Author Archives: Jenny

THANK YOU for Showing Your Support!

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Thank You!! {heart} December Donors. Community Gardens Create Healthy Communities

We are so happy to report that the Coalition has received over $4,000 in donations this year through our CoMoGives campaign and other donations!!!

These gifts mean A LOT to our small, all-volunteer organization! We very grateful for the continued interest and support of our mission as we move into our 42nd year as an organization!

Of course, if you meant to donate and missed the CoMoGives deadline, please know that you can donate anytime via our PayPal donations portal.

We wish all of our gardeners, volunteers and supporters a Happy New Year. We hope you can spend this winter planning your best garden ever!

Can You Help Support Community Gardens?

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collage of photos of people using community gardens along with the logos for the Community Garden Coalition and CoMoGives and text saying "Help our gardens grow with your donation! Through Midnight, December 31."

As we head into winter and our member gardens go largely dormant, we’re asking our supporters to consider making a donation to fund community gardening for 2025. You can show your support with a donation via CoMoGives, now through December 31. Here’s a note from one of our newer board members, Ginny Trauth.

Hello to all Community Garden Coalition supporters and friends!

My name is Ginny Trauth and as a fresher face to the CGC all-volunteer board I’d like to introduce myself and share what being a part of CGC means to me.

Three years ago, I stumbled into the world of community gardening when I moved to a new part of town and regularly drove past CGC’s Unite4Health garden. After some online searching I learned that that garden was part of CGC and even though I was a pretty inexperienced gardener, I decided to reach out and see if I could join.

With CGC’s assistance, through compost, water, seeds, straw, and tools, and my garden leader’s knowledge I was able to hit the ground running and quickly caught the gardening bug! Working on my garden, seeing it grow, and meeting new people in my community  became a real joy in my life. My community garden gave so much to me that I decided I needed to give back to it. First through financial donations and working on volunteer projects and, when the opportunity presented itself, as a board member.

During this time of year, when thankfulness and community are at the top of mind, I ask that you consider donating to CGC to help give back to and support an organization that gives to and supports so many!

Donations to CGC and to other wonderful community organizations can be made at through CoMoGives until December 31 at 11:59 PM.

I thank you and wish you a warm holiday season!
– Ginny Trauth

Gratitude for Community Gardening

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To all the community gardeners, leaders, volunteers and supporters out there: let’s give thanks for another gardening season!

As a gardener at Ninth St. community garden, I’m grateful for these awesome fat carrots I just harvested. And for the fellow gardeners I’ve enjoyed chatting with this year. And, as always, for my hard-working volunteer garden leader Barb, and the longtime support of landowners Mark and Carole Stevenson. 

On behalf of the whole CGC board, we are so grateful to all the landowners and garden leaders that allow the various gardens in our network to flourish.

If you were a gardener this year, please take some time now to be sure you’ve done the following things:

  1. Give us your feedback! Use this form to tell us how your gardening went this year.
  2. Tell your garden leader whether or not you want to keep using your garden through the winter or next spring.
  3. Clean up your garden plot. Ask your garden leader if you have questions about expectations for keeping your plot tidy over the winter. This is especially important if you are NOT going to use your plot again.

To all our supporters: we’re so grateful for you, too! And another opportunity to support community gardening is coming right up. We’ll be participating in the CoMoGives local giving campaign which starts on December 1. Donations made through CoMoGives form a huge part of our budget and therefore go to pay water bills, buy hoses and tools, mow the grass, purchase mulch and compost and other supplies that support community gardens.

We’re a small organization, so even a modest donation goes a long way! Watch for our emails and social media posts during the month of December for links to CoMoGives.

Unite4Health garden

Interfaith Garden

Free Native Plant Lecture Featuring Doug Tallamy

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There’s a great opportunity coming up to hear from a real expert on native plant ecology. Doug Tallamy, a leading proponent for native planting in the country, is coming to speak on Thursday, October 24 at 6:30 p.m. for free at MU’s Monsanto auditorium. This is event is brought to us by the Mizzou Botanic Garden as the 2024 Jacquelyn K. Jones Lecture.

Establishing native plantings in or near your community garden is a great way to benefit pollinators and the wider local environment. Doug Tallamy’s Homegrown National Park challenge encourages restoration of 20 million acres of privately owned lands with native plant species to attract co-evolved insect and animal species to mitigate ecosystems loss.

Learn more about the lecture and the Mizzou Botanic Garden on their site. And, if you can’t make the event, the Daniel Boone Regional Library is a great resource for Tallamy’s books.

Composting Workshops From the City of Columbia

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Compostables make up 34% of the materials that go into landfills. Learn the why, what and how of home composting. Attend a free workshop and start diverting kitchen scraps and yard waste while producing a nutrient rich soil amendment. Composting can greatly reduce a household’s waste and is a fun and rewarding step towards a more sustainable lifestyle. City of Columbia residents receive a Geobin composter at the workshop as supplies last.

