1st Deliveries of 2016

Well we finally got our first major deliveries finished this week. We harvested 138 pounds of produce, 115 pounds of Allisa Craig sweet onions, Red River red onions, Candy onions along with 23 pounds of zucchini. The harvest went to Rose Haven Women and children day shelter, Independent Living Resources, PACS (Portland Adventist Community Services) and Ronald McDonald House Northwest. I know what we do isn’t in huge quantities that look amazing, and the pounds astronomical, but we grow all the food on donated land and along with a small team of labor we work really hard to make sure the people that need the food get, get the food. We are mostly out of pocket and everyone involved is dedicated in making sure everyone we can possibly reach, gets the opportunity to eat fresh, non GM, GMO or GE foods that are grown naturally with organic practices. I post the pounds donated because we work so hard to grow the food, and so much time, effort and love goes into each planning, planting, maintinence and caring for each crop, that we are really proud of ourselves for being able to accomplish those tasks. I really give all the credit to my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ for putting me on this path, and DOC for the opportunity to learn and get hands on experence. It’s a small payback for all the taking I have done in my life. I hope we will be able to continue to grow food and disperse it where it is needed most, in our community of elderly, shut-ins and the disadvantaged. I also want to thank everyone who follows us, and helps us with our needs, thank you all and God bless.

-yurbob

Don’t Be Fooled … not spring yet!

As this heat wave hits us here in Portland Oregon people are thinking spring is officially here, not so, we could still be hit with a bit of cold, so be patient, plan and get your soil ready. Plant your peas, asparagus, onions and carrots, but be careful with leafy vegetables by clotching them or perhaps use some poly cover. Here’s some pictures of what we did last weekend at our new Leighton site and prepping the last section at the Albina site as well as the new to us utility trailer that was donated to us by the Gillenwater Farm, what a gift, this is really going to make our logistics a whole lot easier!

 

Self Supporting

So for a long time we have talked about being “self supporting through our own contributions”. Trying to create a product we can sell on the open market to help with the costs of running our charity.Some of the products we talked about, were a sauce or salsa of some sort, but until we have reached that cross road I have decided to donate the proceeds from the sales of my ceramic art to Giving Vegetable Gardens. My Face Book site is Yur bobs art, I’m hoping I can sell or custom make pieces to order, I have a few things that I do make and sell and that’s the bull skulls, coffee mugs, bowls and assorted styles of fish. The skulls and fish range in price according to size and glazes and types of detail, if you are interested in possibly purchasing one of my pieces please contact me through the yur bobs art site and we can talk about what you might like to order and a price. I will be setting up a Pay Pal site so there’s a way to pay, if you would like to send a payment for a particular item that you see in a picture we can work that out as well. It takes money to grow, harvest and transport the vegetables and fruit we grow to all the different agencies we support, so I’m hoping that this might help us to help others.

Cheers to you all!

Your Bob

 

SUPER PRODUCTIVE DAY

Today was a really great day for Giving Vegetable Gardens, we had a bunch of volunteers from “Hands On Portland” come out to the Albina Community Garden for a few hours and help us get things in shape. What a blessing to have such a great group of people come and give of themselves to help others. We were able to get compost hauled to our covered site so we can begin the process of amending that soil for this coming spring, along with weeding in multiple beds on the farm site, as well as the raised bed site I want to give Hands on Portland a big Thank You for all your help today! I want to thank AJ for bringing hands on Portland into the garden what a great organization, and Dan for making it all happen and his ability to direct and get a plan that will work in such a short time. Another person is Ernie, for coming to get me and helping wheelbarrow all that compost, for hooking up the two tillers at Canby rentals for us to buy, for the use of his trailer and for being a great friend! Cheers to everyone that makes what we do possible!

Always yurbob

FUNDRAISER EXTRAVAGANZA !!

Don’t miss our very first annual fundraiser, fine dining, lots of art to bid on, not to mention a vacation rental, garden design and so much more, plus two really great local entertainers; The Natasha Flynn Band and Pat Jones, as well as some world class wines and did I mention the food, just out of this world. The food alone is worth 100 a plate at any fundraiser. Please join us for a night to remember!

