Rose Roots Gardeners,
It has been a highly productive gardening season, thanks to some very dedicated individuals, our garden leaders, and garden service teams as well as support from the City of Arvada Parks Department and Denver Urban Gardens. As the Harvest season wraps up and we begin to clear out our plots by Oct 31, we see the plants around us lose their leaves and turn within to conserve energy throughout the winter months. As the daylight hours get shorter, we gardeners also look within for rest and renewal and look forward to planning our next season of life.
Returning next season? Please let us know Here by the end of Feb 2022 if you plan to return next season or if you will be moving on to other things.
Water to be Turned Off: The water will be turned off at the garden by the City on Oct 15 in anticipation of the first freeze, so plan accordingly.
By the Numbers
We are working on an end of season summary, but preliminary numbers are below.
-Gardeners have donated over 1,000 service hours.
-We have hosted over 30 community events including orientations, live music performances, work parties, Youth activities, garden trainings, and socials.
We earned $3,000 from a neighborhood improvement grant and supplies have been delivered.
We have had ten active Service Teams maintaining the garden and making improvements to surrounding open spaces.
We have ten community spaces maintained beautifully by Rose Roots Gardeners including a pollinator garden, herb garden, three food bank plots, several native species plots with educational signage on medicinal plants, a cooks companion plot, two food forest plots and a Children’s garden plot.
We have one beloved Little Library
We had 95 plots full this season and actively gardened
We donated over 15,000 lbs of produce to the Community Table Food Bank and Veggie Van among other community organizations over the last 9 years.
We have purchased 50 million beneficial nematodes for organic pest control
We have one new refrigerator and two new fans to cool the barn
Next season will be our Ten Year Anniversary as gardeners growing community.
One Evergreen tree has been donated for our Westside Landscaping Neighborhood Improvement Project. You can learn more about tree donations and becoming a Friend of Rose Roots Here. Please share with friends, family and businesses who would like to donate trees or become sponsors.
Upcoming Events
1. Sat Oct 2, 9-2 pm: Open Air European Market
Grow Girl Organics at 12229 W. 80th Ave, Arvada will be hosting an open air European Market with local artisans. They will be partnering with Sugar Tramp to put on a local artist and artisans market. They will also have a farm stand open. Shop both markets on Saturday, October 2nd 9am-2pm at our farm in Arvada. Children welcome! Please spread the word! Shop local, support your local businesses.
2. Oct 5, 5:30 pm: Final All Gardener Monthly Meeting
This will be our last meeting at the garden. Find the Agenda Here.
We will reserve the Standley Lake Library meeting space going forward. Our November monthly meeting will be held at the library on the second Tuesday of the month Nov 9 at 5;30 pm as that is the next available date.
3. Oct 9, 10-2 pm: The Festival of Scarecrows is on! Olde Town Square will become a pumpkin patch and scarecrows of all shapes and sizes will stand guard throughout Olde Town. Bring costumed kids for the parade, navigate the corn maze, find a perfect pumpkin and be sure to vote for your favorite scarecrow – the winners will receive prizes – or enter your own scarecrow into the contest.
Schedule of Activities
10am- noon Decorated Pumpkin Booth Open
11am-noon Pumpkin Speed Spitting
11am-noon Scarecrow Story Time and Craft, Arvada Library
Noon Costume Parade
1-1:30pm Pie Eating Contest
1pm Decorated Pumpkin Judging
2pm Baked Pumpkin Dish Judging
2:30pm Giant Pumpkin Weighing
4. Sat Oct 23, 2-4 pm: End of Season Annual Harvest Potluck 2021
Don’t miss our last social event: Harvest Open House Potluck. Please RSVP at the Evite Here by Oct 20. We will have the City Party Trailer, Youth activities, food and drinks, and a possible llama visit. This is our last time to socialize until next season and celebrate our community together. Come out and put your garden to bed, share a harvest dish, and enjoy some fun community activities. We'd love to have every gardener at this final celebration with gardener appreciation gifts, door prizes, and upcoming activities.
5. Oct 30, 9-11 am: Final Work Party
This is a great time to get your final service hours in. Remember to log final hours Here by Oct 31. If you'd like to get your contribution in for $7/hour instead of completing the 12 service hours, please drop your check in the white box on the wall in the barn or send your check to our treasurer John Malito at 8439 Devinney Court, Arvada, CO 80005 and be sure to write your plot number on the check.
Neighborhood Improvement Project Update
Westside Landscaping team lead Patty Sacks met with energetic gardeners at the barn on Wednesday evening, Sept 22, from 6:30 - 7:30 to present and discuss the West Side Landscaping Improvements project implementation. Attendees included: Katie Meis, Julie Lesnick, Maggie Alcorn, Cindee Malito, John Malito, Patty Sacks (facilitator) and Gary Williams (co-facilitator).
This project is funded through a $3,000 grant from the City of Arvada and a $2,500 match from Rose Roots Community Garden. It will feature a Farm-to-Table dining area which can also be used for educational purposes as well as a commemorative garden sculpture. At this meeting we reviewed plans, estimates, and a spreadsheet for tracking material expenses, volunteer hours, and in-kind donations. We also completed a site walk through.
Big News! We ordered landscaping materials through Pioneer landscaping supply this past week and the material was delivered!
On Wednesday morning September 29 from 9-11 am Patty lead a work party. We will continue working on the "Lasagna" layered bed along the fenceline. Hours will be tracked specifically to the Westside Spreadsheet, but will also count toward the 12 hour per plot requirement for 2021 season. Until we get the picnic table area and pathway graded, and utilities (water and electric) located, there is not much more we can do. We will continue to collect grass clippings and leaves throughout the Fall. Please deposit donated grass and leaves on the landscape bed along the west fenceline or leave bags at the west side of the barn and volunteers will complete the spreading and layering.
Coming Next
We'll likely make one or two more horse manure runs this fall.
We will need to request some assistance from our Grantor, the City of Arvada. We have sent a memo to the City and we are hoping we can move forward to schedule the following:
Work with the City us on locating water and electric service. They have been on site this week and have located several lines.
Recommend a City approved herbicide to kill weeds in the pathways and common areas.
Mow the site-The City has let us know this will happen next week.
Locate, cap and cover the existing well that served the former resident at the site.
Equipment rental and delivery for a small backhoe from Arvada Rent Alls will run $485 to grade the site. We are continuing to research options for this important step. If anyone has access to a grader for a half day, we’d much appreciate it!
We are looking into various options for landscape edging for the picnic areas and pathways. We dropped by Whisper Creek Park to see edging examples and are getting pricing on various types of path edging.
We will work with a local plant nursery to confirm pricing on trees and submit an order. Tree planting will occur in the Spring, when we have access to water service on the site. We will get wholesale rates through a Denver Urban Gardens partnership.
The Westside Landscaping Team recommended use of native trees, shrubs and perennials in the planting beds and for the windbreak. The plant selection and planting plan is one of our next steps. The City of Arvada has an approved plant list and we can recommend natives and check to ensure our selection is compatible with the City's list.
Compostapalooza
We have a growing pile to the West of the garden. As you clear out your gardens, please put all organic material there as we hope to use it to create compost for the Westside landscaping project.
We are looking forward to working on this project to benefit the community and we will be scheduling additional service days in October. Join us! Check our calendar for updates and ways to engage Here.
Wishing you a nourishing Harvest Season,
Erin and the Rose Roots Leadership Team
Website: www.RoseRootsGarden.org
Phone: (720) 702-8806
Looking Back on a Beautiful Year of Gardeners Growing Community
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