Welcome to Earth Source Garden!
2012 Agreement
New Pioneer Food Co-op created Earth Source Gardens in conjunction with Harvest Farm and Preserve to show how gardens can contribute significantly to our community’s nutrition, sustainability, and enjoyment. Please participate with a respect for the people and resources which have allowed this garden to come to our community.
Gardening at Earth Source is a privilege. You may be asked to leave mid-season or banned from future use of the gardens if you fail to respect the guidelines below.
Please note:
The Garden will be open to the public at least once a month for educational and social purposes. You are invited to be at your plot at ‘tour times’ to discuss with the public what you are growing and why. Otherwise the gardens are not open to the public.
Because of the highly public nature of the garden tours, please keep weeds under control at all times. Anything hazardous to other gardeners or visitors (stray tomato cages, for example) should be promptly removed.
You may be invited by the Co-op to be photographed or interviewed at your plot. Thank you in advance to those who are not too shy to help with this educational aspect of the garden!
We welcome donations of garden tools, wheelbarrows, and other useful materials. Please contact the garden coordinator if you can contribute: Theresa Carbrey at New Pioneer, tcarbrey@newpi.coop, (319) 248-6411.
Plan to bring your own tools, compost, water, and mulch. Limited quantities of these may be available. Please use moderate amounts of communal mulch, water, and compost to allow more to benefit. Please accept directives from the garden coordinator concerning amounts used at your plot.
Some small plots will be available. These will be approximately 10 by 20 feet. Please indicate if you prefer a small plot or a large plot (10’ by 50’).
Guidelines
You must be a paid-in-full New Pi member or part of a member household. One plot per family/household.
You must be physically able to do garden work and navigate the gardens – the most distant plots are two acres from the parking.
You must be able to communicate by email, with one person as the designated contact.
Early tasks: Business
Show up in person for registration interview at the end of March.
Pay $50 for a large plot (10’ by 50’)
Pay $30 for a small plot (10’ by 20’)
Read, sign, and affirm you understand the guidelines and will abide by them.
Submit to be photographed for record-keeping purposes.
Early: On the land
Accept the plot assigned.
Assist in ‘Early Season’ Work Day, placing cardboard and mulch on paths to establish plot boundaries.
Take possession of the assigned plot when permitted by the gardening coordinator (the date will depend on numerous factors, including weather, and if you were a 2011 ESG gardener and participated in the “2011 Mulch Project”).
Bring your own tools, water, compost, and mulch if possible.
Consider loaning or donating hand tools, wheelbarrows, or garden carts to Earth Source for the season. The Co-op is not responsible for shared tools.
No personal vehicles in the gardens, except to load or unload.
Always Remember:
Accept and abide by directives from the designated Co-op Garden Coordinator: Theresa Carbrey. The Co-op Garden Coordinator has the responsibility to make decisions concerning issues at the gardens as they arise.
Maintain the plot reasonably free of weeds. Overgrown weeds reflect poorly on the Garden and can negatively affect nearby plots. If this is a problem, warnings may be issued. After two consecutive warnings, you will have to relinquish the plot to another gardener, as the plots are in high demand.
- Maintain courteous relations with other gardeners, Co-op staff, and landowners Doug and Linda Paul and family.
- Use sustainable methods of production (no synthetic pesticides, fungicides, or herbicides).
- Use communal compost, mulch, and water in “moderate” quantities.
- Keep your plant material within the confines of your own plot.
- Supervise children.
- Leave the pets at home.
- Park in designated area.
- Work primarily with annual plants.
- Stay out of other peoples’ plots.
- Expect to do physical work, primarily with hand tools.
- Assist as needed on group work days.
- Bring your own drinking water.
- Arrive to work in the gardens after sun-up and depart no later than dusk.
- Stay out of properties bounding the garden: i.e. no “walks” on the grounds of Harvest Farm and Preserve (HFP) without permission from HFP staff.
- Build no fires at any time on the site.
- Smoking of any materials is prohibited on the site.
- Accept that no toilet facilities are available on site.
- Accept that no electricity is available on the site.
- Consider using mulch to suppress weeds and conserve water.
- Consider donating surplus produce to charitable organizations.
- Help create and maintain a working compost pile. This pile is in the center of the garden.
End of Year
Remove any perennial plants at end of season.
Clear the plot of plant debris, trellises, etc., and vacate the plot by Dec. 1, 2012.
Chop stems of large plants like corn, sunflower and tomato to facilitate composting.