Description
Start Date-End Date: 06/03/2019-06/03/2019
Land Manager Office: Grow Local Colorado
Land Manager Contact: Barbara Masoner
Funding Partner:
Programmatic Partner:
Summary: Plant vegetable gardens with Grow Local Colorado! For volunteers ages 8+.
Description: About the Stewardship Site
The Colorado Governor's Mansion, located in the heart of Denver's Capitol Hill neighborhood, is a member of the U.S. National Register of Historic Places. Originally built as a private residence in 1908, it was given to the State of Colorado as an executive residence in 1959. In 2011, Governor Hickenlooper donated the plants that were to become the First Family's Giving Garden, planted by Volunteers for Outdoor Colorado in conjunction with Grow Local Colorado.
About the Volunteer Experience
VOC is excited to team up with our long-term partner, Grow Local Colorado, to plant vegetable gardens whose purpose is to demonstrate the beauty of edible gardens, engage community participation, and inspire Denver residents to grow their own vegetable gardens. 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.
About the Overall Impact
The produce that volunteers will plant will mature in the fall, and at that time be donated to local organizations including food banks, homeless shelters, and families in need. Further, by growing food locally, we reduce our carbon footprint (food isn't transported thousands of miles), minimize water use, decrease soil erosion, and help develop a sustainable community.
Latitude/Longitude: 39.728751 -104.981988, 3943'43.50" N -10458'55.16" W
Additional Information:
Camping Available: No
Physical Difficulty: Easy
High Altitude Project: No
Desired Number of Volunteers: 18
Total Adult Volunteers Attended: 5
Total Youth Volunteers Attended: 0
Total Volunteer Days: 5
Total Unique Volunteers: 5
Total Volunteer Hours: 12
Staff Hours: 4
Stipend Hours: 0
Project Summary: On Monday June 3rd, 4 volunteers came out to the Governors Mansion with VOC and Grow Local Colorado to help plant seeds and starter plants for the growing season.The volunteers spent the time readying the 1000 sq ft of gardening space and planting a variety of veggies, including (but not limited to) basil, kale, collards, lettuce, eggplant, tomatoes and onions that will all be donated to Metro CareRing. The garden is estimated to produce close to 200 lbs of food this season.
Successes and Challenges: This project was originally set to take place Tuesday May 28th and had 17 volunteers registered. Due to a bad weather forecast the decision was made to reschedule. The reschedule needed to take place as quickly as possible in order to keep the starter plants thriving, so the decision was made to have the reschedule take place less than a week out. This quick turn around can be challenging when it comes to re-filling a project, but we were able to secure 8 volunteers. Unfortunately the day of the project, about 40 min prior to its start there was a bad thunder storm which scared half of the 8 away.
Weather was not in our favor for any of our plantings this year.
Lessons Learned:
Special Notes:
Stewardship Education:
Key Concerns or Comments from Staff or Volunteers:
Description of Accidents/Incidents:
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Details
| 8 and older |
