Marines spring clean NCCS gardens like no one's business!

Thank you Marines!

Thank you to the 40+  Marines from Camp Pendleton that came and volunteered at the Gardens at North River Road today! These men and women dedicate years of their lives to serve their country, and on top of that, they give back to the local community as well. We are so grateful for their service, both every day and today. 

They spent two hours Friday afternoon on May 30th, 2014 helping weed, rake, clean, and organize the Gardens at North River Road, operated by North County Community Services (NCCS). This garden grows over 4000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year, and this fresh bounty is used in the lunches and snacks at the six preschools operated by NCCS.

Today in the garden, they quickly filled up our dumpster with weeds- meaning our fruits and vegetables now have a lot less competition in the garden. They also sorted through tons of lumber, trellises, and other bulky garden materials, trashing what was broken and organizing all the rest. They got all of our wood vegetable trellises ready for the summer growing season, raked up dead leaves, and left the place looking great. Thank you!

Would your group like to do a volunteer project with North County Community Services?  Contact Abby at volunteer@sdnccs.org or call her at 760-471-5483

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.