2013-Evening Garden Harvesting at Huston Lake Park

Start Date-End Date: 10/03/2013-10/03/2013 Land Manager Office: Grow Local Colorado Land Manager Contact: Barbara Masoner Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: Spend a fall evening outdoors harvesting and winterizing a vegetable garden whose produce will provide food for those in need. NOTE: Registration for this opportunity is full. If you register, you will be placed on the wait list. Description: STEWARDSHIP SITE Huston Lake Park, in southwest Denver provides numerous amenities to area residents and the local community, including a bike and walking path, soccer and softball fields, and tennis and basketball courts, and a vegetable garden. VOLUNTEER PROJECT - WHAT & WHY We return to Huston Lake Park in the fall having planted in the spring, to perform the final harvest before putting the garden to rest for the coming winter. This project is one of several where we will be wrapping up the gardening season for those Denver City Park vegetable gardens planted in the spring. The purpose of these projects is to demonstrate the beauty of edible gardens, engage community participation, and inspire Denver citizens to grow their own vegetable gardens. In addition, all produce will be donated to local organizations including local food banks, homeless shelters, and families in need. Volunteer work will be fun, easy, and child-friendly. Tasks will involve harvesting, weeding, and raking the soil a final time. PARTNERS Grow Local Colorado Denver Parks and Recreation Latitude/Longitude: 39.702968, -105.015688 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 25 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 19 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 11 Total Volunteer Days: 30 Total Unique Volunteers: 30 Total Volunteer Hours: 90 Staff Hours: 6 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Successes and Challenges: Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Grow Local discussed local agriculture and food banks. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: Need more trash bags! We were in competition with sundown, may have to try (if we do these projects again) to schedule them for a bit earlier start (4pm) and have a rolling/flexible show-up time... Description of Accidents/Incidents: None Description of Work Completed: 30 volunteers, 19 adults and 11 youth, arrived at Huston Lake Park on October 3rd to put to rest the largest garden bed Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado and Grow Local Colorado collaborate on. By the sun down and the cold front blowing in, volunteers were able to harvest over 65lbs of tomatos and peppers, as well as tear down the 2,000 square feet of garden space. The produce harvested at this event will be donated to local food banks for people in need of fresh produce in their diets. We had amazing groups of volunteers from McGhee, Lowe's, the Aurora School District, and Girl Scouts. Right at sundown, volunteers enjoyed a donated dinner from Chipotle and admired the work they achieved in such a short amount of time.