Growing People Newsletter - Summer-Fall 2002

8/4/2019 Growing People Newsletter - Summer-Fall 2002

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VOLUME 8, NO. 2 Summer and Fall 2002

Project Report: Kramer

School1

Best of Big D, Kramer

Supporters & Volunteers2

Presidents Commission

visit to EDCG

4

Brief Notes. 4

Garden Thank You

Festival5

Saturday Morning Tours 6

Tiahs Garden Recipe:

Italian Style Angle Luffa7

Inside this issue:

Growing People NewsG a r d e n e r s i n C o m m u n i t y D e v e l o p m e n t

Project Report: A new Garden

Kramer Elementary school Community Garden Project

Arthur J. Kramer Elementary School is located on Midbury near the intersec-tion of Hillcreast and Northaven roads. Several years ago the school had a small gar-den that subsequently languished. For the last two or three years, parent John Tatum

has been spearhead-ing the idea of es-tablishing a newand better garden,and is responsiblefor bringing to-gether GICD, Prin-cipal Kyle Richard-son and others in aseries of planningmeetings. The gar-den layout and con-

struction are basedon other gardensbuilt by GICD, andDon Lambert su-pervised the workas it progressed.Throughout, Johnhas played a major role which resulted in getting the site cleaned and tilled, the ga-zebo and composting center, laying pipe for the water system, and getting the bricked

(Continued on page 5)

Upcoming events:Fall Garden FestivalNovember 2, 2002,

Starting 4 pm, East Dallas

Community Garden

GICD Board Meetings:6:30 P.M.

October 23

November 21

December pending

(date and time may change, so call ahead)

Annual Spring PlantSale 2003April 26 and 27

Information, call 972-231-3565

Garden Thank You FestivalSaturday, November 2, starts at 4 PMEast Dallas Community Garden, 1416 N. Fitzhugh

All Community Gardening Friends InvitedA family event with food (by Gardeners and GICD)

Free, but donations appreciated

Eat Mingle Celebrate Success Thank Our

Volunteers Learn a Cambodian Dance (see related story on page 5)


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VOLUME 8.2GROWING PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER AND FALL 2002PAGE 2

Gardeners in Community Development among the BEST of BIG DBy Don Lambert

Each year in August, the publishers ofD Magazineputs out their ultimate resource guide to the best of Dallas. Well,GICD is in the Best Food & Drink, as:

It is great to be so honored, but this project has not been the work of one person alone. There have been many peopleworking together. GICD plays a vital role in the Kramer project (see article on page 1), but many people deservecredit for making this project successful. The many supporters and hard working Kramer parents, the school princi-pal, teachers, and others continue to work hard as a team to make this project successful.

A BIG THANKS ALL THE KRAMER SCHOOL COMMUNITY GARDEN SUPPORTERS AND VOLUNTEERS:

The Best Way To Get Kids To Eat Their VegetablesGARDENERS IN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT

You may not know it, moms, but Don Lambert is your best friend. Founder of a nonprofit group called Gardeners inCommunity Development (which supports, among other projects, the East Dallas community garden), Lambert ishelping students at Dallas elementary schools plant and maintain organic gardens. Kramer Elementary has a thrivingvegetable garden that teaches use as part of their science curriculum and reading programs. The garden providesfundraising opportunities and, obviously, healthy food for the school lunch table. 972-231-3565.

Kramer Garden Project Supporters

JUNIOR LEAGUEOF DALLASGRANTSFOR INNOVATIVE TEACHING

money for Reading in the Garden Program, books and educa-tional materials

JOHN TATUM & FAMILYgarden design, site preparation, gazeboconstruction, brick and concrete work,

and much more

The Kramer School Dads Clubgreat volunteers and project support

LES DAMESDESCOFFIERfunding for education and GICD support

GARDENERSIN COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENTgeneral garden support, community training,

construction supervision, organic gardening education

NATIONAL GARDENING ASSOCIATIONschool garden grant of tools and supplies

PRESERVATION TREE SERVICEdonated woodchip mulch

DALLAS INDEPENDENT SCHOOL DISTRICTwoodchip hauling, general support

KENNETH MCKAYdonated seeds

Kramer PTA

Elizabeth Crisforddonated seeds

Margo ArandaMaya B.Gary BaileyJim BaronKate BaronLiz BaronZak BaronBarbara BaughmanDrew BeattyBruce BernbaumCathy BywatersPat BywatersVincent CabreraEthel CampbellGabrial CauntPhillis CauntJay DowlingHoward GilbergDakota GonzalesMary HollisClay JohnsonClint JohnsonCully JohnsonEllen KhurshudianStormie KingDick KleinErik KuehmeierDon LambertTiah LambertAaron LambertBruce Marlin

