Neighborly in the Winter?

We often get questions about how Growing Neighbors keeps functioning in the colder months. This is obviously even harder during a pandemic, but there are lots of ways to be a good neighbor even when you can’t grow food to share. Apart from food box deliveries and Little Free Pantries, here are a few ideas:

  • Flock someone’s front door (thanks to whoever did this to us!)
  • Make meals or treats and drop them off on a doorstep
  • Send a card, email, text or message your favorite way
  • Enjoy a socially distanced walk together outside
  • Help with snow shoveling or de-snow/icing a car (carefully)
  • Use your imagination and share your gifts, passions & skills

Recent Grant Award!

We are excited to announce that the Audubon-Downriver Neighborhood Council received a grant from Live Local INW for gardening supplies from local businesses. We are happy to be partnering with the council to make these purchases and spread some community gardening love. If there is anything you need to start or expand your garden, let us know. Also, if you are able to contribute to continuing to expand the movement to help neighbors grow healthy food and relationships, we’d love for you to make a year-end or recurring gift in the Growing Neighbors box here.

Spokane Christmas Lights Hunt

It’s the season for Christmas Lights! Join the hunt by using the lights map at http://bit.ly/christmaslightshunt. If you notice other awesome lights that should be included, contact us!

To enter your name for prizes (ages 0-12), sign up by emailing your name and family contact to sociallydistantchristmaslight@gmail.com or by calling 509-327-5522.

It’s Hoedown Time!!

Let’s celebrate! And did I mention, free food? Yes, we will have lots of fresh produce as well as boxes of shelf-stable food. Can you help spread the word to some neighbors in need? Please forward this email or share the attached flyers. We hope to share this food in a fun way by also enjoying some great music, sharing edible veggie decorating supplies, seeing the gardens where some of the food was grown, and giving away some door prizes from our great partners. We’d love to see you and celebrate the end of the Farmers’ Market and growing season together!

Here is the Zoom info to listen to the music from home or outside at the event site: 5508 N Alberta St.

Topic: Growing Neighbors Hoedown
Time: Oct 2, 2020 5:15pm PT

Join Zoom Meeting

Meeting ID: 848 9302 6223
Passcode: 180673

Thank you for joining us at the Market!

We are so thankful for all of you who visited us at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market this season. We’ll miss seeing you on Fridays, but would love to stay connected! You can keep an eye on what we’re up to and ways to connect with our community partners by looking at the calendar on our website www.growingneighbors.org. We may see each other less as the weather gets colder, but keep enjoying healthy food, keep looking for ways to care for neighbors and nature, keep fighting racism, keep caring for those who are vulnerable, sick, and fighting fires, and keep seeking peace in this political season.

Featured Flower: Giant Sunflowers

We have been loving these amazing sunflowers. We had no idea they would get this big and bring smiles to so many faces. Anyone want some seeds? We’d love your help harvesting the last of our produce and helping to put our various gardens to bed for the winter. Let us know when you are free and we’ll plan some garden time!

Swing by our Hub Farmyard at 5508 N. Alberta on Monday, October 5, from 9:30-noon for a gardening party.

Featured Farmyard: Arlene’s

There were some amazing visitors at Arlene’s when we gathered to tend the garden together recently. Or, were we the visitors to their garden? There have been a lot of deer, bunnies, squirrels, and other wildlife enjoying our produce lately, and we’re glad (mostly) to be able to share. Want to join Arlene or other neighbors near you to start or expand a GN Farmyard? This is a great time to prepare for a spring garden. You can do it! We can help 🙂

Join us at the Market

Come visit us next Friday, September 25, at the Emerson-Garfield Farmers’ Market at 2310 N. Monroe from 3-7 p.m. All of our produce is offered on a “take what you need, pay what you can” basis. Invite a neighbor who could benefit from some local, organic produce. You are also welcome to help by donating your produce, harvesting at various GN Farmyards, or running our booth!

Helping neighbors access healthy food year round

Have you seen or heard of Little Free Pantries? It’s similar to the Little Free Libraries, but full of food for the taking. Neighbors can put food in, take some out, or some of both. There are a few around town including at a couple of our GN Farmyards. Would you like to help us build or install more LFP’s? We are partnering with NW Harvest and Caritas to increase food access (contactless even!) through this program and we’d love your help! We have the funding and food to get them started, we just need builders and good sites to place them 🙂