The St. Francis Sustainable Garden Project supports the hungry, at-risk children and their families in our area. We use a garden plot in front of the St. Francis rectory where we grow and harvest herbs, vegetables and flowers. In past years each harvest has produced over 180 lbs. of produce- all delivered to the pantry at Foundations Preschool of Ann Arbor, - child care center for at-risk, low-income families.

The St. Francis Grounds & Botanical Gardens: Several gardens surround the St Francis of Assisi campus of buildings, including, but not limited to, the church, school, rectory and/or parish offices. These gardens need to be a beautiful expression of hospitality, in particular, the entrances, to our fellow parishioners and visitors as well as reflect a statement of our appreciation for God's creation and nature.

Questions? Contact: Scott Wright (734-821-2121)

St. Francis Sustainable Garden: Fall Clean Up Day: Saturday Oct 13, 2012

Sustainable Garden Project: Update 2012

Fall Clean Up Day:  Saturday Oct 13, 2012, 9:00 am
For about a dozen years St Francis of Assisi parish volunteers have been sowing, growing and harvesting produce including herbs for delivery to single-parent families at the Perry Nursery School on Packard Road in SE Ann Arbor.  The harvest blessings for the 2012 season of “The Sustainable Garden” continued with an overall natural and seasonal production of about 100 pounds of various vegetable types including beans, carrots, collards, peppers, onions, peas, potatoes, spinach, tomatillos, tomatoes, and squash.  Garden herbs like basil, chives, thyme and dill also frequently accompanied the deliveries of these vegetables.
Within days of two successful seed and seedling sales in April and May, the garden year kicked off earlier than usual with the planting of seeds (donated by Downtown Home and Garden of Ann Arbor) of cooler Spring crops of sugar snap peas and spinach.  The growing season recently ended in early October with a bountiful harvest including root vegetables, potatoes (20 pounds) and carrots (7 pounds). This year the garden has been more vigorously expanded to hopefully include future harvests of black and red raspberries, blackberries, rhubarb, and asparagus which are perennial types of food producing plants that do not need re-seeding or re-planting each year.  Finally, our group of volunteers prepared the garden in the spring, watered (using our new rain barrel which collects the rectory roof run-off), weeded and composted (into 3 separate bins) weekly in the summer, and then met in late October for a complete Fall garden cleanup and more. 
“The Sustainable Garden” welcomes St Francis parishioners to view it at any time, and if interested, in volunteering and/or making donations (e.g., monies, garden tools, plant supports like trellises/tomato cages), please contact Erich Jensen at 734.996.1439 or erichjensen@msn.com

Wow! Fall Clean Up Day: Saturday Oct 13, 2012, 9:00 am... 
We did all major gardening tasks in one hour (in a little drizzle) with a fantastic team consisting of:
  • Rose, Patrick and John Sherry
  • Joan Meagher
  • Janet Bourgnon
  • Ron Yonkoski
  • Frank, Julie and Frank, Jr Fazekas
  • Erich and Ann Marie Jensen
Many, many thank yous for your hard work and self initiative and direction, as needed.

With kind and appreciative regards,
Erich Jensen
Co-coordinator for the St Francis Sustainable Garden

P.S.  See you all in the Spring 2013!  Merry Christmas ;-)
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St Francis Sustainable Garden Final Harvest (Oct 5)

This photo is our final produce harvested today by Rose and Patrick Sherry and Erich Jensen.  
Note: 15 pounds of potatoes not including sweet ones.
 
Today's Harvest:
  • Pole Beans
  • Chives
  • Tomatillos
  • Jalapenos
  • Tomatoes
  • Potatoes, Red, White and Sweet
  • Basil
  • Collard Greens
  • Carrots
  • Cuke
  • Rhubarb
 
We could not have achieved this final success as well as the other harvests throughout the summer without your attention and help on watering and weeding....your care and love for this special garden.   God bless you,  Erich Jensen    
 
P.S.  We still need help cleaning up the garden and fall/winter preparation next Saturday, Oct 13, 2012, at 9 a.m.  Please bring a shovel, rake, and/or hand pruner.
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St Francis Sustainable Garden: Fall Clean Up Day: Saturday Oct 13 9:00 am

Fall cleanup day is scheduled for Oct 13, 2012, at 9:00am and should last about an hour.   Let me know if you plan to be there.  Thank you. In Christ,  Erich Jensen    734.771.8511
 

           

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St Francis Sustainable Garden

Help with St. Francis' herb and produce garden and its harvest for Perry Nursey School.
 
Erich Jensen and Rose Sherry are the current garden coordinators with a core team of 6-8 people and oversee the following activities (and more) throughout the year, but mostly in spring and summer:
  • Seed and plant sales
  • Spring planting day(s)
  • Summer weekly water/weed/compost
  • Periodic deliveries to nursery school
  • Fall clean up day
 
We are mostly harvesting down the garden these days and welcome your help with the fall cleanup day (late Oct Sat/Sun date to be announced).  We will then be a little quiet for a while, and will contact you in late winter/early spring about dates for next year's garden activities.
 
In Christ,
Erich Jensen
734.771.8511

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Seed Sale Sunday April 15th


St. Francis Sustainable Garden Seed Sale

Spring is around the corner and gardening is soon to follow!!
Stay tune for our Annual Seed and Seedling Sales coming this Spring.
Sale proceeds are used to fund materials for the garden which provides fresh organic produce to Perry Nursery School Families.

Annual Seed Sale:  Sunday April 15th after all Masses
  We sell organic seeds from the garden or other local sources.
       
Annual Seedling Sale:  Mid May Date TBD
  We sell organic seedlings of tomatoes, herbs and more. 

Volunteer Opportunities:
Do you like gardening? Want to learn? 
If you have some time this summer we need volunteers to help with:
        Seed/Seedling Sales
Garden prep in April/May
        Watering and weeding throughout the summer and early fall
        Harvesting and delivering produce to Perry during the summer and early fall
Ideas and resources to aid in the garden
Garden clean up in the fall

If you are interested or curious please contact Erich Jensen at:  erichjensen@msn.com or (734) 996-1439

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