Clair MarlinReed McAlisterCorina MorenoFlorentino MorenoJulio OzoriaTony PauletteJaqueline RamirezChristian RamirezJoe RichardsonKyle RichardsonGary ScuphamManuel SernaAmy SeversonJim SeversonEd SholtyDarlene SmithJohn TatumJohn Tatum, JrMary Ann TatumPaul TatumRory Wassenaar&others

Kramer Garden Project Volunteers


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PAGE 3GROWING PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER AND FALL 2002VOLUME 8.2

GICD SUPPORTERSSUMMER& FALL 2002

Communities Foundation of Texas

The Real Estate Council Foundation

Hillcrest Foundation, founded by Mrs. W.W. Caruth, Sr.

Les Dames dEscoffier

Dallas Organic Gardening Club

Rose Blatch

Jim CaffreyCompaq Computer

Tom & Pungut Korytowski

Skyline White Rock Lions, Inc.

Darwin & Myra Smith

Gay Mallon Lustfield

Denise Partida

Bob & Nancy Randall

Lance Rasbridge

Richard Strom

Tom Thumb/Safeway

Ann Whitus

Steve & Linda Ali

Suvapote Atiyawijitr

La Petta Collier

Arthur Cressman

Patty M. Frederick

Joanna Hampton

Charles Kemp

Kurt Kretsinger

Watels Restaurant

Notable Groups that Recently

Toured our Community Gardens

Presidents Advisory Commission on Asian-American and Pacific Islanders (story pg. 4)

Master Composters Training Group

Tarrant County Master Gardeners

Terrell Garden Club

USDA Food and Nutrition Service Field Office

Dallas Organic Gardening Club

East Dallas Christian Church, ChristianWomens Fellowship

Lunch in the Garden: This luncheon raised over $1000 on October 11th forclearing a landmine field in Cambodia, homeland of our largest group of Dallascommunity gardeners. Many thanks to the following event volunteers:

Food and cooking:Tiah Lambert

Food Preparation helpers:Sally Ee (also cooking demos)Ann Whitus

Barbara BaughmanChanda SovanChharveth KivDarlene SmithHalimah YusufKhatina WahabMarina ThaiMuradNavy CheanNorsiah DanielsRosni Uzairi

East Dallas Community Gardeners:Krath MouPrak VoeunYai Kam& garden cleanup team

Landmine Committee, Dallas PeaceCenter, and Dallas-United NationsAssociation:

Stephen Brown (Chair)Bill MathewsBunyay Nhonh (GICD)Lance RasbridgeMargit WhitakerMichael Andrew Machicek& other helpers


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East Dallas Community Garden is a Model for the NationVisit by Presidents Advisory Commission on Asian-American and Pacific Islanders

On Monday, August 26th, acommission set up by PresidentGeorge W. Bush to advise him onthe well being of Asian-Americansand Pacific Islanders, paid a sur-prise visit to East Dallas. Theirpurpose is to help develop, monitorand coordinate federal efforts to im-prove Asian-American and PacificIslander participation in gov-ernment programs.

Meeting at the GreaterDallas Asian-AmericanChamber of CommercesEast Dallas office, known asthe MEED Center, they heardcommunity leaders speakabout issues that are commonacross the nation for newAmericans, including healthcare, language training, edu-cation, affordable housing,and economic development.

At the East Dallas Po-lice Storefront, Sergeant Ray Ball,talked about community policingand the importance of having offi-cers with diverse languages and cul-tural backgrounds working withyouth and immigrant families, overthe past 3 decades. The Storefrontpioneered many successful projectswith this special community. Muchof the success has come throughpartnerships with other programs,like the Asian Chamber, Weed andSeed, EDCO, various churches,foundations, and GICD.

On a quick drive through the

neighborhood the group saw threenew houses recently erected byEDCO (East Dallas Community Or-ganization) for moderate and lowincome families. This neighbor-hood improvement organizationwill eventually build homes fordozens of needy families. TheCommission was impressed that thevery first home was purchased by a

young Cambodian man, a DISDschool teacher.

