Become a Perennial Donor to Get Your Limited Edition Growing Gardens T-Shirt!
Are you ready to wear your commitment to a healthier and more equitable food system? Introducing our brand-new, ultra-cool, limited-run T-shirt featuring a custom logo designed by local BIPOC artist Beatriz. This limited-run T-Shirt was beautifully printed by the youth interns at New Avenues INK, an outstanding mentorship program providing hands-on paid internships to young adults experiencing homelessness and housing instability.
Claiming your shirt is simple! Make a monthly contribution of $10 or more and we will send a limited-run T-shirt to your door! Already a monthly donor? Send us an email to upgrade your donation by just $5/mo. We'll make sure an amazing new T-shirt lands safely in your mailbox. But act now! T-shirts are only available while supplies last!
We're Launching a New Sponsorship Program!
At Growing Gardens, our mission to cultivate a healthy and equitable food system in Oregon is made possible through the invaluable support of our sponsors. Rather than partner up one event at a time, our new approach to sponsorship offers year-round promotional opportunities, ensuring visibility and recognition for your commitment to fostering positive change. Your sponsorship not only strengthens Growing Gardens but also aligns your brand with our principles of activism, advocacy, and social justice leadership. Together, we can sow the seeds of a healthier and more sustainable future for Oregon.
Join Us For Spring Dig-In 2024!
Spring Dig In is back and better than ever! This April, we invite you to be part of our month-long volunteer fundraising series Spring Dig-In! Help our team break ground at home gardens all over the Portland Metro area while raising critical funds to support our Home Gardens program. This is our largest Spring Dig-In year in history with over 70 new beds being installed at homes across the metro area. We're also proud to share that we will be expanding our efforts to serve Multnomah, Clackamas, and now Washington County!
Want to get involved?Register to volunteer by following the link below. Volunteers will receive our official fundraising toolkit full of creative ideas for helping us reach our $5,000 fundraising goal and a list of garden-build events taking place at homes all over Portland throughout April. Choose the ones that fit your schedule and grab a shovel! Finally, we'll wrap up the month with a big volunteer Earth Day celebration at the Providence Milwaukie Garden of Giving.
Congratulations To Lettuce Grow!
We are thrilled to share that our Lettuce Grow (Correctional Facility Garden) program is now serving the Oregon State Penitentiary in Salem as well as Two Rivers Correctional in Umatilla. This means that Lettuce Grow officially offers programming in every state correctional facility in Oregon! We could not be more proud of this incredible milestone.
Learn More About Our Lettuce Grow ProgramOur Small But Mighty Team is Growing!
Did you know that Growing Gardens now has 40 employees!? We've seen exponential growth over the last couple of years and we are in awe of the amazing new talent we've welcomed to the team. To celebrate, we've updated our Team page with fancy new headshots and bios. Hop over and get to know the incredible people who make our work possible.
Visit Our Updated Team PageCheck Out This Amazing New Video With Roma!
We're so excited to share this amazing new video courtesy of our partners at the Providence Community Teaching Kitchen. Learn how to grow your own culinary herbs with a hydroponic system at home! In this video, Romanette Leiva, coordinator of the Garden of Giving community garden, will guide you step by step in creating your own home hydroponic system. Discover the necessary materials, how to assemble the system, tips for plant care, and much more. Growing your own fresh herbs has never been easier and more rewarding. Join us on this exciting gardening adventure and discover the joy of harvesting your own ingredients at home!
Watch The Video Here
Introducing Chickie Week!
Youth Grow educators have been busy touring five little chicks around classrooms this March. Students practice their social/emotional skills they've been learning in garden class by holding a fuzzy little chick. One student reports, "These chickies fill my heart with so much happy!" 500 kids have held these birdies over the past two weeks. After their school tour, the chickens will go live with a community member as egg-laying hens. What a wonderful way to increase kindness in our community as we welcome in spring!
First Class at Oregon State Penitentiary!
Things are busy as always with Lettuce Grow, especially as we start to look forward to this growing season in the gardens inside of the correctional facilities we work in. Seeds are getting planted, compost applied, and our educational offerings are especially relevant as some folks have their first-ever gardening season, and can use their new knowledge.
