Community Leader Profile: Trish

Trish is a gardener and Committee Member at the Seeds of Harmony Garden in New Columbia, a Community Health Worker,  an Office Volunteer, and a Community Leader. Trish is a passionate leader and has been an essential team member to Village Gardens. Here is a little bit about Trish, in her own words:

My name is Trish Couture and I’ve been working with Village Gardens for the last five years. For the last three years, I have been a Community Health Worker. I am 60 years old, and since I’ve started working with Village Gardens, much has changed in my life. I’ve been disabled and in a mobility chair for the past 24 years, but for almost a year now, I’ve been able to use a walker part time. Over the course of the time I’ve been involved with Village Gardens, I’ve lost 85 pounds. I quit smoking four years ago. Village Gardens to me means I am healthier now and in more control of my diabetes. 

Village Gardens has utilized gardening and community health care in order to create healthier residents. We encourage and support growing healthy vegetables. In addition, Village Gardens supports Community Health Workers who are teaching approximately 18 ethnicities how to prepare food. The gardens help teach people which vegetables are the best to grow and which are the most nutritious to eat.

The Community Health Workers work with other organizations to set up health fairs, flu shot clinics, and other health workshops to let people learn how to make life changes to become healthier than they were before. 

My favorite thing to do in the garden is to spend quality time in the Peace Garden at Seed of Harmony because of its quietness and calming effect. I have also raised two chickens and donated the female to Village Gardens’ Livestock Project. Something that’s great people might not know about me is that I collect salt and pepper shaker sets and have approximately 1000 sets!

At Village Gardens, I have learned that no matter who you are, what language you speak or where you come from, anybody can find ways to communicate with each other.

My plans for the future are to continue with my volunteer work and hopefully start teaching people how to preserve their vegetables.

Community Leader Profile: Egbevado

Egbevado, a 22 year old native of Togo, is a highly motivated, young community leader. Currently, he is the assistant manager at Village Market, but has been involved with Village Gardens for about seven years. Egbevado is the only person to have directly participated in all three of Village Gardens’ programs: Food Works, Community Programs, and Village Market.

Egbevado’s involvement with Village Gardens began in 2005, when at the age of 15 years old he started volunteering at the Seeds of Harmony garden in New Columbia. From there, Egbevado was hired with Food Works as a crew member. After a full season of working with Food Works, Egbevado became involved with Community Programs, writing a proposal for the Children’s Garden Program at the Seeds of Harmony Garden. Then, during his senior year of high school, Egbevado wrote a job proposal to work again with Food Works. He had an idea to create a partnership between Open Meadows High School and the Food Works summer program.  Egbevado made this vision become a reality, starting and teaching a garden class at Open Meadows with the use of his skills and knowledge acquired at Food Works. After graduating high school, Egbevado starting working with the Children’s Garden Program again, first as a volunteer and then in a grant-funded position. During these years with the kids’ program, Egbevado was also heavily engaged in the planning process for Village Market. He eventually transitioned into working full-time with Village Market, where he is now the assistant manager and a strong leader in the store.

Egbevado describes that his involvement with Village Market was really inspired through his work with the kids program. Working with children is one of his greatest passions, and his work with the Children’s Garden Program was crucial to its existence. Egbevado wrote curriculum for the kids’ program so that it could be an official after school program in conjunction with Portland Public Schools. Although this is still a work in progress, Egbevado’s work has laid the stepping stones for the project to go further. Egbevado says the kids need a program like this, to learn how to grow and cook their own food at a young age. “I think it’s really important nutritional education,” he says. “Thats pretty huge.”

Egbevado became involved with the Village Market as an advocate for the young children in the community. His desire to ensure that the kids had something of their own at the market pushed him to become deeply involved with the forming of the store. “We were creating a pretty nice store,” he explains, “but what’s the point of having a pretty nice store without having kids that will come?” With the Boys and Girls club down the road, and multiple schools nearby, Egbevado says “we have to think about the kids as an essential key to our community.” Egbevado started going to Village Market planning meetings, inventory meetings, and business meetings. Throughout these meetings, he was very influentialin ensuring that the Kids’ Snack Corner would be an important part of the store. “The kids wanted to have something at the market, so I was a voice for the garden club,” says Egbevado. “I am someone who is close to them and I hear them every day. So I spoke up for their needs.”

