(drawing by Annie Panthani)
Announcing our new GOOD FOOD EVERYDAY - RESILIENCE GARDENING KIT, especially designed for beginning gardeners in Iowa. This kit comes with 10 plants, 3 seed packets, and an illustrated instruction booklet. Our plan is to have these kits available as gift at our Plant and Seed Sharing event on May 15, for sale at the Ames Downtown Farmer’s Market (which we hope to be at for 6 weeks starting May 22), and for on-line ordering soon and sharing with our many community partners. This is meant to be an easy beginner garden that supplies flavor and nutritionally dense produce everyday from June-October. It’s not enough food to feed your family, but it could be an awesome supplement to a basic diet.

(garden plan rough draft drawing by alice)

This garden kit is a new project and we are still learning, and would love your feedback. We don’t think this kit is the perfect solution to the complex and huge problem of food insecurity, but it could be a tiny local piece. The plant varieties were chosen because they are EASY TO GROW in Iowa, PRODUCTIVE over a long period of time, and NUTRITIONALLY DENSE. HOwever, we know that some of these vegetables might be less familiar to people. Most of them are also hybrids, so not as conducive to seed-saving. I realize that these 2 things make this kit less awesome for true food sovereignty but hopefully they could just be a little step in helping someone gain some gardening experience and food independence.

We are offering some options for replacements or for the miscellanous herb spot, like

Sage, parsley, chives, hot pepper, lemon sorrel, and there is room in this garden plan for more seeds of your choice. Come join us May 15 to share plants and seeds with each other!