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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