Egbevado says that Village Market is really important to his community in major ways. “This community is 82 acres– its like a small town. Before Village Market, when you looked at this small little town, you didn’t see any store around close enough for people to walk to. Especially for our senior citizens, they just didn’t have a close enough place to walk to. Fred Meyer is two miles away, Safeway and Grocery Outlet are three miles away. Now, you see the foot traffic. You see the people who come here. Its a huge benefit. People come in here and say ‘Hey, I don’t know what I’d do if this store wasn’t here.’ We have to look at the community and the demographics here. We are serving the community in a big way.”

In addition, Egbevado says that the Village Market is a place where people can find delicious soul food. “Here at the Village Market, Charles makes curry with vegetables and rice. It is one of the best foods I’ve ever had. Everything comes from the store–all the veggies, all the ingredients. It’s perfect, more than perfect. It’s soul food.” But what is soul food? “Food is also ‘soul,’ ” explains Egbevado. “You always hear this phrase ‘you are what you eat.’ So if you are eating something that is soul food, your soul becomes grounded to the earth.”

Egbevado is uniquely passionate and motivated, and is above all dedicated to his community and Village Gardens. He is constantly thinking of ways to improve the health of the community and to give back. But he says that Village Gardens has given him a lot, too: “Village Gardens made me partially who I am today. Being Egbevado, being a community leader, being deeply involved in the community…its because of Village Gardens and the people who came around here. Being able to see great leaders and be around them has made me who I am, and has made me really appreciate Village Gardens a lot. Tremendously! At first, I looked at the program like ‘oh its just a job.’ But then when you dig deeper, and especially living in this community, its becomes part of your life, its not just a job anymore. Its part of your daily living. It’s what brought me all the way where I’m at today with Village Market.” Egbevado has influenced all three programs of Village Gardens, and through this process has become a strong community leader. By using his creativity, critical thinking, passion for children, and desire to share and teach skills, Egbevado has contributed to Food Works, the Children’s Garden Program, and Village Market. His work reveals how the various programs of Village Gardens work inter-connectedly to offer a holistic, inclusive resource for the community. At Village Gardens, the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. In the same vein, Egbevado’s ability to contribute to a wide range of unique programs has helped shape him into a dynamic, well-rounded, enthusiastic community leader.

Community Leader Profile: Mary

Mary is a passionate community leader and  Community Health Worker of Village Gardens.  She initially became involved almost three years ago through her teenage daughter, Marshalia, who has been engaged with Village Gardens since its inception (specifically with the Kids’ Garden Club and Food Works). Once becoming involved with Village Gardens, Mary received a certificate from the Community Capacitation Center for completing initial training as a Community Health Worker.

Mary describes her work as a conjunction of many different responsibilities all pertaining to community health work. “I wear a lot of hats,” Mary says. “I do a lot of things under different titles.” As a Community Health Worker, she works on various projects to improve the public health of her community, specifically in St. Johns Woods. Mary helps residents find affordable housing, and has been particularly successful in helping women leave abusive situations and find their own homes. She strives to help people to be independent. Mary has helped a number of families to receive services from the Children’s Relief Nursery at the St. Johns site. As a member of the Patient Advisory Board at the North Portland Health Center, Mary has worked with various residents to get proper health care. She is also on the Resident Advisory Committee of Home Forward (formerly Housing Authority of Portland), enabling her to be a strong voice for the community.

In conjunction with Cascade Management, fellow Community Health Worker Ruthie Williams, Area Schools, and the North Portland Precinct, Mary helped start the Children’s Incentive Program, a program for kids ages 8-12 years old that engages them in service work and community beautification. The children beautify the community by picking up garbage, weeding gardens and sidewalks, and removing graffiti. Mary says this work helps give children “a sense of pride in where they live” and reminds the community that “these are really good kids.” In the upcoming months during the holidays, the Children’s Incentive Program is planning on delivering food boxes to community members. The children will be volunteering at the Portland Police Bureau Sunshine Division, an emergency food and clothing relief center serving Portland families and individuals in need.

Mary is currently working on starting a program to help sexually exploited youth. She wants to give young women ages 16 to 24 years old the opportunity and resources to escape dangerous situations and to ultimately “help themselves.” Mary says that this project is currently “a conversation in the making,” but that the foundation has already been laid. She says the idea was brought up in a Gang Task Force meeting, revealing how important this issues is for this community. “We can’t save everyone,” Mary says, “but if there was that one person that believed in me, it may have changed my life. I want to be that person, even if it’s just for one girl.” Mary says the best way for this program to be successful is to collaborate community members’ diverse strengths, skills, and experiences.

