Louisville Grows is so thankful and excited to announce that 200+ community members, Citizen Foresters, and volunteers successfully planted 170 trees this weekend with and in the Beechmont Neighborhood! Please join us in thanking the Beechmont Community Center, Beechmont Baptist Church, Beechmont Neighborhood Association, Limbwalker Tree Services, and all of the other organizations that support neighborhoods across the city. Although there were several amazing moments throughout the planting, we want to share one special story with you.
During one group's first planting, one of the families who adopted a tree was outside helping volunteers put their new tree in the ground. The family was so excited about having a beautiful tree in their front yard! The "treecipient" went inside her home for a moment, and returned with a handful of pennies. She asked each volunteer to take two pennies and throw them into the freshly dug hole, because "everyone needs to put in their two cents." She reminded the volunteers, Citizen Foresters, and community members that their participation was an integral part of this process. Louisville Grows is proud to work with our community across the city to make sure everyone can add in their two cents to any project that will impact their neighborhood, district, or city. We are honored to play a part in making our city greener -- and we couldn't do it without you.
We are thankful for our community, and we are tremendously honored and excited to share "A Vision," a poem by Wendell Berry, from Clearing (1977), first published by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. Wendell Berry (born August 5, 1934) is a conservationist, farmer, essayist, novelist, professor of English, and poet. Wendell Berry lives and works with his wife Tanya Berry on their farm in Port Royal, Kentucky. Louisville Grows extends our heartfelt gratitude for Wendell Berry’s kind permission to reprint this poem.
A VISION
Wendell Berry
If we will have the wisdom to survive,
to stand like slow-growing trees
on a ruined place, renewing, enriching it,
if we will make our seasons welcome here,
asking not too much of earth or heaven,
then a long time after we are dead
the lives our lives prepare will live
here, their houses strongly placed
upon the valley sides, fields and gardens
rich in the windows. The river will run
clear, as we will never know it,
and over it, birdsong like a canopy.
On the levels of the hills will be
green meadows, stock bells in noon shade.
On the steeps where greed and ignorance cut down
the old forest, an old forest will stand, its rich leaf-fall drifting on its roots.
The veins of forgotten springs will have opened.
Families will be singing in the fields.
In their voices they will hear a music
risen out of the ground. They will take
nothing from the ground they will not return,
whatever the grief at parting. Memory,
native to this valley, will spread over it
like a grove, and memory will grow
into legend, legend into song, song
into sacrament. The abundance of this place,
the songs of its people and its birds,
will be health and wisdom and indwelling
light. This is no paradisal dream.
Its hardship is its possibility.
We are thankful for our gardeners at the People's Garden. Watch this video to learn what the gardeners grew this season and why the People's Garden is such an amazing resource for the Shawnee neighborhood.
Don't forget to register for the December Urban Growers Series: Permaculture and Hugelkultur!Susana Lein of Salamander Springs Farm in Berea, KY will present on permaculture, which means growing using a site to meet all the needs of inhabitants, from food and shelter to fuel and entertainment. It emphasizes native, useful (not just aesthetic), and disease-resistant plants. Timothy Kercheville will present on hugelkultur, which means using old, decomposing logs to create raised beds and provide nutrients for your garden. We will have lunch from The Table, bagels from Nancy's Bagel Grounds, and coffee from Heine Brothers' Coffee. Reserve your ticket todayHERE.
If you'd like to participate in the Fresh Start Growers Cooperative Buying Club, potato orders are due before Christmas. Simply call in your order to Fresh Start Growers Supply and say you're with Louisville Grows, and you'll receive a bulk order discount. Ordering together saves us all shipping costs and with a larger order, qualify for bulk rates! If you have questions or would like to see a list of all potato varieties available, please email Whitney Sewell at whitney@louisvillegrows.org.
Live in the Beechmont neighborhood or South Louisville? Want to participate in starting a community garden? Come out to the South Points Community Garden meeting on February 8 at the Hazelwood Elementary Library at 6pm. We will be electing garden leadership and choosing plots! To get more involved, help canvas the neighborhood on January 28 -- email Whitney for more information about volunteering for door-to-door canvassing.
If you are interested in participating in a community garden in the Portland or Shawnee neighborhoods but missed the initial meetings, email Whitney, and she'll put you in contact with garden leadership in your neighborhood and give you information about how to sign up for a 2017 plot!
Want to start your own community garden? Check out Louisville Grows' brand new Community Garden Tool Kit! Winter is a great time to get your community together and plan for next season. Whether you're just starting out or a seasoned gardening pro, this tool kit will help you to get organized and get growing.
If you're doing any holiday shopping, #StartWithaSmile athttps://smile.amazon.com/ch/27-0959401 and Amazon donates to Louisville Grows. All you have to do is shop for items you would normally purchase, and we get a donation - it's a win-win! (P.S. This works year round, not just during the holidays.)
We hope you enjoy the holiday season!
Madeleine Loney
AmeriCorps VISTA at Louisville Grows
VOLUNTEER & LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
Want to help plant more trees? Sad you missed the Beechmont planting but still want to get involved? Be part of the California Neighborhood Tree Planting! 150 volunteers will be needed for this planting day, so sign up below! All volunteers, no matter your skill level or training, are welcome to attend. Saturday, March 18, 10am - 4pm - California Neighborhood Tree Planting
Urban Growers Series: December Susana Lein from Salamander Springs will present on permaculture, and Timothy Kerchevillewill lead a workshop on hugelkulture. December 10 at 2509 Portland Ave., 10am. $20 suggested donation, breakfast from Nancy's Bagel Ground and Heine Bros. Coffee, and lunch from The Table. Sign up HERE!
THANK YOU TO OUR NOVEMBER DONORS
Our heartfelt thanks to the following people and organizations who supported our programs through their generous donations in November. Please consider making ayear-end giftorbecome a sustaining memberthrough your monthly recurring donation of any amount! Your generosity provides deep-rooted stability and makes a huge difference in our shared community.
Wendy Butler, Friends Meeting of Louisville, GE Appliances, Jessica Pendergrass, Wilbur Prather, Ratterman Plumbing, Mary Ann T. Roach, Angie Vittitow, Ron Whitehead & Jinn Bug
We are also deeply grateful to Wendell Berry for his kind permission to use his poem "A Vision" in support of our vision of a more just and sustainable community through urban agriculture, urban forestry, and environmental education. For a limited time, we are pleased to offer a 13x19" print of this poem on art rag paper, suitable for framing, tosustaining monthly members who pledge $20 a month or more.
