Feeding the homeless

Hello all! My name is Rich and my wife and I have a small farm in the mountains of West Virginia. We plan on incorparating SFG this year to maximise our garden in order to donate fresh vegetables to a homeless shelter in our capital city. Here where Tonya and I live level flat ground is, well, it ain't. I grew up here and I would rather be in no other place. Looking forward to any and all shared information.

Hey! Welcome to you! What a noble goal. I find that you cannot outgive God (and I plan to try this year). I'll be following your progress.

Deborah.... giving it away

Welcome! That IS a great idea!

I'm hoping to get with a group called Samaritan Women in the Baltimore area. They own 23 acres and 2 turn-of-the-(last)-century buildings. One is to house women who were sold as sex slaves and want to get out of prostitution or poor lifestyle choices. The second building is an event venue where people can hold weddings, etc.

They will take women with the aptitude and send them to culinary school. The rest we be wait staff.

They currently "farm" 3 acres and sell the produce and flowers at a stand on the property. They also have a good-sized greenhouse.

I think that SFG would be good for them - allow them to plant more and profit more.

Thanks for reminding me what the goal of the foundation is . . . to end hunger.

Kim

Do you have a web page Kim? That is awesome.

Welcome, Rich. You have a wonderful goal in mind. Please keep us posted on your progress, and if you have questions or need help, just ask. There are really nice people here on the forum always happy to help.

Lavender Debs wrote:Do you have a web page Kim? That is awesome.

http://www.thesamaritanwomen.org/

TSW Gardens
is our ministry to the whole community, growing fresh produce to
support local shelters, recovery houses and neighbors in need, and
providing a garden oasis in the heart of the City. Our vision is to
expand the Garden to engage individuals and families in learning about
horticulture, ecology, and urban gardening, and to provide a healthy
alternative for their own tables.

Beautiful, thanks.

That's awesome x 2, Kim. You aren't just talking, you're doing.

The community support is great, too.

LOL I have to thank Rich for his post to remind me that this is something I've wanted to do for awhile. I just emailed the director of The Samaritan Women and offered her a free 4 x 4' bed to show her what a difference SFG can make with TSW's goal.

Newsong.....I would think that SFG with 3 by 3' or 4 by 4' raised beds would work for your unlevel ground. Put them where it is the levelest and build up the soil beneath each frame so that it is level.
For vine crops many are building 2 by 4' or 2 by 6' beds which might also work for you.
I'd be interested to see what you do for a garden and the results.

WOW! You guys are for real about this arent you? I really love the fast response to my post. I want to thank tou all for the supportive words and encuragement you have offered. I will keep my progress posted and I will even use pictures once I figure out how to load them. Right now I have a large row garden and a very young (1 year old) orchard Tonya and I started from seeds. The SFG will allow me to double, triple or even more increase our harvest as I can use more ground. I to will try to out give God but know that I can not, but it makes him happy! Again thanks. I am looking forward to hearing all of the success stories from all of you. Good luck and God Bless!

[quote="Newsongfarmer"]WOW! You guys are for real about this arent you? I really love the fast response to my post. I want to thank tou all for the supportive words and encuragement you have offered. I will keep my progress posted and I will even use pictures once I figure out how to load them. Right now I have a large row garden and a very young (1 year old) orchard Tonya and I started from seeds. The SFG will allow me to double, triple or even more increase our harvest as I can use more ground. I to will try to out give God but know that I can not, but it makes him happy! Again thanks. I am looking forward to hearing all of the success stories from all of you. Good luck and God Bless!["EVERYBODY SHOULD TRY TO HELP SOMEBODY"/quote]

I emailed the director of The Samaritan Women (TSW) last night and this morning I received an AMAZING reply.

"It’s nothing short of God-ordained that you would write with this particular message . . .We
met a couple weeks ago and planned out the field space for the outdoor
farm and there was a pretty sizable swath of land to the left of the
large hoop house that we hadn’t allocated for field space. We came to
the conclusion that what we’d like to do with that space is establish a
series of raised beds that can be used for high density growing and also
as a bit of a demonstration garden for that type of farming. But we
hadn’t really identified who’d take the lead on that space. . . . Could it be that we were just waiting for your input…? Hmmmmm."

WOO HOO! I'm SO psyched!

Please keep this in prayer everyone.

