Thank you all for joining us for another productive season of gardeners growing community. We look forward to seeing everyone who can join us in 2024!
Check out our 2023 Rose Roots Garden Memories Slideshow Here.
Here is a brief 2023 End of Season Survey to provide your valued feedback for our improvement as a community. Please provide your feedback by December 15, 2023 to support our planning for next season.
Here is a brief Intent to Garden with Rose Roots in 2024 Form to let us know if you will be returning next season or not. This form will be available until Dec 15, 2023 at which point we will begin to compile a waitlist for plots for the 2024 season.
Clear Garden Plots
Please let us know if you are unable to clear your plot this season. Plots were required to be tidied by Oct 31 per Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) guidelines. A fee of $40 will be assessed if garden plots are not cleared by Dec 15, 2023. If you plan to return and still have produce growing, feel free to leave produce growing in a tidy condition.
Service Hours
Our leadership team will be reaching out to those who were unable to fulfill the required 12 service hours this season to let gardeners know their final balance ($7/unfulfilled service hour). We appreciate this financial contribution to help maintain our community garden spaces.
Please send checks with your plot number notated on the check made out to:
Rose Roots Community Garden
C/O Tom Glum
14101 West 86th Place,
Arvada, CO 80005
You may also Venmo your payment to Erin-Newton-10 or (303) 253-5090 and note "Service Hours for Plot No. x" in comments. Service hour payments are due by Dec 15, 2023. Email us Here with any questions.
Event Recap
Final Work party: Oct 21, 9 am: It was lovely to see everyone working hard at our final work day to put the garden to bed. Thank you to everyone who came out for the beautiful day closing up shop for the season.
2023 Final Work Party Moments
Season End Financials
Our Rose Roots Community Garden remains on a strong financial footing. In 2023 we collected Plot Fees of $4,955 which together with funds we had entering the year and a grant from the city of Arvada, enabled us to do many projects during the season to improve the garden. We started the development of the West Side Pollinator Garden which will be improved in the coming seasons. We built additional ADA plots and repaired many other plots, replaced gas lawnmowers with new electric ones, upgraded and repaired tools, and did many other projects. In addition we hosted two garden parties with music as well as work parties and other events at the garden to enhance our sense of community. We expect to end the year with a strong balance sheet.
Please see our financial summary to date below:
Thank you to Rose Roots Leadership
It is a huge job requiring hundreds of hours of commitment to run a volunteer organization and it is only possible with many helping hands. We deeply appreciate the 2023 Rose Roots Leadership Team for the time and energy you have offered your garden community.
We welcome new leadership each season, so if you'd like to get more involved, please join us at our next meeting. This is a great way to integrate into the community, meet new people and make new friends. All gardeners are welcome at our monthly meetings held every second Tuesday at the garden (weather permitting) or at Standley Lake Library in inclement conditions (check calendar for updates).
Mark your Calendars
Tues Jan 9 2024, 6pm: Our first planning meeting of 2024. Location TBD. Contact us Here if you're interested in attending.
Here is a link to our final Nov 14, 2023 Monthly Meeting Minutes.
Monday March 18, 2024, 5:30 pm-8:30 pm: The Annual Rose Roots Open House Plot Registration Social is Back! Location is TBD. We will have treats, door prizes, and garden information for the 2024 season. Please stop by to fill out your plot registration, catch up with garden friends, welcome new gardeners, and get excited about planting your garden plot. Keep an eye out for the Evite in the new year.
Produce Donation
This season we donated over 700 pounds of produce to the Arvada Community Table and Veggie Van. We received a lovely thank you note, season report and slideshow from Veggie Van's Shelley Cook, who we look forward to partnering as our primary recipient of produce donation in 2024. See below.
Nov 2023
Dear Rose Roots Gardeners,
You can't know the impact you've had on residents yet again this year. I've put together a quick recap, attached below.
This report doesn't do justice to the benefits of your work and generosity for a wide range of folks who gained access to your wonderful veggies.
I'll highlight a few things. First, Rose Roots has made a big difference in our most challenging neighborhoods, our Thursday routes. Your donations were a key reason we've been able to expand to serve the Terrace Park community, along with prior important locations near Olde Town Arvada that had been our main destination that day.
Second, we surveyed our patrons at the end of the season and learned that 76% of those responding said of your and others' primo offerings and the veggie van's *very* low prices, "It has increased my/my family's consumption of fruits and vegetables." That's a big deal!
Third, we do all we can to eliminate waste. We mightily respect your hard work and want every bit of the nutritional powerhouse that is your produce to not just get out, but get into bellies. For the first time this year we carefully measure our waste, the carrot and turnip tops not used, the veggies not given or sold. In total, it amounted to 1.5% of the total of over 4,000 pounds. That's a number to be proud of, but we'll continue to improve upon it. (To increase chances that veggies are actually consumed, we have put together dozens of recipe kits that include the recipe card and every ingredient needed to make a delicious main or side dish.)
In addition to the recap with its stats and photos, I thought you'd like to see how your goodies are displayed -- after Doris and Beverly picked up at the barn and we prepped them for the outings. (Note that for Thursdays, we essentially stowed an equal amount in coolers under the van, as demand that day is such that we always have to restock!)
Here is a link is to a slideshow of photos of our cart as we headed out on each of the Thursday runs in our season--save for the first, July 6 (I was slow on the uptake at the beginning of the season, I guess, and didn't snap a photo that day), and October 12, when we had stopped our regular routes but worked with Arvada K-8 to get the lovely veggies out.
In closing, heartfelt thanks to you all for your support. We see our veggie van as just one part of our food system, where we many organizations involved act as a complement to the whole. All the parts are absolutely vital. Just by way of example, the quick contact to Arvada K-8 and the 'let's do it' outcome (which got the 10/12 veggies out) relied on Jeffco Eats's free food totes program. We're all a cog in a complex infrastructure.
Once again, thank you, thank you, thank you.
Sincerely,
Shelley Cook
Thank you to Gardeners
A heartfelt thank you from the Rose Roots Leadership Team goes out to all of our Team Leads and our gardeners who came early and stayed late at many of our work parties, potlucks and musical events this season. We are an organization of 100% volunteers, and we recognize that many hands make light work! Thank you to the City of Arvada and Denver Urban Gardens (DUG) for supporting another fabulous season of community gardening.
Have a healthy, happy holiday season everyone and we look forward to seeing you at Rose Roots in 2024!
Warmly,
Rose Roots Leadership Team
Laura Bennett, President
Erin Newton, Vice President
Administrator, Shannon Sawyer
Tom Glum, Treasurer
Christie Morin, Membership Lead
Gary Williams, Operations Lead
Jim Richards, Operations Lead
Patty Sacks, Special Projects Lead
Team Leads
Alyson Katz, Produce Donation Lead
Katie Meis, Pollinator Garden Lead
Deb Harris, Kiosk Designer
Karel Hemler, Food Bank Plots Lead
Karissa Devore, Events Planner
Judy Newton, Community Outreach
Amy Ahrent, Social Media Lead
Catherine Camacho, Youth Team Lead