Category Archives: news

Spring Thaw Kick-Off Event February 23

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mixed greens growing in a garden plot with decorative "spring" sign

Spring Thaw Community Gardening Kick-Off

Saturday, Feb. 23, 11 a.m.-1 p.m. at the Activity & Recreation Center
Drop in anytime!

The Spring Thaw is the kick-off to the community gardening season. There will be representatives from all the gardens, so you can join a garden as a newcomer or confirm a plot assignment for previous gardeners. Plus, everyone can network and get gardening advice from other gardeners. We’ll have a limited quantity of free seeds available for gardeners at member gardens.

We’ll have some snacks and drinks to share also. Feel free to bring something to share yourself. Hope to see you there!

If you know someone who’d like to get a community garden plot this year, please share these event details!

Many Thanks and Upcoming Events

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As we start to think about a fresh year of gardening, we want to call attention to the many many generous people who responded to our annual call for donations last month! We raised a total of $4,269.69!! And we have all of you to thank for donating or just spreading the word about what we do and why it matters. THANK YOU!!!

Mark Your Calendars
We’ve just set the dates for our season-opening events!

gardeners selecting seed packetsSeed Repacking Party
Tuesday, February 19, 5:30 p.m., Centro Latino
Help us get bulk seeds ready for distribution at our Spring Thaw. We’ll offer a meal in exchange for the assistance of a limited number of volunteers. RSVP will be required. Details to come!

Spring Thaw: Community Gardening Kick-Off
Saturday, February 23, 11 a.m.—1 p.m., ARC
Representatives from all the gardens attend, so new gardeners can join a garden and returning gardeners can get organized. Plus, everyone can network and get gardening advice. A limited quantity of free seeds will be available for gardeners at member gardens. Snacks and drinks provided!

Watch this site or our Facebook page for more details.

Support Diversity, Support Community Gardening

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“The garden is the crossroads of our community. I can’t think of a better way to encourage diversity than a garden — it’s diversity in action!” – Johann Geyer, Unite 4 Health Garden

This is a good reminder that community gardens grow community as well as food! With only a few days left in 2018, the garden coalition needs donations large and small to continue our support of the diverse community gardens of Columbia next year.

There’s still time to help the Community Garden Coalition grow food and fellowship in 2019! Just visit our CoMoGives page to donate.

You can also help us by sending this message on to family, friends and neighbors. CoMo Gives will accept donations for us and 121 other great local groups through December 31.

We appreciate your support for community gardening!

Congratulations to Garden Leaders Don Day & Adam Saunders

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Congratulations to Don Day, winner of a Missourian Progress Award for his dedication to social justice! Don has also been a dedicated garden leader at Broadway Christian Church garden for many years. Keep up all your good work, Don!

AND, congratulations to Adam Saunders, winner of a Progress Award for progress in philanthropy! Adam has been the garden leader at St. Joseph St. garden and other community gardening projects for many years in addition to his work with the Center for Urban Agriculture.

Our community is lucky to have you both!

Don Day Missourian Progress Award articleDon says one of the best ways to improve social equality…

…is to get to know each other. Statewide and nationally we’ve had a lot of encounters with people of different races. Really, if you get acquainted about people and learn about them, you find out they have a lot of the same problems and challenges that you do, and you find out they’re really great people.

Missourian Progress Award winner Adam Saunders articleAdam says…

Everybody eats, so there’s opportunities for tons and tons of progress in the world of food here in Boone County and across the country, really.

 

Read more about Don’t efforts to promote social justice, Adam’s work creating the agriculture park and about all the other folks making progress in our community in the Progress Edition of the Missourian.

Help Us Grow Gardens & Community With CoMo Gives

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For the second year in a row, the Community Garden Coalition is participating in the CoMo Gives campaign to raise funds for our organization! The goal this year is to raise $7,500 during the month of December – and we need your help!

