Spring is here and we’re gearing up for our seedling sale, movie night, compost workshop and new MassLIFT members!

Summer Seedling Sale!

Fill up your garden with summer veggie starts from Backyard Growers! Tomatoes, peppers, eggplants and more!  May 23rd- May 28th at the Backyard Growers office. See our website for our address, times, and varieties: BYG Event: Summer Seedling Sale

Movie Screening: Can You Dig It?

Join Backyard Growers, The Common Crow, and the Cape Ann Farmer’s Market at the Cape Ann Community Cinema for a screening of Can You Dig It?, a film about the urban agriculture movement in South LA.  Sunday, May 22 at 6:30 pm.  See all the details here: CACC Movie Screening: Can you Dig It?

Looking for new MassLIFT Service Members!

Interested in doing a year of service? Know someone who is? Backyard Growers is a host site for MassLIFT Americorps, which allows us to have awesome service members make things happen in our community and our gardens. Please visit the MassLIFT website at masslift.org and click “Join MassLIFT” for the details of the position and to apply! 

Compost Workshop

Learn how composting works and how to incorporate it in your garden! Join us at Gloucester High School to for a composting workshop in collaboration with Black Earth Compost. Saturday, May 14, 3-5 pm.  See details and register here: BYG Event: Composting Workshop

This May, Backyard Growers will be very busy running events that help the community through all levels of growing–from compost to the dinner table (and hopefully back to a compost pile)! We are excited to host one Backyard Compost Workshop and three May Seasonal Cooking Workshops throughout the month.

On Saturday, May 14, we are holding our Backyard Compost Workshop from 3:00-5:00pm at the Gloucester High School Farm.

Any community members are welcome to come learn how to create a successful backyard compost pile! Turn your yard waste, garden weeds and food scraps into valuable soil amendment for your home garden. This workshop will focus on how to create a small-scale, low-effort composting system that will work for you. We will explore several different composting systems and methods,  as well as answer questions specific to your composting situation. $10 suggested donation for attendance.

For more information on this event, you can visit our page here.

After our Backyard Compost Workshop finishes, we are thrilled to be starting our new May Seasonal Cooking Workshops! This May class will be the first class in a series of three seasonal cooking workshops (May, August, and October) that Backyard Growers is launching to celebrate local seasonal produce. All workshops are held in the dining room of The Open Door. Each May course is the same curriculum.

The three May workshop dates are:

• Tuesday May 17 6:30-8:30pm
• Tuesday May 24 6:30-8:30pm
• Tuesday May 31 6:30-8:30pm

In these workshops local chefs from Short & Main and the Common Crow will teach you cooking and preparation tips. These workshops will focus on sharing delicious, healthy, seasonal-produce based, easy, kid-friendly, cheap, and fast recipes with you and your family. Beyond being practical, these workshops will be hands on, fun, and you won’t leave hungry! This is a family workshop so please bring your kids if they are 5+, remember to wear clothing you don’t mind cooking in, and please notify Backyard Growers at community@backyardgrowers.org if anyone in your party has any allergy or food concerns.

For payment information and to sign up for one of our May Seasonal Cooking Workshops, head over to our page here.

Want your garden to mean something more this year and give back to Cape Ann? Have you always wanted a raised garden bed in your backyard but are not income-eligible? Then sign up for our Get-a-Garden, Give-a-Garden program! When you join the program you help another family in need in Gloucester receive a garden too. Join today!

To sign up today contact our Community Garden Coordinator at community@backyardgrowers.org, visit us at 269 Main St, Gloucester or online at http://www.backyardgrowers.org.

Looking to spice up your garden this year without breaking the bank? Have some extra seed packets lying around? Then the Backyard Growers Annual Seed Swap is for you!

For the meager price of your seed leftovers, you can walk away with a plethora of new seeds beyond your wildest garden dreams! You probably didn’t want all 35 of those tomato seeds anyway…swap the rest!

The idea is simple: bins for each type of vegetable will be arranged and labeled. Simply drop your seed offering into the correct bin (labelled seeds please!), then start browsing. If you find some seeds you like, pour as many as you will use into provided envelopes (Don’t forget to label them! Your future self will thank you!).

Also available will be guides and demos for starting your seeds indoors (a must for tomatoes, eggplant and peppers).

Seed swap will be held TONIGHT Thursday 2/25 from 6-8 at 269 Main Street, just two doors down from Alexandra’s Bread!

Check out the event on Facebook:https: //www.facebook.com/events/1279398988743947/

Looking for a job at an awesome urban agriculture nonprofit? Check out our new Community Programs Manager position and apply today!

This is our team being rad. This could be you! 

Backyard Growers (BYG) is a grassroots, non-profit organization helping to reshape Gloucester’s relationship with food. We provide resources and support to establish vegetable gardens at homes, housing communities, organizations, and schools. In the end we create life-long gardeners inspired by the power of growing one’s own food. For more information about Backyard Growers, please visit http://www.backyardgrowers.org.

 

Your kids already love gardens in their schools, why not get a garden in your own backyard?!

Apply by February 12 to our Backyard Garden Program to get a raised garden bed, compost, seeds, seedlings, and garden training and support for 2 years!

For more information or to sign up go to our program page!

 

Hello Folks,

She simply didn’t believe me. There was no way that there could be carrots growing in her school garden because all she could see was a bunch of green leaves. But this little kindergartener from Veterans School had the surprise of her life when she reached down, scraped at the soil surface and found some orange! In the next moment she was yanking a carrot out of the ground along with her classmates and holding it up in the air with the biggest smile.

Please join us this year by donating to our end-of-year campaign in conjunction with Giving Tuesday, which is TODAY!

Why Backyard Growers this season? School, community, and backyard gardens yield delicious veggies, increase access to nature, provide learning opportunities, and improve children’s health — But more than that, gardens grow community and a powerful source of self-reliance.

This Giving Tuesday, help Backyard Growers strengthen our work serving Gloucester’s families and children. When you give today the first $2,250 we receive will be matched by three of our generous donors. This match represents a year’s worth of garden supplies for our district-wide Salad Days and Fall Harvest Days programs in Gloucester’s elementary schools. Double your impact and help us meet our match! Our partner, The Giving Common, will cover credit card fees so that 100% of your donation goes to Backyard Growers.

Please click here to make your donation.

Thank you!

Lara