Mary also organizes many social events for the community, such as a spaghetti dinner and a barbecue that she hosted this past summer. Currently, Mary is starting a new walking group geared towards mothers who walk their kids to the bus every morning. The idea is for parents to “just keep pushing” after they walk to the bus stop with their children. Mary wants to create an environment where “everyone can get involved and support each other.” Walks meet at the school bus stop (the red bus) in the Pier Park Apartments at 7:35am, Monday through Friday.

Below are Mary’s reflections on two important questions:

What does “Soul Food” mean to you?

Soul Food for me is more than just “soul food.” Soul food doesn’t necessarily have to be edible. Its something that’s comforting, that’s a warming feeling and thought, that you can relax in and be safe in, find inner peace in. Something you can hold within yourself, makes you warm and smile. Its like Grandma’s apple pie at Christmas time…

But my real soul food– my kids, really. They are my distraction, but they are my soul food. I live my life for them. And not just my kids, but everybody’s. I use them as my inspiration to make sure I am the best I can be. I want to be the best weapon against their future in terms of growing up the way I did. I don’t want them to grow up the way I did. I didn’t eat properly, I didn’t go to the doctor. I want to be the best for my children.

Why is Village Gardens important to you? Why is it important for the community?

I think Village Gardens is first and foremost important for the community. Sometimes the people here don’t know how to access certain things, especially food. In the past I’ve had some very bad choices when it comes to food. My daughter is the one that would bring fresh food home from Village Gardens, saying “look, we cooked all these fresh vegetables!” It made me change my way of eating, and in turn changed my kids way of eating. Both me and my children have lost weight. Village Gardens does a great job at getting the word out about fresh, healthy food and how to make it taste good. Education around food is what’s important.

And the Community Health Worker Program goes even broader than just food. My strength in community health is helping people with their personal well-being. I start at the home. I can help you organize. I can help you get access to services and programs. I’m an empower-er: I don’t do it for you– I show you what to do. They say you can give someone a fish, or you can teach them to fish. And its true.

Village Gardens is here to empower people to live healthier lives– not to be “better” people, but to have better health. I’m not trying to change you, but I’m trying to show you a better way to change yourself. A lot of people come here and they learn things. They can access services, programs, computers…its more than just food. It started out as gardens, but it has expanded into something way more. If you took Village Gardens out of this community, people would have a hard time adjusting to that. People would go back to the way they were before. Village Gardens is here to take the time to serve the community and to recognize that people around here are worthy to be given resources. Being a Community Health Worker with Village Gardens is just the beginning for me. It goes beyond just Village Gardens and this community. I now work with so many different projects and I’m on so many different boards, and I try to help with the disparities here in many different ways. Now I’m a leader not just with Village Gardens, but also with the St. Johns Woods management, with Home Forward, with the Portland Police Bureau…its grown for me, and I like to look at it from that angle.

St. Johns Woods is a lone island when it comes to resources. We don’t have the money for resources or anything like that here. Village Gardens has filled that gap. It has given us so much and has become a large resource for this community. The community gardens and the Food Works Farm give us access to organic food. Teenagers can get work experience and money to put in their pockets. There are resources at Village Gardens– people who will answer your questions, people who will help our kids with their homework. They teach you how to grow your own food which actually helps you save money. Its been a huge impact on my family. It really has, over the years. On me and my kids.

Community Leader Profile: Barbara

Meet Barbara, an active leader and passionate community member of Village Gardens! As a Community Health Worker, Barbara contributes to improving the health of the community by organizing and leading meditation classes and a morning walking group. In addition to her position as a Community Health Worker, Barbara volunteers much of her time at the Seeds of Harmony Garden. This beautiful community garden is located just a few blocks from the Village Market in New Columbia, right next to the Tamarack Apartments. Barbara was involved in every aspect of planning and organizing the Seeds of Harmony Garden when it first began six years ago. As a graduate of the Oregon State University (OSU) Master Gardener Program, she has been able to contribute much knowledge and skills to the garden project. About three years ago, Barbara had the great idea to start a Peace Garden as part of the Seeds of Harmony Garden. She thought a peace garden would fit perfectly with the goals of Seeds of Harmony, in which community members strive for “things to run harmonious,” using conflict resolution to ensure that “everyone feels safe in the garden.” With the help of fellow community members during a work party, a 20 by 50 foot area was dug up and cleared for the Peace Garden to take root. Barbara wanted this to be a safe space for people “to come and sit for some peace of mind- a place to be quiet, to hear the birds, to listen to the leaves of the cheery trees blowing in the wind.” Barbara’s vision of the Peace Garden has become a reality, and she works hard every week to keep the garden growing healthy and strong.

