Supporting community and school gardens in Vermont.
"Molokhiyya is a plant and dish from the jute family, with roots tracing back to ancient Egypt. Today, it`s a beloved staple across the Levant and North Africa, with each region and family adding its unique twist to the dish. As a Palestinian-American, I grew up savoring this dish as a stew. Fresh Molokhiyya is hard to come by in the U.S., so my family would often bring back multiple bags of dried, finely minced Molokhiyya leaves from their trips back to Palestine or Jordan.
Our family recipe involves sautéing onions, olive oil, lamb, and spices in a pot, followed by water to make a rich broth. The Molokhiyya is then added and simmered to perfection. Finally, garlic and olive oil are sautéd in a separate pan and added to the dish. This stew is served over basmati rice with a generous splash of lemon juice as it enhances the flavors.
This summer, I finally saw the Molokhiyya plant for the first time while visiting farms and gardens in Burlington, Vermont. Witnessing Molokhiyya being grown here was profoundly moving as I felt a deep connection to my roots when the attempt to erase my people and culture is extremely prevalent. In the face of genocide and ethnic cleansing against Palestinians, preserving and sharing our food is a powerful form of resistance as it keeps our culture alive."
-VGN intern and @agroecology_uvm fellow
Last week, our dear Seedsong flooded again, on the exact day it did last year.
We’re still mourning our green tomatoes and almost-ready cabbage; our kale and future bok choi. This food sustains us through many months, both physically and spiritually.
Holding our grief - as a collective - is what we know how to do best. Just as we tend to our garden in community, so too do we tend to our hearts.
We sprung to action hours before the flood, harvesting everything we could from our garden.
Here we are sorting through our harvest in Amy’s garage. Music was playing, drinks were flowing, laughs - and cries - were had. We’ll get through this, with the sort of hope you can only find when you’re holding each other, feeling it all, and working together towards a more abundant future.
The Power of Community. Thank you to the VGN staff, volunteers and partners who mobilized and prepared for flood inundation. We are humbled by the proactive action and power of our gardening and farming community. We witnessed a resilient force that is fully aware of our new climate normal and working so hard to protect our fragile environment. @intervalecenter @aalv_inc
Photo: Emergency garlic harvest at Seedsong Collective Garden in the Intervale.
This week’s Seedsong dispatch is all about ABUNDANCE ✨🌶️🫛
July is always a special time in the garden: All of spring’s hard prep work comes to fruition in a big way. But between the latest heat wave and so much rain, it has shaped up to be a busy time, too. We’re working hard to keep up with weeding, succession planting, and watering—sometimes it feels like the to-do list is a mile long.
But at the end of each shift, we pause, catch our collective breath, and revel in the harvest together. Leaving notes for the next crew in our shared binder while we snack on snap peas and swap recipes… that’s what it’s all about.
🥬COLLECTIVE KIMCHI DAY🥬
Seedsong and Starr Farm Collective Gardens spent Wednesday night participating in our beloved kimchi bonanza! After a few hours of hard work, garden members went home with two jars of kimchi and a belly full of potluck goodness. We harvested over 100 pounds of cabbage from our gardens to make our kimchi dreams a reality! Here’s to community, fermented fun, and gut health!
You might be wondering how to make a #collectivegarden work logistically. How do you stay on top of tasks, not duplicate efforts, and ensure clear communication with the group?
At Seedsong collective garden, our solution is this little blue binder.📘 Every work shift starts and ends with pulling it out of the tool shed. Inside, we have:
🧑🧑🧒🧒 photos of our members
🪲 common harmful insects to look out for
📋 a weekly to-do list
🥗 a harvest log
🧭 a mapped out garden plan to remind us what’s planted where
With so many hands on deck, this enables us to divvy up the work and equitably share our harvest. We 💚 the binder!
What helps YOU stay organized in the garden?
🌻Seedsong Dispatch🌻
Collective gardens are like a chorus holding a long note: while some gardeners catch their breath in between work shifts, other gardeners pick up where they left off, holding the note of our joint garden song.
Last week, our Saturday crew spent the day carefully planting tomato starts, kicking off an exciting time of abundance in our garden. Our Monday crew resumed their work, cocooning our tomatoes in a blanket of straw.
By sharing the load of maintaining a market garden, collective gardeners are able to engage in a myriad of exciting tasks, and take breaks! It’s no sweat if you get sick, or can’t get to the garden to water seedlings. We’ve got each other’s backs.
Our Garden Like A Farmer workshop series continues! Y’all have asked for learning opportunities centered around irrigation and composting, so we’ve put together two fabulous opportunities to learn from local farmers, homesteaders, gardeners, and community activists.
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Workshops take place in fields, farms, and gardens around Burlington.
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FREE for everyone, registration required.
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Click links in bio to learn more details about each workshop.
@intervalecenter @soilcycle.btv @btvparks @vt.gardens
Three years into collective gardening at Seedsong (located in the Tommy Thompson community garden in Burlington) and we love it so much, we want to share it with the world. Here are some common questions we get asked about our unique plot of land…
🌱 What sets collective gardening apart from community gardening?
