Project Backyard
Bringing gardening to your backyard this summer!
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Project Backyard is a new initiative aimed at creating access to healthy food in under resourced communities by educating our neighbors on vegetable gardening and growing food in the comfort of their own backyard. Many of our neighbors have expressed an interest in learning how to grow their own food but unfortunately encounter challenges attending our community garden work days due to lack of transportation, childcare, etc. In efforts to support our community’s physical health and wellbeing and meet our neighbors where they’re at, Miracle on Craig Street is planning to bring the expertise, education and food right to their doorstep.
This summer we will be piloting our new initiative and working with 25 families in the Capital Region. We will teaching community residents how to create and setup a 8X4 ft garden bed. Gardeners get to choose what they want to grow dependent on growing space and access to sunlight. Gardeners are provided with 1 initial setup visit and then monthly maintenance visits along with access to garden staff for troubleshooting and Q&A via telephone.
New gardeners will receive education on recommendations for soil upkeep, recommendations for pests and animal deterrence, nutritional info about the food they have chosen to grow and education on common plant diseases. In addition new gardeners will learn about harvesting and pruning their crops, crop rotation, and companion planting.
Project Backyard will provide gardeners with seedlings, compost, garden soil, and basic gardening tools. Gardeners are expected to pay a sliding scale fee to cover some of the costs of the program.
Gardeners are asked to self identify assets and choose their payment option. Gardeners with high assets help to offset costs of gardener with little to no assets and create access to this opportunity for folks who otherwise would not have access. The additional program costs will be offset by grant funding and donations.
Our growing season will start in the beginning of May where we will begin to create the garden beds with resident participants and get seedlings into the ground. Over the summer months routine maintenance will be performed on the garden beds by Project Backyard staff. We are projecting that routine maintenance visits will culminate in September.
Options for 8X4 ft Garden Bed (subject to change and requests)
A – Herb Garden
B – Cucumbers, Beans, Cabbage, Sunflowers – – late potatoes
C – Onions, Tomatoes, Peppers, lettuce —Late Pumpkins
Sliding Scale Fee Table (May – June 2018)
Tier 1 Assets (Household Income <$40,000)
$175 ($75 initial $25/month thereafter June-September)
Tier 2 Assets (Household Income $40,000-$65,000)
$350 ($150 initial $50/month thereafter June-September)
Tier 3 Assets (Household Income $65,000+)
$550 ($250 initial $75/month thereafter June-September)
Gardeners can pay the down payment at the initial setup visit. Monthly payments are due at the time of the scheduled maintenance visits. Additional maintenance visits may be requested for an additional rate. Please make check payable to Miracle on Craig Street.
Miracle on Craig Street receives training and technical assistance from Soul Fire Farm in Grafton NY. For more information about Soul Fire Farm training and programming please visit www.soulfirefarm.org
For more information on Project Backyard and Miracle on Craig Street please contact Rosa Rivera at miracleoncraigstreet@gmail.com or (518)982-5050.
Month 1 May:
Installtion of initial garden bed
Intro to what you are growing
Spacing/Planting
labeling
companion planting
when it will produce
watering
Month 2 June:
Weeding
Pest Control
Pruning/Thinning plants
Feeding the soil (if needed) Intro: Harvesting if needed
Month 3 July:
Harvesting, Pruning Thinning, as needed
Pest control cont.
Seed Saving
Incorporating into meals
Storage
Month 4: August
Transplanting for Fall if applicable
Harvesting Cont.
Making meals
Planning for next Harvest
Storage Cont.
Month 5 : September
Putting garden to bed
Possible Potluck with all participants (bring something from your garden) Location TBD
This year we are grateful to have the support from the following partners
