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Please visit our new website at http://www.goodnessgrows4all.org
Upcoming events and recent posts are on that page.
A donate button enables you to support Goodness Grows online!
Soon this site will automatically transfer to the new website.

Thanks and our farmers
Have you given thanks for your farmer AND thanked your farmer
this year....this month....this week?
Now is a good time. 

Our greenhouses have a roof!

First known photo of the double-layer plastic roof installation today on the Goodness Grows greenhouses.
Wa-hoo. Now for heaters, benches, cabinets, fans to make it a year-round growing center.
Stay tuned for ways to help move this needed process forward. Big thanks to Bob Fortenberry
and Don Fisher who worked today with our consultant from Crop King, Jeff Balduff.
We're grateful for a sunny, still morning for this kind of work.

Planning for Sustainable Ag at Malabar Farm - Nov. 16, 2012

Pugh's Cabin at Malabar Farm State Park, Lucas Oh

Goodness Grows continued its involvement Friday with Dr. Casey Hoy in working to
update a proposal to create an undergraduate degree in Sustainable Agriculture at The Ohio
State University. Atttending was Greg Bowman, who leads the Specialty Crop Growers
Apprenticeship Program at Goodness Grows -- our investment in crafting a new training
tool to create new farmers for Northeast Ohio. Hoy is a professor in agricultural ecosystems
management at OSU's Ohio Agricultural Research & Development Center in Wooster.

A key feature of Hoy's proposal to the USDA is close cooperation with community-based efforts at new-
farmer training via one-year certificate and two-year associate degree programs. The meeting
at Malabar Farm State Park included representatives from Stark State College (Canton), Owens Community
College (Toledo), Lorain Community College (Elyria) and Zane State College (Zanesville). 
They joined OSU profs from Columbus and OARDC campuses, and the Agricultural Technical 
Institute, also in Wooster, which is in its first year of an associate degree in sustainable ag.

Participants affirmed the "learning by experience" feature that takes students to working farms
to learn from experienced farmers using sustainable and organic practices. Many of the community
coures involve urban students with no farming background, so seeing how production, marketing
and financial management fit together is critical to their efforts - even if they are on city lots rather
than rural fields. Team members are working to coordinate courses to at all levels to better integrate
all student experience into a state-wide network educating a new set of agriculturists from many
walks of life.  Work will continue this winter to meet a grant submission deadline in February.

 

Harvest of Hope 2012 Success!
Farmers, chefs, new friends, generous donors, some
60 volunteers -- and live music high above the crowd. 
         
               Thanks to all who joined in this night
              to fill the inside and front patios of
             Common Ground Church Community
             with fun, food and good fellowship.
               
Chef Edwin Lewis, with spaghetti squash, cheese pumpkins, and pasture-raised chicken.

             $15,000 flowed to Goodness Grows
            via sponsors, auction items and gifts
             to help us continue our work:

                Seeking transformation through
                   agriculture that gives life.


     
Scammin' Jones band members Jeff Crouse, Al Fiore, Holly Swartz and Lisa Cummings


        Harvest of Hope III ~ October 3, 2013

              
                        Chef Johnna and Jonathan

Goodness Grows Invited to White House - March 5, 2012

At the invitation of Deputy Secretary of Agriculture Kathleen Merrigan, Steve Fortenberry (front row) represented Goodness Grows and Common Ground Church at a Know Your Farmer event held at the White House. Also in attendance were Jon Carson, Director of Public Engagement for the White House and Sam Kass, Senior White House Advisor on Food Policy, along with local food practitioners from across the country. The focus of the "virtual conversation" was to highlight the USDA's new web tool, The Compass, which gathers information on how the many programs of the USDA are supporting local and regional food systems. This site will prove to be a great resource for those in the field.

 

    Youngstown Urban Ag Work with Gardens, People Recognized

The pioneering urban gardening and food justice work of Goodness Grows in Youngstown South Side and East Side neighborhoods was recognized recently at Youngstown State University.  We received the “Community Service Award” from the YSU Office of Student Diversity Programs at its 10th annual Martin Luther King Jr. Diversity Breakfast in the Chestnut Room of Kilcawley Center.

 

GG Program Director and Executive Director receive Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr Diversity Award for Community Service on January 19 at Youngstown State University.  

 

Among more than 300 attendees were Pastor Steve Fortenberry, founder of Goodness Grows; Paul Bowman of Columbiana, a recently retired board member; Jeff Crouse, Common Ground worship leader; Meagan (Zeune) Tehua, program director; and Greg Bowman, executive director, who accepted the award. This was one of 11 different honors for individuals and groups that have made outstanding contributions to strengthening relationships within communities of color and the broader community.

In presenting the award, William J. Blake, director of the office of student diversity programs, highlighted the need for better nutrition and food access for all people in Youngstown, particularly those in “food deserts” where it’s most difficult to find and afford fresh, local healthy food. (Our new project to put a garden within a courtyard at East High School extends this service, thanks to a robust of community partners. More on this soon!)

Also honored at the breakfast was the Rev. Jim Ray, a Presbyterian pastor from Youngstown, who has remained active in serving international students at YSU after tenure as campus pastor was completed.

Thanks to Dr. Lashale Pugh, a member of the event’s organizing committee and of the Goodness Grows board, for nominating us to this high honor.



Goodness Grows from Goodness Grows on Vimeo.


Urban Ag from Goodness Grows on Vimeo.




Goodness Grows is a faith-based organization that works creatively with community groups, congregations and workplaces to help families grow their way out of hunger and poverty. Join us in cultivating justice and goodness.

     330-549-9408    Goodness Grows    2310 W. South Range Rd (Rt. 165), North Lima, OH 44452



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