A local girl scout troop came by to see the garden and complete a plan of action for their gardening badges next spring!
We have been able to provide some vegetables to the local community. We have learned that we have planted WAY to much kale, and people aren't fond of kale.
Originally we were going to measure our impact by weight of vegetables, however that isn't feasible because vegetables weigh differently. For example, the spinach was the first to be picked off, but fresh spinach didn't weigh much at all. Neither did the lettuce (not grown as a head).
We are still growing squash and eggplants for fall harvest
The tomatoes and corn didn't turn out well, we will need to revisit after the greenhouse cover is in place.
We had a camp of kids that enjoyed taste testing all the fresh vegetables!
We were able to qualify with the State of Colorado, Department of Agriculture, Produce Safety Program Registration Certificate. This registration certificate confirms that Tuff's Ranch fulfilled the Colorado Registration Requirement with the Produce Safety Program for the 2024 growing season.
We also had to obtain the Colorado Department of Agriculture, Hand Weeding Variance Certification. This indicated that Tuff's Ranch is compliant with Colorado’s Rules pertaining to agricultural workers’ hand weeding greater than 20% of their work week. This was to cover volunteers hand weeding 100% of their time in the garden.
We have tried to make the raised beds easier for the community and accessible to wheel chairs. The remainder of funds will be utilized to enable the walkways be ADA compliant.
"The produce is great! It's fresh, non GMO, local, and I know where is coming from!" Mike, neighbor.
"OMG! I love your vegetables." Kay, neighbor.
Thank you for your time and grant to fulfill this community garden! We're excited to turn it over to the kids for care next year when the garden is a bit safer and finalized for them.
First harvest collected by neighbor!
Grow baby, grow!
Our first community group to go through our community garden! The kids loved being able to taste the leaves of kale, lettuce, beets, and celery. The chives were ready to munch on too.
Action plan:
Timeline: to be finished by May 15, 2024.
Budget: we are looking at buying wholesale started plants instead of growing from seed this year because we're already behind in the growing season due to the late snow storms. $2500
Impact: the community will have access to fresh vegetables in a longer season than the traditional gardens outside. We can measure this by how many pounds of vegetables are picked from the greenhouse. We are hoping to have this project maintained by the youth, and hoping to provide knowledge and increase interest in gardening, self sufficientcy, and clean eating
Location: Tuff's Ranch, 5055 S County Road 137, Bennett, CO, 80102
Tuff has been helping as he can between school and 4-H.
The youth in the community, Ranch Hands for the Day participants, will be tasked with maintaining the garden once it's all set up and ready to go
The inside is coming along nicely! We've got six or seven more boxes to build, move, and fill.
