April and More!

Plant season has arrived, COVID is long-gone and it’s time to get together and share information, food and friendship!

  • The photo above was taken at the Seed Starting Program at the Hillyard Library with kids from Refugee and Immigrant Connections.
  • Monthly Cooking Workshop is Tuesday, March 28 at 4:00 pm at 5508 N. Alberta. Come learn to cook pie, cobbler, compote, and sauce with local apples. Stay for Community Dinner at 5:30 and take some apples home to cook later!
  • Farming at 4 is back on 4/4 and following Tuesdays! Bring a friend, make a friend, and care for your neighbors while learning organic, regenerative gardening techniques at our Hub Farmyard at 5508 N. Alberta. Stay for dinner at 5:30 and optional farming after dinner as well. We have a great group of Whitworth students helping in the garden after dinner on 4/4 as well as a group of folks prepping eggs for a community Easter Egg Hunt at Morning Star Baptist Church on 4/8 at noon. All are welcome to all the things!
  • Seed Starting Programs continue on 4/13 & 20 at the Shadle Library at 3:45. Plant seeds for your home garden and community gardens. Help with thinning and uppotting. Take home unplanted seeds as well!
  • Plant Swap on 4/29 at the Shadle Library from 11-1! Come grab some plants to grow and share produce with your neighbors and bring your extra plant starts to swap/share!
  • New Gardens are starting with Shadle Park High School, Highland Middle School, Salish School, 1st Presbyterian Christian School, The Carl Maxey Center, Thrive International and several home yards. Do you live, learn, work, play, or pray near one of these community partners? Let’s get you connected with one of these or our network of 60+ other gardens!

The Tour de Farms is back on 9/17!

Start the Tour at any Farmyard/Garden on the map and then visit as many others as you’d like from 9-11 a.m. on September 17th. We encourage you to walk, jog, or roll with friends, but any form of transportation is ok!

After the “choose your own adventure” tours, join us at the Shadle Library at 2111 W Wellesley for a fun celebration including a Cooking Demo (with library and District 81 culinary staff), snacks, and prizes from local farmers and artisans from 11-noon.

Registration Form

Map of participating Farmyards/Gardens

February Updates

Jack and Joy celebrating the new Little Free Pantry installed at 3304 E. Gordon!

  • Check our website calendar at: www.growingneighbors.org/calendar for upcoming events we’re hosting and those of other great partners. 
  • New community gardens are going in this spring at homes, schools, and churches including Lidgerwood Presbyterian. Want to help start or expand a garden in your neighborhood?
  • Sustainable Food Deliveries are now runnin’ in 7 neighborhoods including East Central with the Martin Luther King Jr. Center! We need your help delivering to your local neighbors, whether you’re up for doing it via bicycle or otherwise. Most volunteers help for about an hour a week to care for neighbors with mobility challenges.
  • Little Free Pantries are getting connected to our delivery routes to make sure they stay well stocked. Also, we’re so glad to be partnering with Jack, Mike, Chris and the folks from the Little Free Pantry Spokane Facebook page! Feel free to share or access food anytime at any of these pantry locations.
  • Community Composting pilot is heatin’ up in the Shadle area. We’re preparing to offer instructions and buckets for neighbors to fill with compostables that will be delivered to our bins at Shadle Church. We need help managing this system and expanding it to other areas. We’ll also be ordering loads of compost from Barr-Tech. Want to host or access a pile in your ‘hood?
  • New Farmers’ Market teams are being formed among neighbors near the Emerson-Garfield, Garland, West Central, Hillyard, and Millwood (and possibly other) markets. Want to share produce, help with neighborhood listening exercises, or volunteer at a booth?
  • As the weather warms up we also plan to host communal meals, food preparation and preservation education, garden tours, etc. Love your help!
  • We’re forming a paid Strategic Planning Team (with a grant from Empire Health Foundation) primarily of BIPOC community members to help us hear the voices of our diverse community and form more equitable plans for community gardening and related food access programs in Spokane. Do you have any recommendations for who could be part of this team? Please let me know by 2/21.

Thank you for your partnership, support, and beautiful acts of treating all of creation more like family. As we continue to grow, we’d love your financial support by donating here.

Shadle Library is “Growing”

Juan Juan and Asraa displaying our new seed starting racks at the Shadle Library!

On Tuesday, February 15, an Indoor Seed Starting program at the Shadle Public Library happened! More great programs with the library are being planned. RSVP to Johnny or just show up for these programs. Some of the seedlings will go home with you and get set to grow for our 40+ garden network and some will stay at the library for the new garden on site. Watch the calendar or talk to Johnny for upcoming dates.

Quick and Composty Update

It has been a great growing season and we have a lot of fun news and events to share with you. Please take a moment to check out this quick and composty list of highlights:

  • Our neighbor Rob with the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market put together this awesome 3 min. video about us: https://www.facebook.com/EGFMarket/videos/564992718138732
  • Our neighbors with the Spokane Conservation District hosted us for a recent episode of their Rocks to Roots Podcast: https://www.rockstoroots.org/listen
  • SCD is hosting the Farm & Food Symposium 11/5-6 and I’ll be speaking on a panel at 1:15 on 11/6. Sign up here: https://www.spokanecd.org
  • Thank you to all of our awesome volunteers and interns. Chan, Nara, and Biruk, it was wonderful working with y’all this summer! We look forward to staying in touch and we’re excited to welcome Nazish, Makena, and other great student leaders this fall and beyond!
  • Our sustainable food deliveries are expanding to the Spokane Valley and Green Acres. Wanna help?
  • Little Free Pantries are going in all around town including at the Korean Presbyterian Church. Want to help build, install, or stock some?
  • Plan your spring garden! We can help you make a plan, form a team, replace lawn, plant garlic or perennials, and get seeds, soil, compost, and wood chips!

Food Delivery via Bicycle

Food Delivery via Bicycle with Noelle and Chan

Food Delivery via Bicycle is rocking now in 3 neighborhoods! Northwest Spokane on Thursdays from 3:00 – 5:30 pm., West Central Spokane on Wednesdays from 4:00-6:30 pm , and the Emerson-Garfield neighborhood on Tuesdays from 10:00 – 12:30 pm. Can you help sort, pack, or deliver (even if you need to use a motor)? Contact John Edmondson if you can help.