Many diverse plants, flowers, and medicinal herbs grow in the Peace Garden- all planted intentionally to create a tranquil environment. Goldenrod, a tall wild flower that can grow up to five feet tall, lines the perimeter of the garden to keep the space more secluded. Fragrant lavender and colorful succulents are found throughout the garden, as well as alyssum, bamboo, and strawberry trees. The herb beds grow low to the ground with mint, echinacea, lemon balm, chamomile, yarrow, and St. John’s wort. Barbara, a huge tea enthusiast, makes her own tea using the mint and lemon balm that grow here. In one corner of the garden is a patchwork of small pebbles, which Barbara calls “soft rocks.” She says this was designed to provide a space for people to do yoga in the garden. In the middle of the Peace Garden is a stone bird bath, and on either end are wooden benches. Barbara says she finds it “really calming to come and sit on the benches.” This calming energy in the garden inspired Barbara to teach her meditation classes here.

Although Barbara does much of the work in the Peace Garden by herself, she also gets help from the community. She says Seeds of Harmony work days, which happen about once a month, are really helpful to her. These days are great opportunities for people both inside and outside of the community to get involved and volunteer in the garden. She says when she is overwhelmed with garden work, she just organizes her own work days specifically for the Peace Garden, and the community always responds. In addition to the Peace Garden, Barbara keeps up her own garden plot in Seeds of Harmony. Currently, her plot is flowing in abundance with tomatillos and dino kale. Community members can have their own garden plots here, with a commitment to maintaining it weekly. In addition to individual garden plots, Seeds of Harmony has community plots, which enable anyone from the community to come to the garden and pick their own harvest. Four garden advocates, including one spanish-speaking advocate, take care of these community plots. A few of these advocates have also graduated from the OSU Master Gardener Program, and act as educators for all gardeners involved. In addition to maintaining the community plots, advocates support individuals to maintain their personal garden plots and help them problem-solve. They also help people grow in the “test garden,” a plot used for experimenting with new plants, and the “cultural plots,” a space used for community members to share unique plants or growing styles from their diverse backgrounds. “At Seeds of Harmony,” Barbara says, “we’re all for diversity.”

Barbara expressed a love for cooking healthy food with the vegetables she takes home from the garden. She has especially enjoyed sautéing scallop squash, a crop grown successfully in the test garden. But her ultimate soul food— “cauliflower ‘mashed potatoes.’ My son makes it for his girlfriend, because she can’t eat potatoes. Its so enriching, full of nutrients, hot and fluffy. I always ask him to make that. Its very comforting.” This planting season, her favorite vegetable to grow in her garden plot was tomatillos, and her favorite plant in the Peace Garden was yellow yarrow.

When Barbara thinks of Village Gardens, three things come to mind: family, community, and diversity. Barbara says that Village Gardens has become “like a family” to her, and she has become very close to people in this community and cares about them deeply. She really appreciates the diversity at Village Gardens- diversity in the population, the community members, and the programs themselves. She has particularly enjoyed listening to different languages through working with people from other cultures. Most importantly, Barbara says Village Gardens always puts the community first: “Village Gardens is always creating opportunities for community members to grow and learn new things.” She goes on to say that Village Gardens engages people through various programs that are very personal and meaningful to their lives. “Village Gardens attracts a lot of different people- everyone is always welcome, and we are always thinking about what we can do to be the most helpful to the community. Village Gardens taught me that the people around me have a wealth of information. We can learn from each other, sometimes just about life itself.”

In March, Barbara starting keeping a journal with updates about the Peace Garden! Check out her entries below:

To get involved with the Seeds of Harmony Garden or the Peace Garden, join the Seeds of Harmony Committee Meetings every Saturday at 10am. The garden is located across the street from the Boys and Girls Club at 4430 N. Trenton, also just two blocks east of the Village Market. Meetings take place at the garden itself, but if its raining, they will be held at the community room in the Tamarack Apartments (apt. #55). You can also join Barbara’s walking group! Walks begin at the Village Market (4632 N Trenton St.) at 10am every Wednesday morning. Join Barbara for a walk to get some exercise and learn more about her meditation class and the Peace Garden.

Stay Connected and Spread The Love

Community Leader Profile: Asha

Meet Asha, a member of the garden committee and a founding gardener at the New Beginnings Garden in St. Johns Woods. In addition to working in the garden, Asha is the Livestock Coordinator of the Chicken Project in St. Johns Woods. She also makes delicious injera and sambusa for the Village Market every week! Injera is an Ethopian flatbread with a unique, spongy texture. Come by the Village Market to try Asha’s tasty bread.

