Common Roots

Celebrating the Soil and Soul of Community

  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Phone
  • YouTube
  • Sign Up for Our Newsletter
  • Home
  • About
    • Our Story
    • Our People
      • Our Board
      • Our Staff
      • Partners & Resources
    • Contact Us
  • Programs
    • Farm to School
    • SB Food Shelf
    • Common Roots Farmstand Membership
    • Growing Gardens, Growing Kids
    • Farm to Go
    • Festive Seasonal Food and Land Based Gatherings
      • Summer Camps 2020
  • Farm to Fork
  • Flatbread Friday
  • Farmstand
  • Donate
  • Schedule an Event @ Wheeler
You are here: Home / Growing Gardens / Common Roots Build-A-Thon at the Farm at South Village

Common Roots Build-A-Thon at the Farm at South Village

October 17, 2016 by Common Roots

build-a-thon-growing-gardensChildren’s Growing Gardens Program Expands

Common Roots vegetable gardens on the South Village organic farm now has 10 new raised beds in which to grow crops of lettuce, spinach and other yummy fall vegetables, thanks to the Never Stop Improving spirit of Lowe’s store manager, Bob Fournier, and eight employees.

This generous donation brings the total number of beds to over 40 on the half acre off East Allen Road at the Spear Street traffic light. Forest Donaj-Keys, a twelve year farmer and employee of Common Roots, manages the Growing Gardens, Growing Kids program with the help of volunteers and interns from the University of Vermont. As many as ninety children from the Recreation and Parks Department and the School’s Out Program come to the Spear Street site each week for hands-on agricultural experience in growing organic vegetables.

The ten new raised beds, each four by ten feet, were filled with screened top soil and farmer Forest will add quality compost and plant them up. They were constructed so that children from pre-school through fifth grade can reach in and help tend to the vegetables as they grow. Forest commented, “The Lowe’s volunteers really didn’t want to leave when their work was finished!”

The main purpose of these educational gardens is to grow vegetables for the 30 families that Common Roots serves each week. These quality, organic vegetables will be also be sold at the South Burlington Farmers Market each Sunday from 10-2 in front of the University Mall and in the Farm Stand Tent at South Village Farm on Mondays from 4:30 to 7:30. The farm stand is accessed via Allen Road East at the light on Spear Street. The assortment of organic veggies grow each week and support the six programs of Common Roots in our community!

Eight Lowe’s employees volunteered for this enterprise, one of several that the store promotes with a variety of other community efforts. Common Roots thanks the tenacious crew at South Village, which included Alex Tower, Nicholas Palmier, Stanley Louis, Marlene Boucher, Patricia Lagerstedt, Justin Martin, Ian Flynn and Jeffrey Sparks

Common Roots’ partnership with South Village started eight years ago, and is one of more than a dozen partnerships who provide community resources. This engaging partnership with Lowe’s was the first project. Lowe’s not only provided the labor, but also donated the lumber, cut to size. The ten beds were constructed in less than an hour!

Filed Under: Growing Gardens, News

Latest Photos

Latest Posts

Episode 3: Microgreens & Soil Health

Episode 3: Microgreens and Soil Health https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8xgcvPJSrZ0&feature=youtu.be Restoring Ourselves, Our Soil, and Sprouting Microgreens scratches the surface of … [Read More...]

Red Wigglers

January 2021: Microgreens

Hi friends! It’s Lauren here, with your Farm to School topic for January. You must know I love riddles by now, so here’s your next one: What do they do by day? They creep and crawl and work … [Read More...]

December 2020: Squash

Common Roots  Acorn Squash Farm to School Episode 2: Squash Film description: With gratitude for the Abenaki agricultural traditions our second video about squash celebrates the gifts of today … [Read More...]

Common Roots
Homestead at Wheeler Nature Park
P.O. Box 9335
1100 Dorset Street
South Burlington, Vermont 05407

Mailing:
P.O. Box 9335
South Burlington, Vermont 05407
802.652.0188
info@commonroots.org

Special thanks to Jennifer Blonaise, Logan Hall-Potvin, Michelle Keefler, and Lizzie Bogosian for photographs.

Copyright © 2021 · Outreach Pro on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in