The last East Dallas stop wasat GICDs East Dallas CommunityGarden, at 1416 N. Fitzhugh. Tosay they liked what they saw andlearned about the garden, wouldvery much be an understatement.This urban oasis, gardened by sen-

ior low-income Cambodian andLaotian families, had the vegetablesthat our diverse group of visitorscould truly appreciatewater spin-ach, wax gourd, amaranth greens,bitter melon, lemongrass, and oth-ersand their remarks were aboutthe high quality, freshness, and thefact that they cannot purchase any-thing as good in the mostly north-eastern big cities where they reside.Too bad we are staying in a hoteland not returning home tomorrow,or we would buy some, a coupleof the visitors lamented.

Kimberly Nam, from the AsianAmerican Unit of the Dallas PoliceCommunity Affairs Department,explained how the community gar-den facilitates efforts to reach andwork with Asian community mem-bers. Ms. Nam explained that thegarden is a setting where peoplefeel comfortable and are easy tocontact in her efforts to bring help

related to immigration, social secu-rity, health, family problems, andgeneral public safety issues.

In his remarks to the group,GICD Director, Don Lambert de-scribed how this market garden sub-stantially supplements incomes andprovides reliable low-cost food toneedy families, and is an example of

what experts try to achievewith food security programs.Other aspects appreciated bythe Commissioners includedphysical and mental healththerapy, language and culturepreservation, and meeting theneeds of the community to par-ticipate in a project that gives afeeling of ownership and pro-motes self-esteem. Three ofthe visitors said the garden wasa model that should be copiedall over the country.

On leaving Dallas, onegroup leader commented, that thiswas the best site-visit that we haveexperienced. GICD is very gladthat they visited some of our EastDallas partner organizations, andthat they took the time and enjoyeda visit to one of the best garden pro-jects in the country.

Story by Don Lambert

Brief Notes. The Ameri-can Community Gardening Asso-

ciation Conference was attendedby the Lamberts in New York, July

23-28. Don is an ACGA boardmember.

Les Dames dEscoffier recentlydonated $3000 to GICD to continuegardening education support atKramer Elementary School.

Ocie Vest of Huitt-Zolars is work-ing to replat the East Dallas Com-munity Garden so a new shed and


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insects and diseases.The School Dads have been

active on weekends, and are work-ing on getting a tool shed built. Thewalls of the brick composting cen-ter are now completed, and teachersare working with their classes onlearning about and making com-post.

This is great opportunity togrow some new gardeners and in-

clude experienced ones in theKramer school neighborhood. Wehope to demonstrate that successfulschool gardens are a special type ofcommunity garden, and that suchgardens are sustainable when staff,teachers, parents, children,neighbors and volunteers work to-gether as a team.

So far, we are off to a goodstart. Call GICD to find out aboutdonating a tree or other plant (we

have a wish list) to use in creating adiverse native and well adaptedlandscape surrounding the Kramergarden over the winter months.We invite the readers ofGrowingPeople Newsto visit the KramerSchool Community Garden, and tofind some time to help in this orsome other project involving chil-dren and gardening, and/or food se-curity for needy families.

where over 80% of students residein apartments with limited access togardening and nature, this specialreading program and the schoolcommunity garden are wonderfuladditions. Mary also helps coordi-nate garden volunteers, and heads acommittee that works with teacherson curriculum ideas that make useof the garden. Currently, more vol-unteers are needed to work with

teachers and kids.To see a list of the individualsand groups that supported this pro-ject, and the many volunteers thathave worked so hard, please see thelists on the page 2. Also, take note

that this garden merited a BESTOF BIG D citing inD Magazine.

Currently at Kramer, GICD isteaching a series of nine organicgardening workshops for teachersand school volunteers, supervising

hands-on workdays, and has beendemonstrating cropping and mainte-nance techniques in the garden.Each month emphasis is geared to-wards essential knowledge andtasks that make gardens successful,like composting, mulching, seedsaving, growing seedlings, plantingcrops at the right time, maintaininga healthy ecosystem, and learningeffective organic ways to control

PAGE 5GROWING PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER AND FALL 2002VOLUME 8.2

(Continued from page 1)

pavement in place. The KramerDads Club and other volunteersput in many hours helping build the

beds, and moving woodchip mulch.As the school year closed,planting had already started in thefirst beds completed. Currently thegarden has okra over your head, abeautiful Malabar spinach vine,squash, corn, beans, sweet potatoes,in fact, over 70 kinds of vegetables,herbs and flowers.

