Happy New Year!

Fresh tomatoes, cucumbers, and green beans harvested from
The Gardens at North River Road

The closing of a year is always a great time to reflect on times past and plan for great things to come. The year 2013 was a great year for our garden program at North County Community Services. Thanks to the help and contributions of wonderful volunteers, we were able to harvest a total of 3100 lbs of fresh fruits and vegetables from the Gardens at North River Road! All of this fresh food is delivered directly to preschools operated by NCCS, bringing super fresh, natural food right into their kitchens for lunches and snacks!

We had tons of great volunteer projects in 2013. The biggest project this year was North Coast Church. They selected two of our sites for their Weekend of Service projects in April. They took care of tons of projects, from light construction, to painting, gardening, renovating, weeding, mulching, and more. 

Then in June, we finally got fruit trees planted! We now have a 14 tree orchard, sponsored and installed by Genentech during their Genentech Gives Back Week in June. With the technical expertise from a professor and students from City College, we got a great drip-irrigation system installed later in the year, making upkeep much easier.

Northrop Grumman donated and built shade structures
for new seedlings to grow in.

In the fall of 2013, we had the most successful cool-season crop seedlings started on site, thanks to volunteers! In August, Northrop Grumman came through with donations and volunteers to build two structures for shade cloth, where cool-loving plants can be started months before the summer heat is over!

But we still needed tables to go underneath the two new shade structures. In September, Akamai Technologies came through and literally turned a little drawing into two amazing seed starting tables, complete with an angle top tilted towards the sun, cedar planks to prevent rot, and an extra credit shelf underneath to store supplies.

Ta-da! Amazing tables, courtesy of Akamai Technologies.

Sketch up of the tables we needed

Our new tables fit perfectly
under the new shade structure!

The plants stay up to 15 degrees cooler, and don't dry out as fast. Now that it is well into winter, we have finally taken the shade cloth off for the season and put it in storage. In the spring, we hope to use plastic to make the area into mini-greenhouses, and in the summer, back to shade cloth again! We were highly successful starting lettuce, cabbage, onions, and more!

These are just a few of the great projects that happened in 2013. Thank you to our long list of volunteers and community partners. We couldn't do it without you! If you are interested in doing a volunteer project with North County Community Services in 2014, contact Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org!

A cool Brassica is a happy Brassica.

STM Bags helps raise food and money for North County's Food Bank!

Need some new bags? STM bags is using their Warehouse Sale to raise food and money for North County's Food Bank! Bring 10 lbs of food or $10 to donate, and receive a 10% discount from their already reduced prices! Bring 20 lbs or $20 and your discount goes up to 20%!

The sale will be from 9am-5pm on Friday, July 12, and 9am-3pm and Saturday, July 13. It is open to the public, at 12840 Danielson Court, Suite B/C in Poway, CA 92064.

Harvest Mural Completed!

Winter features oranges, chard, beets,
cabbage, cauliflower, and broccoli.

Spring features lettuce, radishes, carrots,
salad greens, peas, and colorful flowers.

North County Community Services would like to send out a huge thanks to the many volunteers who contributed time, talent, and materials to the mural at Balderrama Preschool in Oceanside. After nearly 8 months of work, we have finished the harvest mural! 

The Harvest Mural at the Balderrama Preschool was painted to improve the courtyard where preschoolers and their families enter our facility through. The addition of both the mural, as well as a succulent garden, has made the space come alive with life and art! The mural was designed to represent different cultures and genders. Each of the four mural sections represents one of the four seasons. In each season, a smiling child holds and is surrounded by fresh fruits and vegetables that are usually harvested in that season. Representing a diversity of fresh food available all year round is easy in San Diego County!

Much hard work was put in by volunteers from Oak Hills Covenant Church (two sessions!) Coca-Cola, and North Coast Church to make this mural possible. Each of these groups not only helped make the mural dream a reality with volunteers, but also with donations of paint and paint brushes! 

Summer features sunflower, watermelon,
eggplant, tomato, cucumber, squash, poppy,
and lavender flowers.

A very special thanks to volunteers Leah and Jesus for helping with many sessions of finishing touches! Without the design, artistic talent, donation, and time put in from all our volunteers, this project would not have been possible. We are very happy with the final product, and the kids at the preschool love it! Thank you also to Teen Volunteers in Action, Cal Coast Academy, and Marriott International for helping with other improvement projects in the courtyard to make the mural area look great!

The full photo album of the mural project can be found here on our Facebook page. If you think your group would be a good fit for a mural project, contact Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org or 760-471-5483. We are currently looking for groups to help with preschool bathroom murals in Escondido and Oceanside.

Fall features pumpkins, grapes, avocados,
apples,  pears, and falling leaves.

Genentech donates a food forest!

On June 7, Genentech employees came out to the Gardens at North River Road for their yearly volunteer project. this year, they left a very long-lasting mark by donating and planting 14 fruit trees. Six volunteers worked for about three hours to dig holes, amend soil, install gopher baskets to protect the investment, and get the fruit trees in the ground.