“I feel very happy to be in the garden cleaning and harvesting collard greens. I also like to visit Food Works Farm to sit in the grass and pray.

Village Gardens to me means happiness, fresh food andfamily. People save money by producing their own organic produce.

In the future I would really like to have bigger gardens at St. Johns Woods, a community run restaurant and to sell prepared food at the Village Market.

Village Gardens has helped my self confidence. I have gained many agricultural skills and knowledge and I have really improved my English and presentation skills.

One thing that I have learned at Village Gardens is to make friends here in my community.”

— Asha

Injera Flatbread

Sample the Season with Food Works Youth

Village Gardens Wins an Award!

Village Gardens has been selected to receive the Billi Odegaard Public Health Genius Award for Exceptional Group Achievement! This award is given out by the Oregon Public Health Institute (OPHI) and recognizes groups and individuals who have made significant impacts on the public health of their community. The award will be presented at the OPHI annual fundraising luncheon on Friday, October 19th. For more information about this prestigious honor, check out this link: http://www.orphi.org/billi-odegaard-public-health-genius-award

Village Gardens Seeking Fundraising Assistant Volunteers

Village Gardens is implementing a diverse range of fundraising strategies through the end of 2012.  We are looking for qualified, motivated and enthusiastic individuals interested in developing skills in fundraising campaigns while working with a vibrant and diverse community.  Fundraising Assistants can work remotely with the expectation that occasional on-site meetings occur and consistent communication occur weekly.  We are seeking individuals who are able to volunteer a total of 10-20 hours a week.

St. Johns Farmers Market

So It Goes News, September 26, 2012

The 2012 Food Works Summer Crew has Come to an End!

As you may know, Food Works hires a group of twenty youth every summer. Giving the youth of North Portland an opportunity to gain job experience, leadership skills, and lots of other skills they could use in other job ventures, at school, or even at home. All summer I’ve had the chance to work closely with many of the youth and getting to know them. Most of them with different personalities, which is what makes Food Works a fun and exciting experience. During this summer we’ve done a lot of community and volunteer work; volunteering at the Blanchet House, Oregon Food Bank, Sisters of the Road, and local gardens around our community.

We also competed in our “grudge match” which consisted of competitive challenges and fun games. The crew who earned the highest score at the end of the summer won “the golden boot.” Congratulations to the “marvel squad” for winning the grudge match this summer.  Weendedour summer with a huge barbecue, rap battle, and water fight. I’d have to say, this summer was a whole new experience for me.

Although the summer has ended, it’s not over yet! Now we’re transitioning into AYP. The Academic Year Program (AYP) gives the youth at Food Works the same opportunity to work, but during the school year.

Charleshia Dobson
Summer Crew Youth Intern Leader

New! Food Works Organic Produce section at Village Market.

The Village Market has an exciting new partnership with the Food Works youth Farm. Starting Wednesday, August 23, Food Works youth will be stocking organic vegetables in their own organic section in the produce department. The Food Works youth plan to launch this new section over the next 2 months, creating a place for customers to access local organic vegetables at a competitive and affordable price. The goal is also to provide fresh, high quality, produce each week. Youth will be merchandising and stocking their own produce section 3 times a week to ensure quality. Please head into the market this month and watch the Food Works organic produce section grow.

This week Food Works is featuring:

• Organic Dragon Tongue Beans at $0.99/lb
• Organic Slicing Tomatoes at $0.99/lb
• Organic Squash at $0.50/lb
• Organic Jalapenos at 6 for a $0.99
• Organic Tomatillos at $0.50/lb
• Organic Lemon Cucumbers at $0.50/lb
• Organic Slicing Cucumbers at $0.50/lb

Thinking about making salsa? Grab your Tomatillos and Jalapenos for salsa verde at the Village Market this week!

Food Works Crew Member Of The Week

Renold Turenne is 18 years old he has been working at Food Works since 2010. He started out on the summer crew and he has worked his way up through the years to having a leadership position. This summer his position will be the Veggies On The Street Manager. Renold is a very hard worker, funny, friendly, and his personality is not one to miss. Starting out on the Foodworks team Renold was the shy quiet person who just got the work done, but over the years Renold has manged to become more comfortable with the foodworks family and break out of his shell! Renold now calls himself the sherriff of the farm and has no problem taking charge or stepping up to get things done on the farm. Renold knows how to make everyone’s day whether its with a “This is America” joke or whether its “I Love Mangos!” Renold’s Favorite part about food works is going to the farm. His favorite thing to do on the farm is to plant, harvest, cook, and play games. Renold attends Portland Community College, he is majoring in art and drawing. Food works wouldn’t be such a positive place without Renold around to make us laugh and enjoy our work shifts!

