served basis.