Huge Success! Our Plant Give Away Season Comes To An End

Wow, what a Spring!
Crazy weather everywhere and tough going trying to get those gardens in.
Growing The Seeds of Love plant giving season has come to an end but not before planting our outdoor beds up to three times because of a late snow storm and after replanting had many plants damaged or destroyed by torrential rains and hail.  Third times the charm right :)
I am thankful that we were able to offer plants for a second and third time to some who also suffered the same weather and losses.

It was a wonderful giveaway season!  We were able to gift well over 1000 organic plants this year!
I lost track after the first 1100 with starting so many new plants to replace the ones that were storm casualties.
We also made some wonderful new friends.  Some photo's of some of the beautiful people we met this year.

Now we are concentrating on the growing season so that we have plenty of produce to gift.
Cucumbers and summer squash are already producing and we have a variety of living lettuces that will be ready to gift next week.

I did a variety of gardening styles this year.  We have two traditional garden beds and a third one built for next year.  I also did over 50 containers!  I tried 2 straw bales and our hydroponic systems are working perfectly and the plants are gorgeous!  My husband built a new vertical hydroponic system for me (he just loves it when I get these ideas from YouTube, lol) and I love it.  It has 88 holes and we are growing lots of lettuce, pak choy, swiss chard and cucumbers on it.
We should be able to help provide for quite a few people.

I have all kinds of plans and new additions for next season and am so excited!
One of those plans is to build an in ground greenhouse, called a Walapini.  It will keep cooler in the Summer and warmer in the Winter.  With the addition of a cob stove we should be then able to grow all year around.
Also hoping to put my new welder to use and create some garden art :)

I want to thank all of you that participated in this seasons plant giveaway and made it such a huge success!
Please teach your friends and family the importance of growing and sharing their own organic food, saving seed and just being more self sufficient.  
I'm always available to help teach people to get started in hydroponic or container gardening and straw bale also.  Please feel free to contact me with any questions or if you need help.

Thanks again everyone, it was wonderful to meet all of you!  I hope to see you again next season.
Many Blessings!
~ Lisa

A Wonderful Year Ahead!

I am as I know most of you are, anxious for Spring planting season to kick in gear.  I'm busy, busy planning this seasons gardens and hydroponic setups.
With the installation of many more hydroponics systems we will really be able to start growing the Growing The Seeds of Love organization!

In addition to gifting plants and produce, I have decided to combine our Gifting group (Communities Gifting Globally) and the Growing The Seeds of Love organization and start a local gifting marketplace!
We are now "Growing The Seeds of Love" a FREE Food Community and Gifting Marketplace!
My inspiration has come from so many different people and organizations but two people in particular have been extremely inspirational to me, my friends Angie and Darla.   I cannot thank them enough for all of the encouragement, love and inspiration they have offered as well as being amazing examples of this concept.
I have so many other wonderful ideas and plans for our community that I will be sharing over the coming months, I can't wait!

 I am also looking forward to having guest writers post on the blog with their techniques, tips, tricks and any other helpful or fun info related to gardening, sustainability and gifting.
I invite anyone who would love to share their stories to be a guest writer as well.  Please contact me for more info.

It was so nice to have fresh hydroponic tomatoes and red cabbage and miniature peppers through mid December despite some  -25 to -30 degree temps!   We could have kept them going but even with just a 4x8 space set up with plastic for the hydroponics and an electric heater for both the hydroponics and cold frame, it was too expensive to keep running.
I will start seeding the end of February and would love to hear from locals what plants they would like offered this year.  We will have all of the basics we had last year; several kinds of tomatoes, several kinds of  beans, snow peas and snap peas, zucchini, butternut squash, buttercup squash, acorn squash, cantaloup, two kinds of watermelon, several kinds of lettuce, kale, two kinds of chard, green peppers, red peppers and several hot peppers.
In addition to all the plants listed above, we will be planting more potatoes, onions, rhubarb and hopefully some corn to gift this year.
So, keeping fingers crossed, we will have a lot of plants and produce to offer to anyone who would like them!

We are also going to hook up with our local food pantry and some other local organizations to reach the people most in need.  It is going to be an amazing year of growing, sharing and LOVE  :)
If you would like to join us or keep up on what's happening here at Growing The Seeds of Love, you can find our Facebook group and request to join here  https://www.facebook.com/groups/673707882683168/  
and soon we will have a public page on Facebook.

Would love to hear from you in the comments about what your gardening plans are for this year!

Until next time, happy Growing and Gifting <3
~ Lisa

These are how the hydroponic tomatoes and the peppers and red cabbage in the cold frame looked in early December.  We let them go a couple more weeks before we harvested and cut the heat for the remainder of the Winter.  The carrots were in a bed in the greenhouse and just covered with straw.

It's Time To Gift Plants!

The past two months we have been busy, busy.  Sowing seed, getting the greenhouse and containers ready and getting the hydroponic systems ready to go.  Then when seedlings were big enough transplanting those and getting them ready to gift.

What a Spring!  This year we planted almost 2300 seeds, almost all of them came up.  We had a late frost and snow for several days after plants were already up.  We couldn't keep all of them warm so we lost quite a few of them, we ended up re-planting almost half of them.

