Announcing the inauguration of the
Four
Square Society!
Are you a gardener, urban farmer, or green-thumb-to-be?
Do you believe that growing your own food can contribute to healthier families, neighborhoods, and more sustainable communities?
Are you interested in small plot, intensive gardening?
Do you have four by four feet of space on grass, yard, or concrete ripe for cultivation at your home, school, or community space?
Growing Hope is excited for you to join our Four Square Society—an initiative for people who are excited about growing food in small (and especially urban) spaces for themselves, for donation, or for sale. We are encouraging people all over Ypsilanti, Michigan, and farther away to meet the challenge of growing in an area of at least four by four feet. Are you already doing that, and more? Great! We want you too! The free Four Square Society is for fun, learning, and sharing, but also for a way to gather information about how these small spaces can make a big difference in food security and the ability of our communities to be food self-reliant.
There are FOUR Simple Steps to becoming a member!
1) Sign up to track what you’re growing in one square or six! Fill out our application form, send it in, and let us know a little about what you plan to grow, where, and why!…
Fill out our application
form & send it in, and let us know a little about what you plan to grow,
where, and why!
2) Sow your seeds… Plant your garden to your own liking. Local folks in Southeast MI can buy 4 x
4 foot raised beds (8” or 14” tall) from Growing Hope. We’ll also share
information about how you can build your own raised beds. You can be a part of the Society even
if you don’t use raised beds—just section off four by four feet in your
garden and track how much you grow…
3) Share your stories… Contribute to our Four
Square Society blog, tell your friends and neighbors, take pictures, and ask
questions to other Society members.
4) Send in surveys & snapshots… We’ll give you tracking
sheets to record what you sow and harvest—how many pounds you harvested
from each four by four square, what you did with it (ate it, donated it, sold
it, composted it), and what you learned.
We hope you send it to us six times a season, but ask for you to commit
to sending it at least twice!
But wait, there’s more!
We also have a Four Square Free Install project! Qualifying low-or no-income individuals and families can apply for three 4x4 foot raised beds at absolutely no cost. We build the beds, supply compost, and provide the fruits, vegetables, and herbs that you want. All we ask of you is that you track how much is grown and where the produce goes using the same tracking sheet as all members of the four square society (see below for tracking sheet). We also encourage participation in the blog so we can all see and hear how your gardens are going. In Spring 2009, we installed raised beds for forty families, and another 40 are going in this fall. You can apply for our waitlist for future builds by downloading the application in English or Spanish. We’re also still looking for garden mentors to help these families get growing.
When you join the Society, here’s what you get:
1) Information resources (on our website—or we can mail them to you on
your request) about raised bed construction, small plot intensive gardening,
and simple season extension, 2) A Four Square Society sticker & button
(!!!), 3) Tracking sheets for your garden, and 4) The satisfaction of knowing
you’re supporting sustainable food & healthy communities!
We
hope you’ll sign up by May 1, but welcome more folks to our Four Square Society
throughout the season.
What can you grow
in a square? Four Square Society Resources are now available! Look Below! Click on the links below to download tracking sheets and the Official Four Square Society Packet.
SIGN UP NOW!