June was another busy month for the Groundwork Milwaukee crew. We provided direct support through infrastructure improvement, programming and volunteer workdays to more than 14 of our garden locations and so much more. Thank you to all the supportive community members and volunteers that have made invaluable contributions! Scroll down to learn more. Watch for opportunities to get involved! 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
ground corps
HEALTH HUBS
Groundwork’s Health Hub programming is in full swing. We’ve been providing educational opportunities at Health Hub gardens. Our Food Systems Specialist, Samson has been holding training events at the gardens. Below are a few great photos from these events as well as a list of upcoming gardening and yoga workshops being held at Health Hub gardens in the near future.
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.
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
Last month Groundwork provided direct support through volunteer workdays or original programming to 14 gardens in the Garden Network, including: Peace Park, Uptown Crossing, Kilbourn, Discovery World, Maskani Gardens, Beauty from the Root Healing Garden, Thurston Woods, We Got This, Cherry Street Garden and Scooters Garden of Hope. We’re proud to support our inspiring gardeners and look forward to working together as the season continues. Here are a few of the highlights from last month.
Planting at Maskani Apartment Gardens
With help from residents we held a community event for the Maskani Apartment Gardens. We turned over the soil in garden beds, added new soil and planted various plants such as tomatoes, peppers, sunflowers, and squash. Over a dozen residents and their families came out to enjoy the nice weather and plant with us!
Vel R. Phillips Block Beautification
On June 5th, we partnered with Safe and Sound and local residents of the 3800 block of Vel R. Phillips Avenue to orchestrate a neighborhood-wide clean up and beautification. Groundwork Milwaukee volunteers worked with residents of the block to cut their grass, remove debris and trash and plant beautiful flowers along all of the homes.
Compost Crusader Discount
We are excited about a new collaboration with Compost Crusaders! Compost Crusaders is offering discounted compost to gardens or partners affiliated with Groundwork Milwaukee. Compost will be discounted from $35 per yard to $30 per yard for orders of 3 yards or more.
Garden Network Volunteer Opportunities
We’ll be hosting volunteer work days at the below times on a weekly basis. View our sign-up page for specific times and locations.
KILBOURN GARDEN
Each Thursday at Kilbourn, we host a volunteer workday to keep the garden looking fresh throughout the season. Thanks to all the volunteers who have helped us to keep the space tidy so far this season. If you’d like to come help out, follow the link below and sign-up for a ‘Weekly Kilbourn Workday’ time slot.
Maglio Farm
We’re entering a full harvest season! We’ve been picking peas & beans for a few weeks now, and are just entering harvests of zucchini, cucumber, and tomatoes!
As always, our “harvest help” shift is a great way to come out to the farm if your time is short.
shared harvest
We’re six weeks into our food rescue program Shared Harvest. Combining gleaned produce (produce rescued from backyard gardens) with harvest supplemented from our farm, that’s 180 lbs of produce donated to local food pantries together.
Fresh Food Connect
Does your home garden have too many zucchinis? Overgrown collards? An abundance of kale! We can help you donate it! If you’re a backyard gardener and would like to donate your extra garden produce to local food pantries, sign-up for Fresh Food Connect and our volunteer couriers will come pick-up your donation once a week. To sign-up, download the Fresh Food Connect app from the app store and create an account.
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
In June, we planted nearly 300 plants from MMSD’s annual plant sale! We also installed two pollinator garden beds at Kilbourn Garden and another perennial garden was planted at Village Roots in Bay View.
Milwaukee River Water Monitoring in Estabrook Park
This year, Groundwork Milwaukee is partnering with Milwaukee Riverkeeper to monitor the quality of our waterways. We monitored our section, near Estabrook Park, with the help of Rebecca from Milwaukee Riverkeeper in May. These were our first samples of the season.
Seeking Youth Water Monitors
We are looking for a youth group that may be interested in monitoring with us the last week of August. Reach out to jacelia@groundworkmke.org for more information!
GROUND CORPS
This month The Ground Corps began working on the first of 10 Healing Spaces to be constructed throughout the city from now through September. On Saturday, July 10th, with the help from some phenomenal volunteers we began to revitalize a portion of the Beerline Trail near Holton and Townsend. A Pergola was constructed, 40 perennials were planted, and the frames for what will be two garden bed benches were built. We expect to begin work on another healing space along the Beerline Trail next week. During this month we have also started a farmstand and rainwater catchment structure at Scooters garden and constructed five additional garden beds on site, while continuing to wrap up construction on the outdoor kitchen at We Got This on 9th and Ring. This week the outdoor triple burner stove for the kitchen arrived for pick up and we managed to find a free sink perfect for the kitchen donated to us by one of our Riverwest neighbors.
