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GOD'S GANG
URBAN FARMING
2004
  Director's Report | Activities 2004 | Urban Farming Sites | Pass Ons | Photo Page | On The Road | Writes of Passage | Tea Hat Ladies | Harvest Fest 2004 | More Harvest Fest | We Are Family | Faces of Harvest Fest  


Director’s Report

Dear Friends:

                The year has come and is almost gone without any firm prospects of a different home. Countless hours have been spent looking, calling, and negotiating for a site. Still, we remain hopeful and have yet to turn back on any of our original goals of making a difference in today's youth by giving alternate choices a real chance.

Green/Cheeks Library

                We have awarded over $1,000.00 from Spooky's College Fund to the three students we help to support. We expect two more of the Gang to apply for assistance for the year 2005.

 

                We were more than blessed to have an associate of our benefactor, Ashley Bryan, Ms Annemarie Vickers-Quin ed.d, to fly in from Maine to direct our "Writes of Passage" reading program. Her unique way of teaching will stay with the children and the volunteers that accompanied us, for years to come. We are going to seek funding to bring her back next year with a more detailed, extensive format. A brief recognition and awards ceremony will be held later this fall for those who participated in the program. Many thanks to all who gave of their time and talents to make reading fun. A special thanks to the Art Institute for providing the beautiful working space and marvelous atmosphere.                        

                Our work with Unique Sports has dwindled to a halt with our main volunteers (swimmers) working unsteady hours. The boat club has several kayaks for sale at reasonable prices.  If there is enough interest, and a winter pool site is available, we will revive our winter "Fraidy Cat Swim"; to prepare for spring and summer kayak lessons for 2005.

                The Gospel Dancers program at St. Mary's has been at rest for the summer, with our attention focused on the Planting Dreams farm season. We will return to the regular Saturday 3:00 p.m. classes on the first of October. Please help us recruit new students! The GG dancers at True Fellowship, performed two nights at their pre- program Sept. 2nd  and 3rd, leading to their pastor’s upcoming anniversary. A special thanks to Toni Horne for picking up, and Mrs. Diane McClure and her grandchildren for keeping the African Javas.

 

Planting Dreams Community Supported Agriculture Program (*farms not visible from the street)

Mother's Cupboard

                We have loaned our refrigerators and freezer to the Faith United Missionary Baptist Church food pantry. This allowed us to clean out some of the storage area, and help this church meet the increasing food needs in the Roseland community. We have continued to make great strides in promoting food security by redirecting efforts from food service to food production and education.

            Community food security as defined by the CFS newsletter is “all persons, obtaining at all times, a culturally acceptable nutritionally adequate diet through local non-emergency sources”.  Our food pantry at present is inactive. Our next choice is to grow our own. Generating connections between farmers that have raised food for other people and worked on borrowed land for stipends, with farmers that have just concentrated on raising worms, has completed the full cycle from sowing to reaping.    

Planting Dreams

                God's Gang has begun to provide inner city, low-income families with the beginnings of true access to nutritious food, in an atmosphere that encourages nutrition awareness and sparks the interest of youth. We have completed five pilot farms with a sixth already planned for Spring 2005.

 

Roseland Farm*                        Harvest Fest is 4:00-6:00 pm, Sunday, October 11               

                This is the staging area that has grown all our plants from seed in the hoop house, provides care of our small animals. Roseland hosted visitors this year from the University of Wisconsin and a neighboring day care center. They held  training sessions for our staff, pass-on farm training to new Altgeld gardens C.H.A. youth farmers and meetings of staff. Roseland produces all of our sage, a variety of tomatoes, gourds, collards, beets, baby carrots, a few sweet potatoes, asparagus, radish, and dwarf bananas, lemon, pomegranates and apples trees. This site harvests our worms and worm castings.

 

May Street Farm                      Harvest Fest is 11:00 am -Noon, Saturday, October 10

                114th and May is a demonstration farm used for training. There, we performed experiments with the use of our castings, versus our neighboring farmer who used no fertilizer at all. We began two or three weeks after her but our corn soon outgrew hers, and already her potatoes are dead. We made the mistake of using black plastic to limit our need to weed, but forgot to remove it from under our watermelons and replace it with hay. We lost many melons  to rot. The farm has two fig trees, (at the request of our farmers, that we concentrate on producing more fruit), tomatoes, green gourds, white pumpkin, corn, mustard greens, collards, cabbage, a variety of hot peppers, bell peppers, squash, string beans, chives, potatoes (tire totems), and a full sized worm bed. A heartfelt thank you to our host, Ms. Angela Spraggings.

         

67th  Indiana Farm*

                This small plot is tended by nine children that had the misfortune to be squatters in CHA near our last Mother's Cupboard. Now, they farm in a small backyard behind their grandmother's bungalow. They have ten rows of vegetables, but little sun. We hope to pass on two, small animals to them this fall, and if we cannot get their trees trimmed, we will switch to mushrooms as their primary crop. Tomatoes, two apple trees, potatoes, string beans, bell peppers and a plastic barrel composter complete their site. These youth are all under thirteen and have encouraged their friends to work in their yard and begin their own gardens next year. Thanks to host Erma Robinson

 

65th Wolcott Farm                           Harvest Fest is 1:00-2:00 pm, Saturday, October 10

                The Wolcott farm has15 rows of vegetables and two raised beds. This yard was an at home project for our farmers, Candy and Ve. Candy's mom had a small garden a few years ago and needed help. She worked for the famous Dr. Fulton and became very interested in natural healing methods, and organic food. The harvest at Wolcott has been so bountiful, they have been freezing green beans and sharing tomatoes with neighbors since June, and still producing. Their success has made it clear; we need a canning class on next year’s calendar. Two apple trees, potatoes, green beans, tomatoes, collards, watermelon, squash, green gourds, peppers and a worm bed complete this effort. Thank you to our hosts: the Cooks, Scotts, Thomas, and the Jordans, on a job well done.