Genentech volunteers planted 14 fruit trees on June 7.

Thanks to Genentech, we now have apples, nectarines, plums, peaches, apricots, figs, banana, pineapple guava, and nectaplums growing in our garden! They do need to establish themselves for a few years before they will be producing any fruit, but we are greatly looking forward to having fresh, natural fruits to serve our preschoolers for lunches ans snacks. We are happy to have another addition of perennials (plant's that continue to grow as long as their needs are met, as opposed to annuals that need to be replanted every year) in the garden. By planting more perennials, we are ensuring a harvest in years to come, without having to dig out old plants and replant every season.

Thank you Genetech! We can't wait to work with you again next year!

Life Technologies Global Volunteer Day

Life Technologies employees volunteer at the Gardens at North River Road

Life Technologies sent a great crowd of volunteers to the Gardens at North River Road for their Global Volunteer Day on Friday, May 24 2013. In that quick day, 43 volunteers put in a total of 170 hours of work- that's like having a full time employee in the garden for a whole month!

Made-over scarecrows got
new faces, clothes, and stuffing

Life Technologies was able to donate materials and time to complete a number of important projects. Most notably, they added to our trellises that North Coast Church installed. Not only did Life Technologies add lattice and more cross-beams to increase shade, but they were able to build cedar planter boxes underneath the trellises, and plant the new beds with vines. They planted kiwi and passionfruit, which are both edible vines, as well as jasmine, honeysuckle, purple wings, and orange clock- all flowering vines that will provide shade and help attract pollinators to our garden.

Volunteers hard at work
clearing ground for sunflowers

In addition to the trellis work, they were able to plant many seeds, including beans, watermelon, and sunflowers. They also gave many of our scarecrows much-needed makeovers, painted labels for new plants, repaired compost bins, and helped with weekly tasks like weeding and watering. Thank you Life Technologies for another successful day in the garden!

If you would like to do a volunteer project with your company, organization, school, or club, contact Abby Weglarz, Garden Program and Volunteer Coordinator for North County Community Services, at 760-471-5483 or volunteer@sdnccs.org.

Sponsor a Garden bed at the Gardens at North River Road!

Spring is here! It's time for summer planting at the Gardens at North River Road and North County Community Services needs your help!

Now is the time to sponsor a garden bed! We truly appreciate the tremendous support we receive from individuals, families, churches, schools, companies, corporate, military and other groups in North County. Over the past year we have logged over 2,300 volunteer hours of service in our production vegetable garden. Growing fresh fruits, vegetables, and herbs enhances our programs by providing delicious, healthy food of unmatched freshness to those we serve; additionally, it reduces our fresh food costs. Without your support we simply could not maintain the level of success we have enjoyed this past year. In addition to volunteering, you can help us purchase soil amendments, plants, seeds, tools, and pay the water bills and the garden program team! We have several garden sponsorship opportunities you can choose from that will help us succeed this growing season. Sponsoring a bed at the Gardens at North River Road is a great way to show your support of the work we do at North County Community Services. -Sponsorship opportunities- Sponsorship may be made by a company, school, church, family, individual, or in honor of someone. A total of 34 vegetable beds and 6 flower beds are available for sponsorship. Your gift of $1,000 will sponsor one vegetable bed for the summer season.  (April - September). Your $1,000 sponsorship includes... The right to one exclusive group tour/volunteer session during the season. A sign bearing your name or sponsorship message at the head of each bed you sponsor. A garden newsletter subscription with notes on activities, harvests and the impact the fresh produce has in our programs. Invitation to our summer garden tour and educational workshop. Exclusive right to renew sponsorship for fall season (October-February). There are 34 beds available at this sponsorship level.  Your gift of $500 will sponsor one fruit tree or flower beds for the summer season. (April-September)  Your $500 sponsorship includes... A sign bearing your name or sponsorship message at the head of each bed you sponsor. A garden newsletter subscription with notes on activities, harvests and the impact the fresh produce has in our programs. Invitation to our summer garden tour and educational workshop. There are 6 beds available at this sponsorship level. To sponsor a bed at $1,000 or $500, just click here: Donate Now Any questions or comments about the NCCS spring/summer fundraising campaign, volunteering, or our garden program can be directed to Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org or 760-471-5483.

Thank you North Coast Church!

North Coast Church Volunteer Team at Thunder

At North County Community Services, we are very grateful for the volunteer projects North Coast Church has done for us over the years. Their intimate growth groups have helped paint murals, classrooms, cleaned, and gardened at various preschool sites with our organization. But this spring, they took their service to a new level with their Weekend of Service project.

Working on the Mural at Thunder Preschool

On April 27 and April 28, 2013, North Coast Church completed about 200 community service projects in North County San Diego, including two projects with North County Community Services. If you live in North County, you may have noticed their "North Coast Church Weekend of Service" signs popping up in front of schools, community centers, and nonprofits in the area. On Saturday and Sunday, they worked on projects at both our Thunder Preschool, as well as the Gardens and Preschool at North River Road. 