Special mention goes to MaryHollis, who worked on getting anInnovative Teaching grant from the

Junior League of Dallas to fundthe Reading in the Garden Club.Among the many goals of Readingin the Garden, an after school en-richment activity, is to enhancescience knowledge by garden ob-servation, hands-on experienceswith plants, seeds and soil and toenhance reading skills throughreading literature based on garden-ing, insects and nature. In Kramer,

Garden Thank You FestivalThis is an annual tradition that was started by our Asian gardeners at the

East Dallas Community Garden in 1996. Originally, they asked GICD toinvite all the people that help support the garden, especiallyvolunteers, so that they could personally thank them at aparty with Cambodian and Laotian food prepared by

themselves. Sometimes a group would bring instrumentsand play so all could dance the circle dance. This is theone occasion each year when grandparents, children, grand-children, and friends all assemble, and we can see just howmany people are connected to the garden.

Again, this year, GICD and the East Dallas communitygardeners invite all friends, and those who love our gardens,to come for an evening of fellowship and thanks. The gar-deners and GICD will provide some great food.

Let us welcome and thank you for all your support. For information callGICD at 972-231-3565.

greenhouse can be built.

Computer Technician, Aaron

Lambertbuilt a new computer forGICD.

Twelve Hills Nature Center, in

Oak Cliff, a 20 acre communityproject with many partners, willhave a large area of restored prairie,hiking trails, and a large communitygarden that GICD will help to es-tablish.

Lunch in the Garden, a LandmineFundraiser at the E. D. CommunityGarden, Oct. 11, raised over $1000to benefit GICD and the Cambodianminefield clearing effort.

Days of Taste 2002, American In-

stitute of Wine and Food, a fourth/fifth grader program on food fromfarm to table, featured Don Lambertas a community garden grower.


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Mary Jane BeamanRick GuerreroJoanna L. Hampton

STAFF

Don Lambert, Executive Director

Bunyay Nhonh, Education Assistant

BOARD ASSOCIATES

Janice AdamsEthel Sirls CampbellNavy CheanJennifer ConradJim HobbsKai KunnapasChharveth KivTiah LambertTori Lambert

Jan MatlackAmy May

Reed McAlisterBunyay NhonhSophorn Pich

Lance RasbridgeChanda Sovan

Susan StahlPaul Thai

Don LambertEdward H. Sholty

Ann Whitus

2002 BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Gerald G. Carlton, Presidentvacant, Vice President

Jan Matlack, acting SecretaryDarlene Smith, Treasurer

GARDENERSIN COMMUNITYDEVELOPMENT

Gardeners inCommunity Development

901 Greenbriar LaneRichardson, TX 75080

[email protected]

For information about newsletter contents, orpermission to reprint, contact our acting editor,Don Lambert, at 972-231-3565.


Saturday Morning Fall

Community & Market

Garden Tours

Date & Time: All Saturdays in November: 2, 9, 16, 23, & 30.At 9:30 am. Cancelled if it rains.

Location: East Dallas Community and Market Garden,1416 N Fitzhugh, Dallas (between Ross & Bryan)

Cost: $2 per person, larger donations appreciated.

Information: (972) 231-3565

Fall is a very interesting time to visit our communitygardens. The pace is slower, the weather cooler, and there ismuch to see if you are interested in getting maximum vegetable

production during the cool part of the year: late fall, winter andearly spring. Dallas Asian community gardeners are expert atgrowing herbs and vegetables in cold weather. Summer visitorsalways notice the house-like wooden frameworks build over sev-eral of the garden plots. With the first hint of cold weather (thisyear the cold front that arrived the second week of October), gar-deners began almost frantically to cover these frameworks withpoly-plastic to make greenhouses. Tinder plants are put insidefor protection.