 

72nd and Wood*                               Harvest Fest is 3:00 -4:00 pm, Saturday, October 10

                We have received the claims on the small lot on Wood, but are not prepared to develop it as yet. We planted next door to the lot where we could expect great attention and care of our plants. The yard was cluttered with hundred of cinder blocks. The kids planned the site to look like a giant crosswords puzzle, with blocks used as raised beds. It’s not only interesting to look at, but wheelchair accessible. Filling the beds over two feet with purchased soil, not only relieved our concerns about soil testing but allows us to farm with little wear and tear on our backs, no bending. Shade trees from the neighbor’s yard greatly reduced this year’s yield, but alternative plants will be used next year. Potatoes, okra, melons, peppers, and string beans. A very small harvest, but the outlook for next year is better, just from this year’s experience. Thanks to hosts, Mr. and Mrs. Brian Jones and their foster kids.

 

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                Early in the year we were guests on the Different Drummer TV program. The board and over 50 of the Gang turned out in support of our funder, The Heifer Project. Michael Goular, and Zoe' made us proud with their reflections on what we do, and how we get it done. Paul accompanied four youth to a three day training in East Troy, Wisconsin. Vevila went to Mexico to meet with other teens on food issues. 

 

                We revisited our sister project, Ecovida at their El Festival De Los Vegetales in Pilsen, and renewed old friendships while gaining new ones. We've built a new Talapia system in Altgeld Gardens, at Our Lady of the Gardens.

                We have provided training in Vermiculture, at Garfield Park Conservatory twice this year and have just completed a  third training, September 18th  led by one our youth directors.

                Future plans include conducting a community food assessment in each GG farm neighborhood. Hosting a series of Harvest Fests during the Columbus Day holiday,  October 10th and 11th (See each location above for date and time) and recruiting new members and friends around the aspects of food, conservation, and youth issues.

                Each of our new back yard farms will eventually be specialized to produce the host family a variety of vegetables, and a special crop that can be combined with the other farms to make a full variety farm stand, for income from sales and a value added product of casting fertilizer.

God Bless

Carolyn Thomas, Director

 

 
VOLUNTEERS AND DONATIONS WELCOMED!

god's gang

Reading Workshop

 

the original w.w.w.

wonderful world of words

 

From Red Wigglers to the Red Planet, Creatures to Culture,

Children Will Chose The Topics and Created Their Own Stories

 

Writes of Passage

 

Sherry A. Wofford-Nickerson AAS-ECE  ● Lifetime Member, God's Gang ●Spooky Scholarship Recipient

                On March 1, 2004 the youth who are involved in the Green­ Cheeks Library the reading program attended the first  of a series of workshops at Chicago’s Art Institute. "Writes of Passage" (play on words) is uniquely structured and headed by reading consultant Annemarie Vickers-Quin, ed.d. Ms. Quin stated, "Reading is a passion of mine and passing that on to others in a convivial way is truly rewarding." Ms Quin, a friend of our benefactor Ashley Bryan, flies in from Maine to offer her support and unique method of teaching children to read through dialect.

                Michelle Wilson (one of our celebrated ‘Spooky Scholarship’ recipients and a graduate of Rochester University in NY), Vevila Cook (shadow to the executive director), all of the Wisconsin God's Gang staff and members, our newest transportation specialist, Teak and I assisted Ms. Quin in the workshop.

                During the workshop the youth ranging in age from 5-10, were encouraged to draw and build their own stories. They were provided with colored pens, markers, paper and precise directions. To gather ideas for their stories, they were allowed to tour the Art Institute at each meeting. The younger children drew pictures, recited to Ms. Quin, myself or the teenage mentors who then put the words to their pictures. The older youth were just so very creative as they wrote, illustrated, and then recited some of their stories.

                These were two hour workshops which ended with healthy, hearty lunches. The first lunch was at the Art Institute Café, where the youth chose their meals without restrictions. Zoe's new found love of shrimp covered pizza was outdone by Vevila's affinity for `bottled pink lemonade', which she felt compelled to capture the moment with a photo

All other lunches were in ‘The Neighborhood’ due to budget constraints. On our next meeting held April 16th, four new story tellers joined us. Ms. Quin brought photos taken at the first workshop for the children to view and the story writing continued. All of the youth are to keep composing and present their literary of art to Mrs. Thomas or an adult at the areas where they meet.

 

 

                The God's Gang Gospel Dancers that attend St. Mary A.M.E. Church have been very busy. This group, ranging from age 2-16 represented God's Gang in the spirit of dance on Sunday,  January 18, 2004 - Black History Program at St. Mary A.M.E. Church in Chicago,  Saturday May 15, 2004 and Sunday May 16, 2004 at Women's Day - Pre Anniversary Celebration. This group rehearses every other Saturday under the direction of Mrs. Carolyn Thomas and Leslie Jones.

 

 

                Sixteen members of our throop attended the play "Crowns" adapted and directed by Regina Taylor on Thursday April 15th . This was an inspiring and eye-opening experience. Earlier in the year, 30 members of God's Gang enjoyed a (SYN), `Saints Youth Network' Production at Percy Julian High School. The play `Mr. Frosty', had moments every teenager and even some of the younger children could relate to and brought out questions of today’s living in Christ. We are looking forward to performing at all GG Harvest Fests and at the graduation of the Writes of Passage participants.

 

 



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