Collective gardens are communal growing spaces where gardeners share the work of planting, tending, and harvesting their vegetables in one large plot together, instead of independently growing in separate plots. Gardeners typically work in shifts to ensure the garden is regularly tended to (and because it’s more fun that way!).
🌱 What are the benefits?
More hands means more abundant gardens. It means shared expenses for tools, seeds, and soil amendments—and also shared knowledge, skills, and free time. Collective gardens feed more people on less square footage, which makes them a great fit for many different locations. And if you go away or fall sick, you can trust your community will keep the garden thriving.
🌱Do I need to know anything about gardening to join a collective garden?
Not at all! Collective gardens are ripe for learning from peers. Many of them have mentorship opportunities built into the work model, allowing you to learn as you go.
What questions do you have? Let us know.
#collectivegardening #gardeninspiration #vermontbyvermonters
Join us for the next workshop in the Garden Like A Farmer series!
In the face of climate change, small-scale growers face unique challenges in maintaining productive and resilient gardens. Integrated Pest Management (IPM) offers a scalable and adaptable approach for navigating these challenges. In this workshop, we’ll delve into selecting and applying low-tech and garden-scale IPM tactics specifically geared towards climate resiliency. We will focus on some of the most prevalent vegetable pests, including flea beetles, leaf miner, Colorado potato beetle, cucumber beetle, swede midge, and leek moth. Come prepared to share your own experience managing pests in your garden.
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Facilitator: Vic Izzo, agricultural entomologist from UVM and @agroecology_uvm
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Location: New North End, Burlington. Exact @vt.gardens location shared with registered participants. Sign up link in bio!
We’re excited to share our 2023 Impact Report. We hope the rich photos will provide inspiration as you tend the soil at the start of this years garden season. Thank you to all the volunteers and supporters as we continue to GROW TOGETHER! Link in bio.
#buildingcommunity #gardening #healthysoil #healthysoul
A harvest distribution day at a collective garden looks like this: a basket full of onions, winter squash lined up on a table and jars of dahlias. We believe collective gardening is an opportunity to increase access to fresh food and overcome barriers to growing food. And YOU can join this movement! We are looking to our community to help us kickstart a second collective garden in Burlington this season:
🌻 Starr Farm in the New North End - next to the dog park, playground, bike path and lake access - is where we are planting this new garden.
🌱 We are welcoming ten garden members to join the collective garden this season by offering ten full scholarships.
🍅 Applications are open! Link in bio.
These skill share workshops take place in gardens and farm fields around Burlington. They are fabulous opportunities to learn new tips, tools and techniques for growing food. They are facilitated by stellar educators who are passionate about the topics. And all workshops in the Garden Like a Farmer series are FREE thanks to the BTV Conservation Legacy Fund! Registration is required (we confirm the exact workshop meeting location with registered participants). Link in bio!
Job announcement: we are hiring a Garden Apprentice to join us from May through October! We`ve welcomed stellar apprentices in the past, like Carolyn and Jade who are photographed in this post.
The full job description, including hours and compensation, is linked in our bio.
Join us for another learning opportunity in the Garden Like a Farmer workshop series!
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In this workshop we will go over the strategies you can take for starting seeds like a farmer. We will cover choosing soil mediums, containers, managing water & light, and taking care of your baby plants before they head to the garden. We will also be discussing varieties that have a better resilience for a changing climate. Feel free to bring all your seeding and climate resilient related questions!
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Registration is free. Sign up link in bio.
@vt.gardens @intervalecenter @btvparks
Join us March 20th @savoytheatervt for a community event featuring a showing of the award-winning #regenerativeagriculture documentary, Common Ground, followed by a community conversation with Montpelier area #healthysoil advocates. Doors open at 5.30pm Film at 6pm.
🎟️ Buy tickets at savoytheater.com 🎟️ or follow link on our website
We are so very much looking forward to the @nofavermont Winter Conference on Saturday 2/17, and we hope to see you there!
During Workshop Session 2, we`ll be facilitating a panel along with our friends and collaborators from @new_farms_for_new_americans and @ujamaafarms. The photos shared in this post capture a tiny peek into the work we`ve been doing with NFNA farmers over the past 3 years to identify crops that are culturally meaningful, improve growing practices, and save seeds for a community seed library. During the workshop, we`ll be listening to seed stories and reflecting on culturally meaningful crops.
VGN will also be tabling in the exhibitors`s hall, stop by to say hi!
Grow alongside our plant friends and other aspiring gardeners and register for this year`s Thriving Gardens Course 🌱
The Thriving Gardens Course is a hands-on garden course that guides you through the entire growing season. Get inspired by reading through testimonies from Thrive graduates 🌞 then go to the link in our bio to read more and sign up today to take advantage of the early bird discount (extended to 2/19).
We are currently hiring for three part-time, seasonal positions to expand our Growing Food, Growing Communities program at affordable housing sites. Application deadline is February 23.
Learn more and apply at the link in our bio!
Take advantage of our early bird registration discount and register for the Thriving Gardens Course before 2/12! Learn everything you need to know about the course at the link in our bio 🌱
(Photo of `23 Thrive grad, planning out her direct seeding layout for leaf and root crops! )
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