Thanks,
Kim

Way to go Kim! Looks like you've got a new project on your hands. Good luck!

Ever think of it this way? We're the seeds and God plants us is His great big box of MM's where He needs us? Now that's my idea of the Garden of Eden . Ask for anything you need, if no one has it at the moment, we can at least pray!!! We're all in this together, each with our God given gifts and talents. May God bless.......

What great things you have planned!

For the unlevel ground, I too understand that dilemma. Consider putting a partial plywood bottom (drill holes for drainage) screwed to bottom of a box over the sloped area. Then buildup underneath with railroad ties, dirt, etc. Then fill the boxes with Mel's Mix.

Should work well for you - I've done similarly - and it adds interest to a landscape.

Your latest post ksroman, I think your name is Kim, is very touching. God will have his way and I can only pray that I will stand in the center of his will. The prayers of my wife and I and our Church will be with you and your project. Interestling enough I looked at your profile and noticed you are working on your Masters in Christian Counseling. My wife will graduate this may with her BSW and, God willing, will begin her Masters this fall for the same calling! Again I say who would have thought. I am so excited over this new found, I hate to say Hobbie, but have no other word for it. I have been looking for so long for that right fit and now I have found it. THANK YOU SQUARE FOOT GARDENING!!!! I am thinking about the teaching cert, is the coraspondance a good way to go? I am a Junior in an Elamentry Education degree and think I could do the community some good with sharing this gardening idea. Any input.

This is what I already love about this community. My plans have already multiplyed 3-4 fold from the time I joined yesterday. Thank you again and let me know if in any way I can help.

What a well intentioned and thoughtful thread full of wonderful ideas, philanthropy and kindness.

I am so glad we have a forum filled with such kind and giving people.

I would like to remind everyone that in order to keep our forum as peaceful as it is, and as full of helpful and supportive folks as we do find here, we stick to strict guidelines regarding religious/church/faith conversation. TOS

Please remember this and keep the conversation focused on SFG and your efforts to end hunger, and/or your giving efforts. I believe all that can be accomplished without religious/church content.

Thank you for being so giving and kind! I hope all your endeavors help feed the hungry 10X your expectations!

Middlemamma

I understand the policy and I did agree to follow them but I am so excited about what is going on. I will be mindful. Today I built my first two boxes, one for my mother and the other to help genarate some intrest with a group of youth I have invited to help me. After explaining how low maintance it is compaired to the traditional row garden many are ready to go.

Congratulations on those first two boxes. I'll bet your Mother will be surprised at how easy SFG can be.
No more hoeing and weeding. She will also be surprised at how much produce you can harvest from such a small area.

It is wonderful that you have a invited a group of youths to see what this is all about. There are teaching opportunities in gardening, in fact we have members who home school their childen and use their SFG as an outdoor classroom. Other members take their SFG knowledge and spread it to children in public and private schools. There is a book called SFG Lesson Plan for Children.

I hope you find that the correspondence course is worthwhile for you. Many communities could benefit from someone leading them in a SFG experience. Your enthusiasm will be contagious.

Here's an outloud musing....

What if there were a way to work with cities and missions to grow more urban gardens...with the homeless doing the work?

Qualifies as "teaching a man to fish"...puts green living things in places that might not ordinarily be there...at little to no cost to the municipality.

Who knows who might be motivated to get their life straight by a humble vegetable?

Really some great possiblities out there if someone has the energy and drive to get them going! Like a Habitats for Humanity group, but a Feed the Hungry program instead. If someone has connections with a Habitats group, maybe it's something that could be a partnership effort, put a SFG into each Habitats household. That could jump start it in a big way.

Back to the OP's unlevel ground, you could build up just the front of the box to a double level, but full depth of MM instead of a half bottom like previously mentioned. Then, always put your carrots, parsnips, potatoes, or other deep-rooted crops into the deeper parts of the boxes. That way you wouldn't have to build double deckers up, it would almost be the reverse.

Keep up the good thoughts, everyone, for spreading the SFG word!

Odd Duck....I like that idea of putting in an SFG Victory Garden when Habit builds a new home for a family. That way each family can get a jump-start of feeding their own family healthy foods and as in... moving it forward,... maybe helping to feed a family or two in the neighborhood.

Too bad someone here didn't know how to get in touch with a top guru in Habit for Humanity.