The next workshop, Home Composting 101, is at the Britt-Hall Community Garden this Tuesday, August 14 at 6 p.m.!
Register with this link. (Walk-ins also welcome)

Other upcoming workshops:

Wednesday, September 4, 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Capen Compost Demonstration Site
**NEW** Worms at Work: Vermicomposting 101

Wednesday, September 11, 5:30-6:30 p.m. at the Capen Compost Demonstration Site Bokashi Anaerobic Composting

A Delicious Way to Contribute to the Community Garden Coalition

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Look for Chef Gaby’s Specials for a Cause the next time you’re at Nourish Cafe & Market and order these nutritious meals to support the Community Garden Coalition this summer!

🌞Summer in Santorini Bowl: Escape to sun-drenched Santorini with each bite! Creamy sweet potato hummus,refreshing herbed cucumbers, and tender beef souvlaki meatballs bathed in roasted red pepper butter create a harmonious symphony of flavors. Topped with crumbly feta and delicate sunflower microgreens, this bowl is a taste of Greek paradise, leaving you feeling refreshed and ready for summer adventures. (Mostly local & organic, Nourish-approved: refined sugar-free, gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free, inflammatory oil-free!)

🥗Greek Goddess Salad: Indulge your senses and feel like a deity with the Greek Goddess Salad. A perfect balance of flavors and textures – peppery arugula, olive oil potatoes, juicy cherry tomatoes, creamy feta, and crunchy walnuts – all tied together with a star-of-the-show tapenade vinaigrette. Topped with a perfectly jammy egg, this salad is a celebration of fresh ingredients that will leave you nourished and ready to conquer your day. (Mostly local & organic, Nourish-approved: refined sugar-free, gluten-free, corn-free, soy-free, inflammatory oil-free!)

A portion of the proceeds from these featured recipes will be donated directly to the Community Garden Coalition at the end of the season. We are so appreciative of chef Gaby Weir and Nourish owner Kalle LeMone for this delicious promotion!

Al-Pint Fundraiser

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Come raise a pint in support of the Community Garden Coalition!

On Friday, April 12 from 5-7pm join Alpine Shop (1102 E. Broadway) for an Al-Pint Fundraiser Night. A donation of $10 will get you a novelty pint cup and two complimentary pours of local beer. All profits go directly to support the Community Garden Coalition and their mission to feed and flower our Columbia community.

Thanks so much to Alpine Shop for their support! We hope to see you there!

Photo of various Alpine Shop glasses full of beer along with the text: Al-Pint Night, April 12, 5-7pm, supporting Community Garden Coalition

Community Gardening Gets Started for 2024

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With Saturday’s meeting of garden leaders, the spring season is truly underway at community gardens. Here are a few things to know!

If you were a community gardener at one of our member gardens last year, please take a minute to confirm with your garden leader whether you will garden again this year. We have heard from many new gardeners seeking plots and some gardens are already full!

If you are planning a garden this year:

  • Talk to your garden leader if you want seeds, row cover or hoops — all three are available through the CGC. (You make a donation here to offset our costs if you’re able.) This year, the CGC will not distribute garden plants.
  • Water is on already at some gardens, but not all yet. Please ask your GL for information.
  • Please have someone in your household fill out the Annual Household Info form.

If you’re a garden leader or helping out at your garden, please see our Resources for Garden Leaders page for information shared at our meeting today, the annual reporting form for group/youth gardens, and more.

Get More Involved This Year — Volunteer!

Please remember that all garden leaders and CGC board members are volunteers! We appreciate everyone’s effort to keep the gardens running! If you have time to volunteer a little more at your garden, contact your garden leader; there are usually lots of tasks to go around.

Or, maybe you’d be interested in helping out on our board! We have some veteran members stepping down; and we could use some fresh faces to help us continue this work. Please contact us for more information!

What does your community garden mean to you? "I feel part of a great community of gardeners. I learn from them, enjoy their company."

Giving Thanks for Another Gardening Season

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A tall sunflower plant blooms against the sky; a garden and neighboring house are visible around and behind it.As we mark the end of another gardening season, many of us are pausing to give thanks and celebrate seasonal bounty.

As a community gardener, I am grateful for the continued generosity of the landowner of my garden, my garden leader who shares so much of her time to keep the garden running, and my fellow gardeners who help keep it maintained through the season. And I’m grateful that the Community Garden Coalition organization has backed my garden with supplies, insurance, water, compost, straw and other support.

CGC board members pose together during an event at a community gardenAs a longtime CGC board member, I want to express my thanks more broadly to my fellow board members and all the community garden leaders and gardeners out there working to keep these community spaces vibrant and productive. And, of course, I’m thankful to all our supporters out there who have donated money, time or other resources!

This was our 40th year as an organization! We thank you for being a part of that, and we hope you’re planning for a great garden next year.

Garlic Growing Workshop August 28

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two heads of garlic sit on a wood surface

Don’t forget about the free Garlic Growing Workshop planned for Monday, August 28! Veteran community garden garlic grower and MU Extension specialist Dhruba Dhakal will have lots of tips for planting, harvest and storage. As you think about your fall garden and the end of the season, planting some garlic makes great use of a portion of your garden plot over the winter!

Garlic Production Workshop
Monday, August 28
6 p.m.
Columbia Public Library, Friends Room
100 W. Broadway, Columbia, MO 65201

Register Here!

This workshop is part of our celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Community Garden Coalition. Thank you for your continued interest and support!