Announcements and Asks

Good afternoon We Can Grow followers!


We’re starting to get really fired up here at We Can Grow.  Spring and the up-coming planting season are soon to start. We have a couple of announcements. First, we have teamed up with Gardening Matters and their Local Resource Hubs to provide our clients with the seeds and seedlings they’ll need to succeed. Using the Local Resource Hubs was a no brainer for us. Our clients will conveniently access their seeds and plants as well as any additional resources such as classes and their tool lending library. We’re very excited to be working with such an awesome collaborator and feel that together we can advance local food and food security for everyone citywide.

 You may have seen our Fund Razr or other fund raising tools we’re using, but right now Mike and I have been brain-storming strategies for funding the We Can Grow program. Up until now everything we’ve done has been pro bono as a labor of love because this is something we both believe will better our community. However, it is time to get serious about funding and making this initiative happen in a big way. We estimate $10,000-12,000 dollars will be needed to build the 150+ raised bed gardens we intend to install in the community this spring.  That being said, we’ll probably have to make a couple shameless asks  for donations over the next couple months and we apologize for that now. Yet, we wouldn’t do this if wouldn't do this unless it was absolutely necessary. So please,  give what you can to get us to our goals, and we will do our best to return the favor to the community.


Thanks everyone,

The We Can Grow Team

Showing We Can Grow the Love

  With Valentines Day quickly approaching there seems seems to be lots of talk about love and, what a great thing to talk about while Minnesota gets 4-12 inches of freshly fallen snow, temperatures don't seem to be getting higher and the sky is that lovely shade of grey that you can use to accent any room. Well growing season is coming soon I assure you. Our community here at We Can Grow seems to be growing despite the less than perfect weather we have been having.

  This weekend we had some great people step up to the plate and offer to help us with an array of different things.  My friend Tim called me out of the blue and said "Mike, I know your website is a temporary thing, and I'm not saying that it looks that bad, but can I take a shot of creating a new one for your foe free?"  Our friend Dan reached out and said "I'm going to school for graphic design now, and I need to create some materials. Do you guys have anything I can do for you for free?" I met with a couple of film producers that have a film that have offered to us to use for fundraising purposes, we can't say what it is or we'll spoil the surprise.  Then, I was out to dinner with my parents on Saturday nigh and ran into a friend I went to school with and he said "I love the work you're doing with We Can Grow. I have a vacant lot in North Minneapolis that I would love to donate to the cause"

  I have always said that it takes a community to build community. We are starting to believe the phrase "if you build it, they will come". We have more and more people reaching out to help. We have more and more people that want to get involved and do what they can. Donations of time and materials keep us smiling. But most importantly the people that simply let us know that they believe in what we are doing makes us continue to smile and work harder to accomplish what we have set out to do.

 I am completing my last semester at the U of M and working part time, all while trying to get We Can Grow growing. I find myself going to bed every night smiling. This is because the people I have in my life, past, present and future. Without their support I may have given up a long time ago. This is also a good time to show a little love to Martin Gordon, We Can Grow's Program Manager. Martin has put in a countless number of hours the last few months. He has not received a single penny. I know, without his energy and support We Can Grow would be a little more than an idea. He keeps me motivated to work harder and longer. So if you get a chance to meet Martin please thank him for all the hard work he has put forward without receiving any financial compensation. To everyone in the We Can Grow community, I thank you for your continued support, without it we would not be what we are today.

Much Love,

Mike   

Why We Do It

As the momentum builds around this program many people are asking us about the details and what we're hoping to do. "That's awesome!" is a common response we keep hearing from our friends and family and we're so glad to hear the excitement. Many of them think that this is a environmental justice thing and it is. We'll be working in communities that have historically been degraded through industrial pollution and general mistreatment and giving them the potential to grow healthy food over top of the questionable soil. Others think that our focus is food justice and that is absolutely a priority of our's. We want to bring all people regardless of income, race, education or whatever together to build a cohesive food movement that can addresses the disparities of the food system. Yet again, it's more than that. Some believe it's about people eating more fresh, healthy, local food and equipping them with the tools they'll need to produce, prepare and preserve it, which of course it is. The most important factor though which we want to see come out of this program is the community building. Gardens and food have so much potential to bring neighbors together in front yards, kitchens, and parks interacting with one another for maybe the first time ever. The true power of We Can Grow comes in growing the networks between members of our communities and growing their individual and combined abilities to determine their place in the food system. This is the way we hope to begin growing a just, equitable and healthy food system. Together, we can grow.

Garden Number One

  So Todd and I ran down to Siwek Lumber to pick up some cedar for our first garden. Tom Siwek was there in the yard working hard, or should I say he looked like he was working hard. We are building all of our gardens out of cedar because it is more resistant to rot and then the gardens will last longer. Oh and cedar smells great too!

Here is the lumber we started with, Three 6'- 1"x12"s and one 6'- 4"x4" all cedar. 

We cut the 4x4 into 14" lengths and cut the tops at the 2" make at a 45 degree angle to create a decorative finish for the tops. 

See our fine decorative tops? Pretty fancy! Next we pre drilled the 1x12s so the wood wouldn't split. Then we used 2 1/2 wood screws, for on each board on each corner. 

Our finished end cap.

Then we assembled the the sides with the end caps.  

Here we have it the finished product. I wonder who will end up with Garden number one? We'll keep you posted. 

Why We Do What We Do?

  Today during our Tuesday morning meeting there was a feeling of excitement and a great sense of morale. We Can Grow is moving along and gaining a momentum that I have never seen. New partnerships have bloomed this week.  We have some very important meetings in the next week with people that make big things happen. Things are falling into place like they never have before. But beneath all the excitement is a feeling of "it's right, it's just the right thing" and that is the reason We Can Grow is happening, because it's just the right thing. In the next couple of weeks we will be releasing more and more amazing news. This is going to be fun.

We just got the green light, GO! We Can Grow can start to grow!

  At days end around 4:50pm I received the call I had been waiting for. I was in bed for four solid days with this powerlifter of a flu. I staggered out of bed to work on some backlogged emails and fighting it every step of the way. then the phone rang, it was the call. I was informed that the potential partner that we had been waiting on was interested in moving forward. This was the news we had been waiting for.

  So today has been off and running. Meetings and excitement filled my morning. Planning and brainstorming. I hope to look back at this post and realize that it was all worth the days of mayhem and confusion. Things have and keep falling into place just like they should. I have always said "It's like I opened a 1000 piece puzzle, tossed the pieces in the air, and they came down almost all put together"

  This day would not have been possible without a host of friends and family that have supported me through all my crazy thought processes and freak outs. I love each and everyone of you and with your support I believe that We Can Grow.  

Today? Was it the Day?

  We met with potential partners today and pitched our plan. It was like my old days of selling. But today was different, today was from the heart. I made the effort, I will wait to see the outcome.

Only a Dream

Hello,

I am sitting at my desk typing this on December 4th 2012.  Right now We Can Grow is only a dream. I am in the middle of writing the development plan for a program that will empower families and their communities.  We Can Grow is only an idea right now.