Another eventful month for Groundwork Milwaukee. We harvested 500lbs of fruit, taught high school students how to monitor water quality and completed major construction at multiple sites for the Healing Spaces Initiative, and that’s not all. We’re moving towards the off-season and have been doing a lot of harvesting and winterizing with our gardeners. Thanks to all of our dedicated volunteers who make our work possible! Read more about what we’ve been up to below. Click the tiles below for program-specific updates or just scroll down to read it all.
health hubs
garden network
Kilbourn garden
maglio farm
shared harvest
urban waters
Green Futures
ground corps
HEALTH HUBS
Upcoming Health Hub Workshops
If you’re interested in participating in Health Hub programming, we’d love to see you in the gardens! Check-out the list below for upcoming Health Hub events. We’re excited to announce we’ll be hosting garden markets and preservation workshops running through October. Fresh produce provided by Groundwork and the Riverwest Food Pantry’s collaboration at the Maglio Farm.
Garden Market Volunteers
We’re looking for volunteers to help promote, set up and work our upcoming Free Garden Markets. If you’re interested in supporting these events click the button to sign-up for a volunteer role. Thank you!
Want to participate in Health Hub programming?
If you live near one of our Community Garden Health Hubs and would like to participate in healthy outdoor programming, fill out this form to let us know what types of activities you’d like to see in the gardens. We would love to see you there!
GARDEN NETWORK
In the past month, we made a lot of improvements to the garden network. Among other efforts, we oversaw a work day with Kappa Delta Chi Sorority at Garden of Delight, conducted maintenance at KRIC People’s Park with Sixteenth Street Health Clinic, and serious updates at the Sherman Park Young Farmers Garden in collaboration with Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee.
Garden of Delight
Groundwork Milwaukee worked with seven volunteers from Kappa Delta Chi Sorority, Inc. chapter in Milwaukee for a workday at Gardens of Delight on 64th Street. The volunteers worked on weeding and winterizing the entire garden to prepare for great soil health for the 2022 season. Two new beds were also constructed. Thank you to all of our great volunteers!
KRIC People’s Park
Groundwork Milwaukee supported the weeding and wood chip spreading at the KRIC People’s Park on South 14th Street and West Harrison Avenue. Welcome to new garden leader, Yesi P. from the Sixteenth Street Health Clinic. Welcome to the Milwaukee Grows Garden Network, Yesi!
Sherman Park Young Farmers Garden
Over the course of three September workdays, Michael Waite of Boys & Girls Clubs of Greater Milwaukee worked with volunteers to remove 12 defunct beds and prepare the space for the construction of new beds next season. Just this past Wednesday, the Black Store Managers Council of Lowes’ Region #4 supported a full workday at Sherman Park along with the giveaway of home winterizing safety supplies. With their help, we were able to winterize 12 beds and till and lay wood chips down on the walkway between them.
Volunteer
We’re proud to support our inspiring gardeners and look forward to working together as the season continues. There are a lot of volunteer opportunities in the next month. Keep an eye out for weekly opportunities on our Volunteer Sign-Up page and social media.
KILBOURN GARDEN
We have been working every week to slowly shut down Kilbourn Garden for the year. We had an amazing year at the garden with 100% of available beds being rented. Volunteers have had the opportunity to work on compost management, bed repairs, and winterizing garden beds. Thank you to all of our gardeners and volunteers that make Kilbourn Garden possible every year!
Volunteer
There will be end of season volunteer days at Kilbourn. They should be set soon. Circle back to us if you’re interested in helping prepare the garden for the off-season.
Maglio Farm
In August, we harvested 2,668 pounds of produce! August marked the beginning of the end for our main summer harvest. We’ve started rolling down the hoop house plastic sides and putting up end walls in preparation for cold weather. We’ll be growing all winter long so watch for opportunities to volunteer!
Volunteer
If you’re interested in supporting the Maglio Farm, follow the link below to see available work opportunities. We’re planning to grow all winter long, but we’ll need your help. This work depends heavily on volunteers. Thank you for dedicating your time and energy toward healthy eating and food sovereignty in Milwaukee!
shared harvest
Garden gleaning is over for the season. Fresh Food Connect and donation drop-off locations have ended for 2021. We're proud to report that with help from our dedicated gardeners and volunteers, we were able to rescue nearly 500lbs of fresh produce and donate it to four different Milwaukee food pantries. Thank you to all who contributed to a successful Shared Harvest season!
A special thanks to St. Marcus for dedicating a section of their garden to donate to Shared Harvest all summer long. You can read more about their space in our community spotlight here.
Fruit Gleaning
Our volunteer fruit picking operation is going strong. We’ll be out picking apples until the first frost (nighttime temperatures dipping below 32 degrees). We’ve harvested over 550lbs of fruit so far this season! You can sign up for fruit gleaning work days here.
Register a Fruit Tree
Did you know we’ll harvest your fruit as well as your veggies! Register a fruit tree with us today and we’ll organize a crew of volunteers to come save those cherries, apples and pears from going to waste. We’ll rescue your fruit and bring it to a local food pantry. Register your tree at the link below.
Urban Waters
New Horizon Students helped us conduct water quality monitoring sessions on the Milwaukee River. A fun and educational time on a beautiful day!
GREEN FUTURES
New Horizons
This Fall, Groundwork Milwaukee is continuing its partnership with the students and faculty of New Horizons Charter School in Shorewood. The students will be learning about and assisting with topics such as winterizing garden beds, the importance of soil health in gardening, along with testing and improving water quality. We’ve got a lot of good memories with the team at New Horizons and look forward to making more!
GROUND CORPS
This month as volunteer days for Healing Space Initiative (HSI) sites begin to wrap up, the Ground Corps has continued construction for HSI sites, beginning pathway and patio excavation at Beerline Trail, Harambee Tot Lot, Richards Sculpture Garden, and Peace Park. Our team, along with Harambee community members and Eras Senior Network, were able to plant more than 100 perennials and six fruit trees between three volunteer days at Peace Park, Adams Park and the playground on 1st and Wright. We were also able to begin construction for the much anticipated MacCannon Brown Homeless Sanctuary. Plans for the sanctuary, designed by Nagel Architects, includes a rainwater catchment structure capable of catching 1000 gallons of fallen rainwater.