Across the garden a dramatic transformation begins, asheat loving summer crops are replaced with winter crops. Someare covered with white sheets or row cover (Reemay) to hold

heat and extend the harvest a few days or weeks. Water spinach,the main crop for hot weather is pulled out and plantings of mus-tard greens, bunching onions, and lettuce begins. Compostedwoodchips are dug from the pathways to use for enriching plots,or to use as potting soil for greenhouse plants. Vines from waxgourd, bitter melon and ivy leaf, are chopped to use as mulch,and added to the pathways along with fresh woodchips. On coldor wet mornings small fires are built to warm freezing hands.

This is a time of year when some less common vegeta-bles are eaten. Before the first frost the large trunks of the ba-nana trees are chopped down and the tinder inner core removedto use in salads and stews. Corms from the large edible cannas

are dug to be boiled or roasted. Taro roots are dug after the topsfreeze, or left in the ground to keep until needed.

Within a few weeks gardeners will have large harvestsof tinder mustard greens and bunching green onions, and somevery nice leaf lettuce. It is more difficult to sell produce thistime of year, as only a few crops can be grown, and buyers staynear home in cold weather. We need more winter visitors.

Come see this wonderful garden in November. Join usfor a tour. Buy some of the best greens you will ever taste!

Growing People


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PAGE 7GROWING PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER AND FALL 2002

Become a Community Gardening Supporter

Individual or Group Business or Corporation

Principal Supporter $100 or more ____ Program Supporter $500 or more ____

Organizations1 $ 35 ____ Garden Supporter $ 250 ____

Individual/Family $ 25 ____ Small Project $ 100 ____

$ 10 ____+ 10 hours volunteer service*

1 Households, GICD gardening teams, organizations Make checks payable to: GICD* To volunteer call (972) 231-3565 Gardeners in Community Development is a 501(C)(3) organization

Please mail your contribution to:GICD, 901 Greenbriar Lane, Richardson, TX 75080

Your name _________________________________________________________________________________________

Address ___________________________________________________________________________________________

City ______________________________________Zip ___________________ Phone _____________________

VOLUME 8.2

Tiahs Garden Recipe:

Italian Style Angle Luffa*

Ingredients:

1 lb. Angle Luffa (2 or 3 three medium), peel and slice into cube or bite size1 Roma tomato, chopped3 Tbsp. butter or 2 Tbsp. Olive oil2 shallots, sliced thinly1 clove garlic minced1 Tbsp. fresh parsley minced tsp. Italian seasoning tsp. black pepper tsp. salt (or to taste)1 tsp. Sugar

cup finely shredded mozzarella & parmesan cheese (mixed)

Method:

Heat butter or oil in frying pan & saut shallots, garlic, parsley, and Italian seasoning for 1 minute.Stir in chopped tomato, black pepper, salt and sugar.Add luffa and stir for another 5 minutes or until luffa is tender.Place on a platter and sprinkle with cheeses.Serve while still hot.

*Try this recipe substituting other Asian edible gourds such as young wax gourd, fuzzy gourd, smooth luffa, or young

snake gourd. Luffa is also spelled Loofah.


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Summer and Fall 2002

Growing People GICD

Growing People News

901 Greenbriar LaneRichardson, TX 75080

The next time youre at Tom Thumb, remember to link yourReward Cardto our number.Tom Thumb will pay us a percentage of your total purchases providing another way foryou to donate. So be sure and use your card every time you shop!

GICDs Good Neighbor

Number is: 6714

Tom Thumbs Good Neighbor Program BenefitsGardeners in Community Development

IGIVE.COMAnother way to help GICD to is to shop at the IGIVE.COM site on the internet. This shopping networkincludes many sites that you may already use when youshop online, like Amazon.com. Look at the percentagethat each merchant will donate to GICD, some are ashigh as 10 or 15 percent, so that each purchase youmake will provide maximum benefits for our communitygardening program. Your online shopping, which savesyou money, will also be accumulating donations to

GROWING PEOPLE NEWS SUMMER AND FALL 2002

GICD. On a recent GICD purchase of inkjet printcartridges, at 123inkjets.com we obtained cartridges athalf the price of local store purchases, and got $25.80donated to GICD. NOT BAD!So, please go to IGIVE.COM , register as a Gardenersin Community Development supporter. Be sure whenasked to type in your cause to enter Gardeners inCommunity Development. Once registered, you can

return anytime and your shopping will be linked tosupporting GICD. They will send us the donation, andyou can enjoy easy low-cost online shopping.

Gardeners in Community Development Newsletter

Growing People Newsletter - Summer-Fall 2002

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