The Cleaning Team at North River Road

At our Thunder Preschool, they gave the site a complete face-lift! This included power-washing and painting the entire exterior of the building, as well as the inside entrance hall. They mulched the garden area, built new vegetable beds, and added dirt to existing garden beds. They repainted and improved the mural on site. They cleaned classrooms. They replaced our front sign. They were incredible! A complete photo album of the Thunder Preschool projects can be found here.

Young helpers carrying lumber for a trellis

At the Gardens and Preschool at North River Road, there was more gardening, and less painting. They did do some painting, including a wonderful welcome sign, and the alphabet, numbers, and tricycle tracks in the playground. Most volunteers helped in the garden, including building two shade trellises, 6 brand new garden beds, and tons (literally tons) of mulching. They also helped us dispose of all sorts of unusable garden waste. Thanks to North Coast Church (and all the volunteers who have helped in the past) the Gardens at North River Road now look the best they have ever! There was also plenty of weeding, replanting, and compost turning over the weekend.  They even helped revamp the small preschool garden on site. A complete photo album of the North River Road projects can be found here.

 

New sign at Thunder

New garden sign

From the staff, board, volunteers, and families served by North County Community Services, thank you North Coast Church for your Weekend of Service!

Earth Day Weekend Projects!

Ladybug in the garden

What a great Earth Day Weekend with North County Community Services! This weekend Callaway Golf, Cal Coast Academy, and Teen Volunteers in Action all did wonderful volunteer projects with us. We love volunteers and are happy when groups come out to give a helping hand, and we are especially thankful for these three groups because of all the materials they donated to complete the projects!

Callaway Golf volunteers at the end of their project.

On Saturday May 20th, Callaway Golf came to the Gardens at North River Road in Oceanside with about 20 volunteers, 120 pepper plants, soil amendment, and all the materials needed to build a new compost bin for North County's Food Bank! In two hours, they were able to plant five beds of peppers, and build a stacking compost bin system. The compost bins are made of cedar, which is naturally rot resistant (a great quality in a compost bin!). Callaway Golf completes community service projects every month, and it was a pleasure to be able to partner with them to make this month's project and earth-friendly one.

Our finished succulent garden at Balderrama Preschool!

In the afternoon on Saturday, Cal Coast Academy installed a succulent garden in the courtyard of our Balderrama preschool in Oceanside. Where there was once an unused box of sand, there is now a gorgeous, low water decorative garden. With the help of about a dozen volunteers, they unloaded three pickup trucks of dirt, leveled the ground, and planted many spike-free succulents and grasses. They even brought three cute garden statues to add to the fun! We are so grateful for Cal Coast Academy bringing this project together and going above and beyond coordinating materials and donations to make this dream garden a reality!

Cal Coast Academy volunteers unloading dirt.

Cal coast Academy Volunteers

TVIA volunteers planted 36 tomato plants

Vegetable markers by TVIA

On Sunday, Teen Volunteers in Action brought out 17 volunteers, including teens and parents, to work at the Gardens at North River Road in Oceanside. They brought with them soil amendment, and enough tomatoes seedlings to plant three beds of tomatoes. They also brought paint markers to finish vegetable stake markers for our gardens! It was great to have garden work weeding, amending soil, and planting tomatoes for the teenagers, and a fun artsy project for the parents in the shade. We are looking forward to a big tomato harvest this summer!

Spring is here!

The harvest mural at the Balderrama Preschool is almost finished!

This NCCS preschool garden in Oceanside had a great season!

Spring is in the air! It is a great time for volunteer projects with North County Community Services. We have many groups scheduled for spring volunteer projects like cleaning, gardening, painting, and sprucing up! We are especially looking forward to volunteer projects with North Coast Church at two different sites for their Weekend of Service event. They will be giving one of our preschools a whole face-lift, as well as helping at the Gardens at North River Road. Look out for before and after pictures coming soon! We also have spring projects scheduled with Kids Korps, the Navy, Immersion, Callaway Golf, Teen Volunteers in Action, Life Technologies, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, and Genentech.

Preschoolers planting a spring Garden

Although we have lots of volunteer groups scheduled, we do have more projects available for the right group! If you are interested in volunteering, you can always contact Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org to see what is available with NCCS! We do volunteer projects all year round, but spring is such a great time to do projects because it is usually not too hot and not too cold. 

Spring means we are harvesting lots of winter vegetables before they turn bitter in the heat (volunteers picked 21 lbs of lettuce yesterday from the Gardens at North River Road!). We are also getting summer vegetables started- peppers, beans, cucumbers, squash, tomatoes, and melons love some heat, and can all be planted now through at least June. HAPPY GARDENING AND HAPPY VOLUNTEERING!!!