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 new Four Square Society—an initiative for people who are excited about growing food for themselves, for donation, or for sale in small (and especially urban) spaces.  Using methods including square foot gardening, we are encouraging people all over Ypsilanti, Michigan, and farther away to meet the challenge of growing 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 for a 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!

2) Sow your seeds… Plant your garden to your own liking.  Local folks in Southeast MI can buy 4 x 4 foot raised beds (6” or 12” tall) from Growing Hope, as well as order our kitchen garden kits—a selection of seedlings that will fill a four by four foot area.  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…

3) Share your stories… Contribute to our Four Square Society blog, tell your friends and neighbors, take pictures, and ask questions or 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!

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?