Another Newbie!

Hello! How is everyone? SO EXCITED to have found this site! Just wish I would have found it a few weeks ago....oh well. Let me introduce myself and explain why I am here. I am the Shelter Director of a domestic violence and sexual assault shelter for women and children. We are non profit and funded only by grants and donations. Purchasing groceries for an average of 350 people per year on a fixed budget becomes challenging and needless to say fresh fruit and vegetables are expensive and therefore rarely make it into the shopping cart! However, we sit on 10 acres so land is not something we are short on! For the past several years I have been trying to raise money to put in a garden. FINALLY a donor came through for me and we got the money! YAY!! It has been ALOT of work though! Half of that work I now realize was not even necessary after learning about square foot gardening. So, I have decided to utilize this concept in my already tilled and amended  100 x 70 ft space because I believe that it will make things much easier in the future! Cant wait to keep reading on here and learning learning learning everything I possibly can! The last thing I want is for this amazing donors money to go to waste on a failed garden  Plus, not only will we be able to provide our clients with healthier food we will be able to teach them valuable skills they can utilize for the future as they rebuild their lives! (I just have to learn those skills first so that I can teach them!! LOL)

Welcome and thanks for all the wonderful work and support you provide for your clients! 
This site has a wealth of information, and everyone is willing to give advice, or provide a link to previous forum topics, or external links for information.  This is my first year with sfg boxes and I'm pleased with the ease and simplicity of the method. Takes a little work, but the veggies I have planted so far are looking beautiful and healthy. Ill have to post pics soon. 
Enjoy the Journey!  

Karyn,  Welcome to the Forum!      You have a wonderfully large area for a garden.  Do you have a copy of All New Square Foot Gardening, 1st or 2nd Edition, by Mel Bartholomew?  If not, please get a copy.  You will refer to it many, many times. It's also a good reading tool.

I think the garden will be a wonderful activity for therapy, it's so normal.  Make sure to have a little sitting area on one side so they can just sit and look.  Watch their kids tend to the 3 x 3 kiddie boxes.  Oh, I wish I could be part of it!  Can you get material donations from Home Depot, Lowes, etc.?  Some 2 x 4 studs, long wood screws, weed fabric. peat moss, etc.?  Some trowels?  Once you have the book, you can start a list of things you need or want.  The women and older kids can help build it! A sense of "I can do it."      Keep us posted.

Hi Karyn.  Welcome!

And thank you for the work that you do.