Since this is the first official year of the Growing The Seeds of Love organization, I am very pleased with the amount of plants we were able to grow and give away so far.  We have gifted 3/4 of the plants that we had to gift this year! We still have a lot of black bean plants and also almost 3 trays of tomatoes to gift yet so if your in our area, contact me if your interested in some plants and we will fix ya right up :)
It has also been nice talking with folks and telling them about our mission.

Just think of the impact we could make if most of us chose to grow some if not all of our own, organic produce!
And if we also grow food for those in need then Wow, we could really make a difference and wipe out hunger and bring back good, healthy, nutritious food.
This is our mission.  This is our challenge to you!

I would love to hear your growing and gifting stories and have you as a guest writer to the Growing The Seeds of Love blog.  If your interested, please contact me and we'll get it all worked out and get your stories posted.

Until next time, happy growing and gifting everyone <3

A few photo's of some of the plants we had available to gift this year:

 Green Beans and Black Beans for Gifting, most of these have been gifted!

 Tomatoes and Squash, all of these have been gifted :)

 

 Almost 3 trays of tomatoes to gift yet!

The Sharing Garden Shows the Way to a Moneyless Food System

This is such a wonderful article from Shareable and a great example of what we are doing, volunteers coming together and sharing the bounty with those in need  <3
Here is a link to the original post on Shareable  http://www.shareable.net/blog/the-sharing-garden-shows-the-way-to-a-moneyless-food-system

 The Sharing Garden Shows the Way to a Moneyless Food System

 

By Kelly McCartney

January 15, 2014

In Monroe, Oregon, the Sharing Garden started and managed by Chris Burns and Llyn Peabody is the gift that keeps on giving. Over the past few years, the garden's bounty has tripled thanks to the support and hard work of "Sharegivers" (aka volunteers) who donate various materials and actual labor three mornings a week.
And, in true Sharing Garden fashion, the harvest is distributed not only to the volunteers, but also to the food bank next door, as well as churches and other community members in need... all for free, as part of what Burns calls "nature's economy." He points out that, "None of the other lifeforms on the planet use money or currency of any kind. There's a symbiotic relationship, an interdepency. So we're trying to model that in the garden so that people understand they can give freely without having to account for their giving, and knowing they will receive what they need."
With the Sharing Garden, Burns and Peabody have established a circle of sharing in their community. As a result, the couple now enjoys free housing in a 1930s farmhouse owned by a volunteer. The garden, itself, also enjoys rent-free status on its two-thirds of an acre site. The total experience lands them smack-dab in the middle of the sharing economy, and they excitedly encourage others to join them by taking some baby steps.
Burns explains, "You can look for opportunities to give anonymously. And they happen every day. Just going by somebody in the shopping mall and giving them a nice smile... And you don't have to get credit for that. It's this whole idea of giving to get -- getting credit for your giving, getting recognized for your giving. You start there. The garden is way down the road." Check out the video below about The Sharing Garden courtesy of Peak Moment TV:

 If this post resonates with you, please consider supporting Shareable. Watch the two-minute video below & donate to our crowdfunder.

Welcome!

Hello everyone, so glad to have you here!
Let me start by telling you a little about myself and this project.

I am a wife to an awesome man of 25 years, a mother to 19 fur babies (13 are rescues). I love animals and all things gardening. I am a jewelry designer, Artist and crafts person.

I was born a city girl but despite living in the city my parents were very avid gardeners.  At our summer property "Up North" in Michigan, they would put in a garden of several acres and planted almost everything imaginable.  They always planted at least 200 tomato plants.  My Mom canned everything.  I didn't realize it then but we were pretty lucky :)
When I was young I never wanted any part of gardening and surely didn't want to get dirt under my nails, lol. Also, after seeing a few garden snakes out there I said no way to gardening. 
Now, much older, out of the city and trying to grow my own produce, I wish that I had listened and learned what they were trying to teach me.

Seeing a great need and feeling a responsibility to start providing our family with healthy, organic veggies and fruit, we built a greenhouse and I started gardening 2 years ago.  I have a true desire to help us become self sustainable and help provide to others in need.  Gardening is one way I can do that.
It's time for humanity to start giving back to the land and not just take from it.
I still have a lot to learn and hope that by sharing in this blog, we can all "grow" together, pun intended :)

The Growing The Seeds Of Love idea came to me when I was trying to figure out what I could do right now to help others in need.  Hunger is a huge problem all over the world and there is something we can ALL do to help.
This projects purpose is to challenge everyone to start growing their own organic food for themselves and grow extra to help at least one person or family in need.  It doesn't matter if you live in a big city or out in the country.  Everyone can grow something.  Container gardens are extremely popular and work well in spots that just don't have much space.

So come on everyone, get those seeds started and start Growing The Seeds Of Love for you and your family and someone in need.

I would love to share your stories and photo's of growing and sharing your bounty over the coming months so please send them to me so I can publish them on this blog.

I hope that all of you are inspired to help others and follow your bliss, your passion for that truly is our life's purpose <3

These photo's are of our first year trying hydroponics.  My husband built a hydroponics table and we were able to grow several kinds of lettuce, spinach, chard and kale on it.

Our first crop of rhubarb red swiss chard from the hydroponics table, Yum!