2013-Evening Garden Planting at Civic Center Park 5/23/2013

Start Date-End Date: 05/23/2013-05/23/2013 Land Manager Office: Grow Local Colorado Land Manager Contact: Barbara Masoner Funding Partner: Programmatic Partner: Summary: NOTE: Registration for this opportunity is full. If you register, you will be placed on the wait list. Spend an evening outdoors planting a vegetable garden while at the same time helping to provide food for those in need. Description: STEWARDSHIP SITE Civic Center Park, a Denver city park, is located in the heart of downtown Denver. The park serves not only as a slice of the outdoors within the city, but as a site for festivals, parades, protests, and concerts as well. VOLUNTEER PROJECT - WHAT & WHY We return to Civic Center Park for a third year to continue work on a vegetable garden, enhancing both the park's beauty and functionality. This project is one of several where we will be planting vegetable gardens in Denver City Parks, whose purpose 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 preparing the garden beds, weeding, working the soil, and planting vegetable seeds and seedlings. PARTNERS Grow Local Colorado Denver Parks and Recreation SPONSORS Colorado Garden Show, Inc. Latitude/Longitude: 39.737799, -104.988851 Additional Information: Camping Available: No Physical Difficulty: Easy High Altitude Project: No Desired Number of Volunteers: 25 Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 14 Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 10 Total Volunteer Days: 24 Total Unique Volunteers: 24 Total Volunteer Hours: 96 Staff Hours: 25 Stipend Hours: 0 Project Summary: Successes and Challenges: Lessons Learned: Special Notes: Stewardship Education: Food grown at this location will be donated to local food banks and other in-need shelter for a healthy supply of produce throughout the growing season. Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers: There were a lot of parents and children at this project. What I remember was hearing how excited the kids were about gardening and wanted to return home to plant their own vegetables. Description of Accidents/Incidents: Description of Work Completed: 24 VOC volunteers had a beautiful summer evening to plant two 300-square foot, vegetable gardens in Denver's Civic Center Park. Volunteers of all ages planted tomatoes, onions, peppers, broccoli, cabbage, radish, beets, sunflowers and zinnias. Returned Peace Corps Volunteers in partnership with Grow Local Colorado help maintain these beds throughout the summer, until the harvesting season is over. At the conclusion of the project, volunteers enjoyed a nice evening picnic on behalf of Chipotle.