Join us for these self-guided tours of Washtenaw County garden sites that create smart, fast and sustainable ways to increase low-income people’s access to locally grown, healthy food.

• Visit Faith & Food congregational gardens to see for yourself how this collaboration among ICPJ, Food Gatherers, and Growing Hope is supporting congregations to grow healthy food for the hungry.
• Get a look at other area gardens developed by Food Gatherers, Growing Hope, and Project Grow to see how local community members are responding to increased need for healthy, affordable food.

Choose from 2 dates: July 22, 6 – 9 p.m. OR August 1, 10 a.m. – 1 p.m.

Featured locations: (DOWNLOAD A SITE MAP HERE!)

• The Gathering Farm at Food Gatherers, Ann Arbor
• The Growing Hope Center Urban Farm, Ypsilanti
• Project Grow’s Edible Avalon Community Garden at Arbordale, Ann Arbor
• Faith & Food Congregational Gardens, including:
  • St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, Ann Arbor
  • St. Andrews Episcopal Church, Ann Arbor
  • Messias Temple Apostolic Church, Ypsilanti
  • Unitarian Universalist Congregation, Ann Arbor, 7/22 only
  • Holy Faith Lutheran/Episcopal Church, Saline, 8/01 only

This is a self-guided tour.  Stop at one or all of the sites in any order. Volunteers will personally show you around and tell you about their program.  Learn gardening techniques such as building raised beds and fences and recruiting volunteers.  All produce is donated to meal programs, food banks, and neighbors.

DOWNLOAD A SITE MAP HERE!

For more information:
Call – 734-786-8401
Email – faithandfood@growinghope.net

PRESS RELEASE – Big Community Harvest Garden Tour

The Big Community Harvest Projects are funded by the Ann Arbor Area Community Foundation/Pfizer Big Idea Grant.

Read on for more details about each of the featured sites…

The Gathering Farm at the Food Gatherers, 1 Carrot Way, off Dhu Varren, Ann Arbor

This large, impressive garden maintained on-site by staff and volunteers grows high yield, high nutrition vegetables for immediate distribution to food banks and meal programs, or for preservation for the winter months.

The Growing Hope Center, 922 W. Michigan Ave., Ypsilanti

This urban farm and Growing Hope Headquarters under development features a 3000 square-foot hoop house and demonstration and training gardens.  It showcases how healthy food can both help feed the community and provide opportunities for green jobs.

Project Grow’s Edible Avalon Community Garden, 1010 S. Arbordale, Ann Arbor.

This group of gardens provides an opportunity for Avalon tenants to learn new skills, meet their neighbors, share recipes and cooking ideas, become more self-sufficient, and have access to nutritious foods that they have grown themselves with hands-on support from Project Grow and volunteers.

Faith and Food Congregational Gardens:

St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, 3109 Scio Church Rd., Ann Arbor

This garden was started in June, 2009 and features a large tilled area on a sprawling, rural lot.  Learn how these volunteers got the work done in a short amount of time, including building a critter-proof fence.

St. Andrews Episcopal Church, 306 N. Division St., Ann Arbor

During the winter months, members of St. Andrews attended the Growing Hope Institute course on community gardening in preparation for sustaining a small vegetable garden on this crowded downtown property.  Planted in April, these four 4′ x 8′ raised beds have been producing an incredible amount of food.

Messias Temple Apostolic Church, 200 Harriet St., Ypsilanti

This large, urban garden near downtown Ypsilanti is essentially maintained by a few dedicated members, with the goal of involving other area churches, including nearby First United Methodist.  Some exciting youth activities are planned.

Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 4001 Ann Arbor Saline Rd., Ann Arbor (July 22 only)

For three years several families have gardened side-by-side in this charming little garden.  They are all now contributing to the Faith and Food program by growing the requested vegetables and making collective donations to Food Gatherers.

Holy Faith Lutheran/Episcopal Church, 6299 Saline Ann Arbor Rd., Saline (August 1 only)

Holy Faith decided to build their new garden on the front yard in plain view of the busy road to act as a living billboard, advertising that this church is participating in local solutions to rising needs, and inviting others to be a part of the solution.

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