Even a modest donation can go a long way! Because we’re an all-volunteer organization, all the money we raise goes right back into improving and supporting our local gardens in neighborhoods and schools. Raising money from individuals in our community who support our ideas helps diversify our funding sources and allows us to be less reliant on grant funding.

We hope you will show your support for community gardening with a donation to our CoMo Gives CGC page between December 1 and 31. Also, please consider growing our gardening community by passing this message on to friends and family who may be interested!

CoMoGives.com

You can also stay up to date on CGC happenings and this campaign by following us on Facebook.

Thank you for your support and consideration, and happy holidays from your CGC Board of Directors!

Sarah Kendrick, President
Jenny McDonald, Vice President
Bill McKelvey, Treasurer
Lauren Godsy, Secretary
Kathy Doisy
Ann Marie Gortmaker

Supporting Community Gardens Since 1983

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Felt banner saying "Community Garden Coalition Since 1983"Did you know? The Community Garden Coalition has been around since 1983, supporting gardens, health, nutrition and community.

This year, we counted 31 member gardens to which we offer support. Right now, we’re getting ready to be a part of CoMo Gives, a donation project that has just as much community spirit as we do. We hope you’ll shake down the couch cushions for a few extra dollars to see if you can help us fund another year of water, mowers, mulch and hoses!

It all starts on #GivingTuesday!

(Wondering about the lovely felt banner pictured here? To the best of our knowledge it was made by generous and talented former CGC board member Barb Michaels.)

Season’s End 2018

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snow on leaves of a brassicaWell, that was an early snow! The 2018 gardening season has come to a close with some record low temperatures in Mid-Missouri this month. Before you shift away from thinking about gardening for the winter, please do the following.

 

  • If you’re at a community or group garden, let your garden leader know whether you’re planning to return next year. This will help leaders know what plots will be available for newcomers next year.
  • Clean up your plot. If you need tips on how to put your garden to bed for the winter, consult your garden leader.
  • Consider making a year-end donation to the CGC to help with maintaining your community garden next year. We’re a very small, all-volunteer non-profit, and even modest contributions help us fund water, mulch, tools and more to support community gardening in Columbia.
    Donate here today, or wait for December when the CGC will be participating in the CoMo Gives local giving campaign.
  • Consider donating some of your time. Individual gardens need good leaders and team members and the board of the CGC could use some new members, too. Contact your garden leader or our board members to get involved.

Thank you!!

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The Community Garden Coalition is so grateful to our many donors through the CoMoGives campaign in December. We couldn’t be more pleased with the results and the generosity of this community. We’ll do our best to use those funds to keep supporting and nurturing community gardens in 2018.

Community Garden Coalition Board of Directors:
Sarah Kendrick, President
Jenny McDonald, Vice President
Bill McKelvey, Treasurer
Lauren Godsy, Secretary
Kathy Doisy
Ken Germond
Ann Marie Gortmaker
Mira Stoddart

P.S. If you meant to donate, but missed your chance in December, it’s not too late! We can accept donations year-round at this link. And thank you again for your support!

Goodbye to a Good Friend

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Dan Cullimore helping package seeds
Our good friend Dan Cullimore passed away recently. Losing Dan is hard. He was generous with his time. He was smart and funny. He was someone you could go to with all sorts of questions. His positive attitude was one of his most endearing and helpful attributes.

For the Community Garden Coalition, Dan was first a gardener at the Circus-Lyons Community Garden (which he helped establish), then a garden leader there, then a board member. He eventually became president of the board and led our organization until he needed to resign to focus on his health earlier this year.

Dan Cullimore leading a garden tourHaving Dan at the helm helped us feel assured. He was an excellent ambassador for our group and for community gardening in general. He was reasoned and thoughtful when it came to making tough decisions. He even helped us grow up a little as an organization by working to formalize a variety of policies and procedures – no one’s idea of fun, but something that needed to be done.

The outpouring of kind words and remembrances from friends and family is a reminder of the place Dan occupies in our hearts and community. We will miss him greatly. We will carry his spirit with us.

Garden Leaders, including Dan Cullimore