Obesity Prevention begins with learning good eating habits. Guerrilla Harvest's great Project at Forest Glen Early Childhood Center

Yesterday and today students from Forest Glen Early Childhood Center in Bloomfield went on a fun field trip.

These students have been growing veggies in their classrooms and now they have had a great time at Sponsor Brookdale Shoprite where they went on a veggie scavenger hunt, created their own veggie rainbows and then got to eat them.

Whoever says kids won't try veggies hasn't met this crowd!

Guerrilla Harvest in the Classroom takes a Field Trip

Seeing Green

This year is more successful. Here are a few of my beauties. I'm growing my seeds in eggshells, a suggestion I found on Pinterest. Only problem, it's easy to over water them because making holes at the bottom of eggshells is problematic!

Join us at the Montclair Public Library for Makers Day!

Makers Day

Saturday, March 21^st 1 p.m. – 5 p.m.

Montclair Public Library

50 South Fullerton Avenue Montclair, NJ 07042

 

Join Guerrilla Gardening at the Montclair Public Library, tomorrow, Saturday, March 21^st!  We will be onsite from 1 p.m. to 5 p.m.  participating in Makers Day showing children and adults how to make seedlings with soil and different vegetable and flower seeds.  Those who stop by the Guerrilla Gardening table will be able to join in on the fun, get their hands a little dirty and take home a little seedling of their own to grow.  Free and healthy recipes will also be handed out!

Make sure to stop by!  For more details, click here!

Guerrilla Gardening Transformation Time

This year we are morphing into Guerrilla Harvest to encompass both gardening and farming opportunities. We are starting with a seedling project at Forest Glen School in Bloomfield. Forest Glen is a wonderful Early Childhood Learning Center, part of the Bloomfield Public Schools district which incorporate the Reggio Emilia Approach to learning.

Key elements of Reggio Emilia are community outreach and connection. This week teachers of 6 classes received equipment and training to start seeds in class with their students. This program is in place thanks to the support of Bloomfield Health Dept. and the generosity of Brookdale Shoprite, Bloomfield. Melina Macall, TheFoodActivist is the Founder and Program Director. As we move forward students will get to have a fun field trip to Shoprite where resident Nutritionist Jessica Serdikoff will teach them lots about fresh fruits and veggies. Additional materials will come from Veggiecation.

Yes, it's collaboration at its best and we can't wait to see our little seeds turn into great big baskets of vegetables! Stand by for news of a community plant exchange day in May.

Doctor's orders: get out in the garden to save your health.

Here's the article for some solid advice.

More than just a hobby, a daily dose of digging can extend your life. 

Eat local, it doesn't get more local than your back garden. Grow your own and get some exercise and fresh air. It's not just us saying this, Dr David B Agus, leading oncologist has these as two of the top tips to a long and healthy life. 

Guerrilla Gardening Harvest Festival at Wellness in the Park Sunday October 12th 10 am - 5 pm!

Harvest Festival

Sunday, October 12th from 10am - 5pm
at Brookdale Park, Watchung Avenue Entrance
Bloomfield, NJ 07003

 

Looking for something fun and exciting to do Sunday, October 12th?  Help us celebrate the Fall Harvest!  We invite you to join us for a day of exciting festivities at the Harvest Fest at the Wellness in the Park!  Friends, family, children, pets - all are welcome! There will be something fun for everyone.  Activities include vegetable racing, vegetable bowls, food demos, food samples and much more.

Come learn how to be a part of Guerrilla Gardening, bring Guerrilla Gardening into your community, or come just to learn how to grow your own food even if you’ve never grown anything before.  You will be able to sign up for next year as a Pioneer Planter, Foster Parent for Plants or a Plain Old Participant. 

If you are interested in volunteering for this event, please click here to see the volunteer opportunities that are available.

Any questions?  Email Guerrilla Gardening Montclair, so we can assist you.

Guerrilla Gardening Montclair looks forward to seeing you at the event either as a guest or volunteer!



From small beginnings bounty galore in Montclair Public Library's model vegetable garden

If you are feeling a little peckish wander over to the vegetable garden at Montclair Public Library. Look at the abundance of food in that little 4x4 space!

Heaps of tomatoes (I recommend nibbling on a golden cherry, little healthy candy bombs), Kale upon Kale, some discreetly hidden Zucchini, the Peppers seem to have lost the space battle but there are some in there, Basil and the Pineapple Sage is just gearing up to bloom. There's a huge meal for a dozen people in there right now!

And, as an added bonus, read the signs to see what benefits these vegetables will give you, they are in English and Spanish so you can have a language lesson at the same time!

Inspired to grow something for yourself next season? Go inside and ask for a free guide to planting your own garden, copies available at the checkout desk and the reference desk. Join us next year as a Pioneer Planter, we'll hold your hand through growing plants from seed to harvesting. Check out the garden today and how it looked a couple of months ago when we put in those little, biddy baby plants.

Montclair Public Library Model Vegetable Garden Sept 18th 2014

New beginnings at Montclair Public Library, July 1st 2014

MidSummer Update

It's been a very interesting growing season here in our front and back yards.  There have been great successes and huge failures.  I am coming to the realization that some things thrive in our garden AND are of no interest to pests/animals.  I will make a note to grow more of those things (asparagus, red zeppelin onions, rojo garlic, random potatoes that sprouted in the kitchen and got thrown in the garden and red russian kale)! 

asparagus fronds collecting energy for next year's harvest

There are some fruits and vegetables that thrive but are so popular with the wildlife that we never get to eat them (triple netted blueberries, double fenced and netted tomatoes, triple fenced strawberries).  We planted Jerusalem artichokes last fall and while some plants are now over 6ft tall and filled with blossoms others were mowed down to a little stump.   No pictures of missing blueberries, stolen strawberries or other eaten produce.  I can't bear to document it...

backyard double fenced garden beds

Lettuce did very well this summer.  We ate salads every day for almost two months.  This week I cut the first salad after the plants had finally gone bitter.  Our lettuce usually gets replaced around July 4th so we were very fortunate this year to get  a few more weeks out of it. This weekend, I will start a new round of planting for the fall.

The third plot into the garden is definable only by the lack of plants growing.  The tomatoes are failing this year.  The 3 tomato plants that I bought have the only green tomatoes.  They are being ripped from the vine and chewed on only to be left on the ground.  My tomato seedlings are about a foot high and going nowhere.  But with disappointment comes some success.  We were so excited to harvest all of our garlic this week.  What a rewarding vegetable to grow!

I learn something new every day in the garden.  Thank you for all of your updates.  Its great to hear how other gardens are doing!