Cheers

Working on the Albina Site

We have been so busy trying to get the Albina site ready for this new spring season, this will be our first season on this property and hope it will be a good one? We already have onions, blueberries, fava beans, and strawberries planted and have the herbs in the cold frame, so they will be ready soon. We will have a video coming out this summer on grafting tomatoes, we will be doing this video with Lettuce Grow Garden Foundation, so stay tuned for that! Here is some new pics of the Albina site, enjoy and remember to let us know if we can help with planting and soil advice!

Helping The Clients Of Independent Living Resources

It really feels good to make a difference in the lives of the clients of Independent Living Resources, being able to deliver fresh natural produce to them is really a privilege. We want to give Evelyn Villegas a big Thank You, for making it possible for us to team up and give good food to a lot of good people that are handicapped and challenged! It is so gratifying to watch how fast the fresh vegetables are taken home, cooked up and eaten! Partnering with ILR has been one of our best moves yet, we hope we can serve that community for years to come!
Cheers and God Bless
All of us at GVGC

FUNDRAISING and FEEDING PEOPLE

I’m finding that fundraising is just about a full time job! I am not very good at it and hope that in the future I will get better at it? Trying to raise money for our 501c3 and for the cargo bikes has been really hard for me. Approaching people and asking for money is hard with the economy the way it is, and I don’t think things will get much better anytime to soon? What I think is, if that is the case, then what is to become of all the people forced to eat garbage and food that is empty, or the food that is so GM, GMO or GE that it is just killing them? I believe the whole Genetically Modified Movement is just a way for our Government to manage death! You start putting pesticides in food then pretty soon all those organisms that help digest your food and all those pro-biotic and every other good organism in your body will disappear, and then your body will start to malfunction and shut down, and just like that you are in the system! What’s next? Hospitals, Pharmacies, and most of us would get buried under the costs and never get out alive! Eating food that is good for our bodies is a RIGHT, and what’s happened is that it has become a PRIVILEGE, reserved only to the people that can afford to buy “organic” or “naturally grown”, and let me tell you those people are not the ones on a budget, of any kind! I challenge you to go to a grocery store of your choice and watch the produce section, watch who buys “organic”? Better yet, watch who buys “organic”, and how much do they buy? The working class, the less fortunate, the people who live paycheck to paycheck are the ones forced to buy the filler foods, processed and empty, certainly not organic or naturally grown!

Giving Vegetable Gardens Charity is trying to change that, starting from the bottom up! Starting with the people that normally wouldn’t have access to food grown Naturally, void of anything that will hurt them! We grow our food using methods these “Organic” farms use, in fact we go one better, we use the same methods the “Naturally Grown” farms use we just haven’t gotten our certification yet because everyone wants money to use their ” Method”. We grow our food naturally, and give that food to the ones in need, through agencies that are local right here in Portland, Oregon City, and West Linn Oregon! We believe that everyone should have the “RIGHT” to eat food that is good for them, so that’s what we do, and we need your help to keep it going! we need to file our 501c3, we need a cargo bike for NE and SE Portland deliveries, we need everyone to go to our “GOFUNDME” page and give what you can? Even a coffees worth will help! Many hands make light work! Our three gardens cannot keep up with the demand, but that’s a good thing, because that tells us we are on the right track! More gardens means more food, more food means healthier people and a better life from the bottom up! Our website and Facebook Page are easily found as is the “gofundme” thanks everyone that has helped us and thank you to everyone who is even considering to help, it is a noble cause and one you should connect with!

givingvegetablegardenscharity.org

Cheers and God Bless

Bob and everyone at Giving Vegetable Gardens Charity

 

We Need your help to get the food to the ones who need it most!!

I want you all to know that by helping us, even if it’s a small amount, you will be helping us feed the less fortunate, the challenged and the shut ins with food that is good for them, void of any harmful pesticides and herbicides and all our seed stock is non GMO,GE and GM! We need your help! We are our brothers keeper and it does take a village! We need to stand together and take the growing of our food back into our own hands and try our best at taking the government out of it!
Please help us!
Thank you for your support!
Cheers and God Bless
Your Bob

http://www.gofundme.com/b1npa4
Click here to support Giving Vegetable Gardens Charity by Bob Dinges

Long Time Gardener Verna Terry

Here’s a great picture of Verna and her long time companion Daisy, who is lovingly regarded as a “flabadore” Daisy is half Lab and half Shar Pei . Verna is really happy to be helping us feed people in need, and wants to see the education component where school kids could come and learn how to grow food naturally! We are on our way to making that happen! Thank You Jim and Verna Terry for all your love and support!