Introducing The 2012 Foodworks CSA Manager!

Hey my name is Di’Jhena Thomas, a.ka. DaeDae, I’m 17 years old and a junior at De La Salle North Catholic High School.  I have been at Food Works for 3 1/2 years.  Starting out as a shy quiet girl on the summer crew back in 2010, I have managed to work my way up the Food Works ladder.  In 2011 I was a crew member on the Academic Year Program (AYP) and that summer was a Market Crew Leader & the St. John’s Farmer’s Market Manager.  This past 2012 AYP I was a crew leader once again and helped to launch a vegetable plants starts business with adults in my community.  This summer I have taken on the new adventure of being the 2012 CSA Manger!

Food Works has helped me improve myself and grow up.  Starting off as a shy girl to an outspoken, brave, confident, professional young lady.  Being at Food Works I have gained many skills such as public speaking, budgeting skills, and leadership skills. The most shocking part of being at Food Works for me is the way they have changed my diet and eating habits.  Since 2010 I have been eating healthier.  I remember the day I first looked at Kale and had no idea what it was.  I sure didn’t want to eat something that I didn’t know what it was!  Now I’m eating many veggies and I have discovered that I loveKale, specifically Red Russian, and Rainbow Swiss Chard.

This year as CSA Manager my goal is to give the best boxes and make my customers happy and full!  Food Works is a great program and has a great team of support.  Food Works is my family and I’m honored to be apart of it. Any questions or concerns please feel free to contact me!

foodworks@janusyouth.org

Di’Jhena Thomas
Foodworks CSA Manager

Garden Partners Supports Village Gardens

This past month, Village Gardens received a small grant award from Garden Partners to support two of our inter-generational projects, the Plant Starts Project and the Livestock Project. Since 1999, Garden Partners has designed and delivered innovative therapeutic gardening programs to participants in eldercare facilities and for at-risk children. Vital to the success of their programs were the staff and many volunteers who shared their passion for the people-plant connection.

Garden Partners is proud to be supporting the Janus Youth Village Gardens Program with a gift of $5,000.  This gift was given to Garden Partners at year-end 2011 from Safeco Insurance Company, in honor of Bill Dickey of Morel Ink, the recipient of Safeco’s Community Hero Award.  Garden Partners will be ending their day-to-day operations in Summer 2012, and is excited that Village Gardens will be carrying on this important work of inter-generational and purposeful garden and farm related programming, improving the social, emotional and physical health of participants and all those involved!

This grant will specifically support two inter-generational projects at Village Gardens:

The Plant Start Project is a collaboration between community garden adult/senior leaders and the Food Works youth farmers.  For the past few years Food Works youth and adult gardeners have worked to start their own vegetable starts for the farm and garden projects at Village Gardens.  Every year there are starts left over, and so this year, the teams are joining together to improve their plant start production and start a micro-enterprise venture to help to support their projects.  Youth farmers have led workshops with adults and senior gardeners to improve the group’s plant propagation techniques, as well as workshops on selling at the farmers market where the plant starts will be sold.  A youth Crew Leader has been coordinating the farmer’s market booth with adult/senior volunteers, and people of all ages will contribute to seeding, transplanting, watering, and selling starts in the community at low-cost and at the farmer’s market to raise additional funds for the gardens and farm.

The Growing Livestock Project is an opportunity for adults/seniors from the community, who have formed a livestock committee to collaboratively raise laying hens, and the children’s club to learn to raise chickens together.  Led by a number of seniors and other adults from our affordable housing developments, the livestock committee originally partnered with Food Works teenagers to raise chickens on the Food Works Farm on Sauvie Island.  Because transportation to the site was difficult for many individuals, the livestock committee successfully moved the chickens to the St. Johns Woods Apartments, where they now live adjacent to the Big Apple Garden Club garden.  With the chickens now in everyone’s backyard, kids club children have begun to help to take care of the chickens with the support of livestock committee seniors and adults.

Village Gardens would like to thank Garden Partners for their belief in our work and for passing on this gift which will support incredible youth-adult partnerships.