A few weeks ago, we held our first-ever class at Oregon State Penitentiary, which is Oregon's oldest prison, and also the highest security. Our Education Manager Kate held a class of almost 25 students in the Seed to Supper course, which will last 6 weeks and will be proceeded by the OSU Sustainable Gardening Class. Big thanks to the Asian Pacific Family Club for making this happen, excited about the future of our offerings at OSP, and all of the AIC interest in education and opportunities to get their hands in the soil!
Santiam Correctional Green House Revitalization!
In another fun Lettuce Grow project, we reglazed the greenhouse at Santiam Correctional Institution. It has been mostly unused for the last year, and so as a part of our Greenhouse Management class, we are revamping it so we can start some seedlings in it this year. It started with a huge hole in one side of it, and now it's freshly recovered and ready for the season. We had great weather for doing this project, and it was a great learning experience for all, and refreshing to get the hands-on experience we don't always get to have. Many thanks to the administration and staff at SCI for the support and for helping make this happen.
Faubion Elementary Plant Sale!
Support Our Little Gardeners! Shop at the Faubion School Garden & PTA Plant Sale. Proceeds get kids outside eating and learning in the garden! Buy affordable veggie starts, flower starts, and seeds in time for Mother’s Day. Order online by April 10th. Pick up orders at St. Michael’s Lutheran Church on Friday, May 10th in NE Portland between 2:30-5:30.
So Long And Thanks For All The Seeds!
On behalf of our students at Lake Oswego High School and Lakeridge High School, I'd like to thank Growing Gardens for your generous seed donations. We appreciate your support and encouragement for learning by getting our hands dirty.
Larry Zurcher
LOSD Sustainability TOSA
A Very Special THANK YOU To Deacon Charitable!
Growing Gardens would like to extend a very special THANK YOU to the team at Deacon Charitable for building over 30 items to improve the infrastructure of the school garden spaces we support.
This custom build-out will include picnic tables, A-frame trellises, benches, and entryway pergolas at Glenfair, Patrick Lynch, Kelly, Whitman, David Douglas HS and Scott Schools. Deacon has donated ALL of the materials and partnered with a local picnic table company as well to support this project.
We are forever grateful for this contribution that will be enjoyed by hundreds of children for years to come!
Volunteer Opportunities
Davis Elementary School Garden
Kelly Elementary School Garden
Scott Elementary School Earth Day Event!
Participate In Spring Dig-In!
Employment Opportunities
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Upcoming Events
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Meet Our Latest Sponsor!
We are thrilled to have the ongoing sponsorship of our friends at New Seasons Market. New Seasons has been a tireless supporter of our work over the years and we know we can count on them to actively show up for their community. Three cheers for New Seasons Market!
We are currently welcoming new sponsors for the 2024 fiscal year. Will you be one of them? Follow the button below to learn more!
Community Sponsorships That Help Growing Gardens Thrive
A Little Love From Our Community!
Here, you'll find inspiring stories and experiences from members of our community who have been touched by our work at Growing Gardens. Has our approach to gardening and fresh food positively impacted your community? We want to hear from you! Click the button below to share your story.
Maria Remos
We moved from Hawaii after being priced out. Our family far, our support system just us. I had to stay home with the kids. Feeling alone and I looked for help gardening. Helping with my mental health and sense of community Growing Gardens provided tools and plants I couldn’t afford. They helped set me up at a community garden before helping me dig one with volunteers a year later. Now as home owner still struggling but blessed we still participate and need look forward to the plant giveaway. We love seeing the others being encouraged to grow, to learn, to connect with the land. Mahalo.
Christina Todd
My relationship with Growing Gardens began as a perennial donor (and I still am)! After receiving your newsletters and learning more about the organization, I was intrigued with the Lettuce Grow program.
I began to participate support the Chef In My Garden program by purchasing tickets and attending with my husband. At some point I trotted down to your offices and met Rima to see how or where I could support the Lettuce Grow program. I became a participant at Coffee Creek until a health condition took me out, but I still look forward to hearing from you via your newsletters!
Yoli Flores
I started working at Growing Gardens through an AmeriCorps service term. The Growing Gardens team was a second family to me. Growing Gardens set the standard for work life balance very high and due to the great life-changing skills I learned with my colleagues and Jason Skipton, the ED - the quality of my life is amazing. Working with Growing Gardens guided me in the best professional direction and I am very thankful for my experience with them. I appreciate the growth that Growing Gardens has made. Jason and his team are great leaders in this movement. I didn't realize that one term in AmeriCorps would mean a lifetime of love for this organization.
