Growing Together: FitKids Families and HOPE Gardens Wednesday Evenings
by Kathy Bego Illuminated by the glinting early evening sun, teenage participants in FitKids and their families planted ten raised garden beds in UCOM’s community garden at Marquette Park this week. From late May through early August, families from FitKids will join HOPE Gardens staff on Wednesday nights to garden together. Each Wednesday evening begins […]
Winter Sowing!
Convert spring fever into spring seedlings with Winter Sowing! For “winter sowing”, we plant seeds in milk jugs or other semi-transparent plastic containers. Placed outside in January or February, these mini-greenhouses expose seeds to the cold temperatures that some wildflowers and other perennials need to experience before germinating. How about broccoli, kale, or dill? The […]
WZZM-13 On Your Side visits H.O.P.E. Gardens at Oriole Park Elementary
Our Programming…“helps them to see, now I can be a food grower,” H.O.P.E Gardens Lead Teacher Holly Smith stated during an interview with the WZZM 13 On Your Side television crew last week. “I can have a garden, I can encourage my family to have a garden. We can all grow food. Everybody can.” Echoing […]
MSU Students Tour H.O.P.E. Gardens
The rain didn’t keep this group from MSU’s Organic Farmer Training Program from touring our garden at Kent ISD. As we strolled through the gardens they sampled cucamelons, borage, lemon basil, and Concord grapes. We shoveled soil from the regenerative garden to compare it with the soil outside of the garden and noticed threads of […]
New Garden Friends at Kent ISD
Upon discovering the established garden on the property of their new school building, Empower U students at Kent ISD expressed a keen interest in contributing. Julie Brunson, Executive Director of H.O.P.E. Gardens, extended an invitation for them to participate in our garden volunteer days. The endeavor proved to be a resounding success for everyone involved. […]
Senator Winnie Brinks Visits Our Garden
In a heartwarming show of support for nutrition education and food equity, Senator Winnie Brinks and her assistant, Kate Kooyman, recently visited the Gladiola Elementary School garden. This visit not only emphasized the value of hands-on nutrition learning but also demonstrated how school gardens have the potential to transform access to fresh, wholesome produce for […]
FitKids 360 Harvest Fest
This week families in Fitkids celebrated their gardens’ summer harvest with a dinner in Marquette Park’s gazebo. Once just tiny seedlings, plants are now stretching ever higher, filling the boxes and climbing trellises in this very green community garden. The Fitkid families, together with HOPE garden staff, planted and now tend six garden boxes. The […]
Workshop for Our Congolese Neighbors
It was an honor to spend time with our Congolese neighbors at Flowerland in Wyoming as we shared our love of gardening and provided insights into growing in our climate (Grow Zone 6) as opposed to their region (Grow Zone 12).
Healthy, Fresh, Equitable Food for All! Join Team H.O.P.E. as We Walk for Good Food
What if everyone in our community had equal access to food that nourishes, creates good jobs, is affordable, and gives back to the earth? We believe it’s possible. This May, Team H.O.P.E. is excited to be a featured organization at the 46th Annual Access Walk for Good Food! Part community event, part 5k walk, and […]
We had a Workshop
On Saturday, March 11, we hosted a Rengenerative Garden Workshop at Flowerland in Wyoming, MI. Hope Gardens’ staff taught community members how to install their own no-till, regenerative (nature-based) garden. Regenerative gardening is an approach to sustainable food and farming systems that regenerates topsoil and enhances biodiversity now and long into the future. This practice […]