Portland’s Best Kept Secret Celebrates Its First Year In Business May 28th

Village Market, Portland’s only nonprofit grocery store, celebrates one year of success serving residents of the New Columbia neighborhood and surrounding North Portland communities.  Village Market is a community-based project, part of the larger Village Gardens community food initiative, in the business of providing healthy food options to local residents that are affordable and convenient.  Staff, volunteers and neighbors are excited to celebrate the market’s first birthday during the week of May 28.

Check out the video below to learn more about all that Village Market does to build community:

Village Market, a project of Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs and Portland’s only non-profit grocery store, was created to address a community-defined need in the neighborhood of New Columbia – the lack of access to healthy, affordable food options. With the tag line “Community Serving Community", Village Market seeks to puts the community first, as it helps to create job opportunities, access to health education, and of course, access to healthy and affordable food options. As a collaborative partnership between resident community leaders, Village Gardens, Home Forward and a handful of other partners, Village Market is looking to change what it means to be a grocery store. On May 28th, 2012, Village Market is celebrating its one year anniversary. And after one year in business, the leaders of Village Market are looking to reach out to the greater Portland community. Village Market wants to be your local grocery store! By supporting Village Market, you're supporting not just the store, but also the people who work and volunteer there: you're supporting the gardens and community projects, neighborhood youth farmers, and health education and advocacy programs. Village Market is one piece in a growing network of community action supported by Village Gardens, a network of people who truly want to see their community thrive. This is a big project, with broad implications for how communities feed and nurture themselves. Please come shop at the store, volunteer your time, and help get the word out. This is a big endeavor: and every little bit counts. Go to villagegardens.org to find out more. You can also follow the project on Facebook (Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs). facebook.com/pages/Village-Gardens-Janus-Youth-Programs/131053303584040 Thanks!

In a recent interview with KBOO Talk Radio host Lisa Loving, Project Manager Mychal Tetteh summed up his last nine months at the market in saying, “from my personal experience as a lifelong Portland resident, [New Columbia] is one of the best places in Portland, bar none.”  Village Market invites you to visit the store (located at 4632 N Trenton St) and discover for yourself a sense of community you won’t find anywhere else.

To hear the full interview check out this link:

http://kboo.org/audio/by/title/talk_radio_20120502

We need your help to spread the word.  Share this post, share these links, post to Facebook, Twitter and tell your friends in person.

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Want to get involved? Send us a line: info.villagemarket@gmail.com

Shop! Donate! Spread the Word! We hope to see you at the Village Market soon!

Nonprofit grocery store in North Portland’s New Columbia turns 1, learns to adjust→

Nonprofit grocery store in North Portland’s New Columbia turns 1, learns to adjust

OregonLive.com, May 29, 2012

Village Market’s 1 Year Aniversary

Village Market, a project of Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs and Portland’s only non-profit grocery store, was created to address a community-defined need in the neighborhood of New Columbia – the lack of access to healthy, affordable food options. With the tag line “Community Serving Community", Village Market seeks to puts the community first, as it helps to create job opportunities, access to health education, and of course, access to healthy and affordable food options. As a collaborative partnership between resident community leaders, Village Gardens, Home Forward and a handful of other partners, Village Market is looking to change what it means to be a grocery store. On May 28th, 2012, Village Market is celebrating its one year anniversary. And after one year in business, the leaders of Village Market are looking to reach out to the greater Portland community. Village Market wants to be your local grocery store! By supporting Village Market, you're supporting not just the store, but also the people who work and volunteer there: you're supporting the gardens and community projects, neighborhood youth farmers, and health education and advocacy programs. Village Market is one piece in a growing network of community action supported by Village Gardens, a network of people who truly want to see their community thrive. This is a big project, with broad implications for how communities feed and nurture themselves. Please come shop at the store, volunteer your time, and help get the word out. This is a big endeavor: and every little bit counts. Go to villagegardens.org to find out more. You can also follow the project on Facebook (Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs). http://www.facebook.com/pages/Village-Gardens-Janus-Youth-Programs/131053303584040 Thanks!

Village Market – Portland’s Best-Kept Secret

Village Market, a project of Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs and Portland’s only non-profit grocery store, was created to address a community-defined need in the neighborhood of New Columbia – the lack of access to healthy, affordable food options. With the tag line “Community Serving Community", Village Market seeks to puts the community first, as it helps to create job opportunities, access to health education, and of course, access to healthy and affordable food options. As a collaborative partnership between resident community leaders, Village Gardens, Home Forward and a handful of other partners, Village Market is looking to change what it means to be a grocery store. On May 28th, 2012, Village Market is celebrating its one year anniversary. And after one year in business, the leaders of Village Market are looking to reach out to the greater Portland community. Village Market wants to be your local grocery store! By supporting Village Market, you're supporting not just the store, but also the people who work and volunteer there: you're supporting the gardens and community projects, neighborhood youth farmers, and health education and advocacy programs. Village Market is one piece in a growing network of community action supported by Village Gardens, a network of people who truly want to see their community thrive. This is a big project, with broad implications for how communities feed and nurture themselves. Please come shop at the store, volunteer your time, and help get the word out. This is a big endeavor: and every little bit counts. Go to villagegardens.org to find out more. You can also follow the project on Facebook (Village Gardens, Janus Youth Programs). http://www.facebook.com/pages/Village-Gardens-Janus-Youth-Programs/131053303584040 Thanks!

PrettyGoodProductions, May 10, 2012

Organic Vegetable Plant Starts

For 10 seasons Village Gardens community leaders and Food Works youth have been seeding, transplanting, cultivating and harvesting vegetables in their gardens and farm.

Seeding plants starts has been a growing experience for the Seeds of Harmony and New Beginnings Garden leaders. Initially gardeners relied solely on donated plant starts and seeds from Portland Nursery and distributed starts to gardeners at free plant give-aways. Garden leaders decided that selling plant starts at an affordable rate would allow them to expand choices and raise a small amount of revenue to go into the upkeep of their garden. In 2009 the SOH gardeners launched their first plant sale. It is hard to think back to this sale with out a conversation about the squash starts that were sold. Not one of the starts produced a squash all summer, but come October each gardener had a healthy patch of pumpkins.  The next year gardeners implemented a double-label method for all their seeded trays.

Over the years they have continued to develop creative tools for meeting the needs of their diverse community.   In 2011 gardeners developed a vegetable photo binder with color pictures and descriptions of each vegetables name inEnglish, French and Spanish. The New Beginning gardeners also created “To Go Plants”, a pre-order form and pick up system that allowed gardeners to get their starts on the “go”.  The garden plant sales have become exciting community events where gardeners can share their plant knowledge, gardening experience, tasty recipes, and purchase the plants they want in their garden.

The Food Works youth seed and grow starts for use on their organic farm in their Sauvie Island green house. Food Works has supported the SOH and NB garden sales by providing space in their greenhouse to grow their starts. In 2011, Food Works seeded over 29,000 seeds on their farm and distributed over 2,500 lbs of organic produce to their North Portland neighbors.

This year Food Works and SOH & NB Gardeners have partnered together to launch the Plants Starts Project. Their idea was to learn from each other, share their resources, and begin growing plant starts for the wider Portland community. For the past 6 months adults and youth have been busy launching the Plants Starts Project. Food Works youth started the season by leading a training with adult garden leaders to share their seeding methods, organization, and excel spreadsheets. SOH gardeners have been seeding trays on Saturdays and NB gardeners have been potting-up peppers and tomatoes during their Wednesday meetings. Dae Dae, a Food Works youth crew leader, has been leading cash handling and farmer’s market trainings for the PSP team in preparation for the Farmers Market. Peggy Acott, of the Portland Nursery, facilitated a customer service training to sharpen their skills handling customers. The SOH and NB gardeners both had their first community plant sale this spring and sold over 900 plants to their neighbors. An exciting addition to this project isselling our plant starts at the healthy corner grocery store, Village Market. You can get organic plant starts when you pick up your weekly groceries.

The Plants Starts Project team will begin selling their organic vegetable starts at the Portland Farmers Market this Saturday, May 5 at the Food Works market stand. Remember, you can purchase these lush plant starts with your EBT card! The PSP team will be on hand to share their stories, plant knowledge, the photo book, and of course sell plant starts for your garden. Sales from the Plant Starts will contribute to the energy costs of the greenhouse, soil, fertilizer and gh trays,  the purchase of desired seed varieties, and garden site improvements.

Great job Dae Dae, Pritha, Trish, Linda, Efrain, Doug, Dan, Michelle, Asha, Earl, Sue N., Dan, Kari, Yousf, Shamsyia, Melissa, Virginia, Martin, Roy, Mary P., Dominic, Malicah, Wasongolo, Stan, Jason, Ryan, Mikael, Barbara, Helen, Rodolfo, and Sally!

And a huge thanks to our amazing partners: Portland Nursery, City Farm, Little Prince Nursery, Naomi’s Farm Supply, Territorial Seeds, High Mowing Seeds, Baker Creek Seeds, Irish Eyes Garden Seeds!!! We couldn’t do this work without you!