Garden News
See also- listings in Calendar/Events and Committee News
Annual fundraiser "grows" revenue
The 4th Annual Fundraiser for the Ben Franklin Community Garden proved as successful as the first three fundraisers.
For the fourth year the event was held at Cleats Club Seat Grille. The local restaurant was a good gathering place for the 160 gardeners, friends and supporters. Cleats provided wings, pizza, hot dogs and assorted other favorites. Volunteer bakers supplied homemade cookies, cupcakes and brownies.
Attendees took their chances by purchasing numbers from the $1 and $2 sideboards. A 50/50 raffle saw the garden splitting a $945 pot with Evelyn Dibello. The Chinese Basket Raffle had “baskets” supporting many hobbies – gardening, sporting events, restaurants, cooking, grilling, shopping, and even tailgating. And every 15 minutes or so door prizes were awarded.
The night was a success and enjoyed by all. Everyone was happy to get re-acquainted and share “off season” news as well as discuss the upcoming 2013 growing season. And everyone was happy to support the garden.
Once again we would like to thank all the merchants and individuals that donated items or services to the event. We encourage everybody to support the local merchants that support the garden. We thank everyone that volunteered their time and their effort to help make the fundraiser a success. We would especially like to thank Jeff Kostura who for the fourth year spearheaded the fundraiser effort. Jeff was the primary force behind securing the donations, printing the tickets, producing the booklet and liaising with Cleats.
The following businesses donated items and/or services to the fundraiser. We would like to thank them for their support of the garden: Aetna Scrap Metal; African Wildlife Safari Park; Akron Aeros; Ameriflag, Inc.; AMP 150; Apple American Group; b.a. Sweetie Candy Company, Inc.; BJ's; Breads & Beyond; Broadview & Schaaf Marathon; Carmino's Pizza; Cleveland Botanical Garden; Cleveland Browns; Cleveland Cavaliers; Cleveland Metroparks; Coblenz Chocolate Co.; Familyography; Famous Dave's BBQ; Firestone; Gabe's Family Restaurant; Gale's Garden Center; Gateway Wines; Gentile's Bakery & Deli; Great Lakes Brewing Co.; Honey Hut Ice Cream Shoppe; Kings Island; Kurtz Bros.; Lake County Captains; Lake Erie Crushers; Larry's Tavern; Laser Tag; Park Seed; Mahoning County Scrappers; Old Brooklyn Community Development Corp.; Old Brooklyn Greenhouse; Petitti Garden Center; Quickky's Bar & Grill; Rakauskas Architecture; The Sausage Shoppe; Shearer's Foods; South Hills Hardware; Speed Exterminating; University of Toledo; Troyer's Market; Wexler's Tavern & Eatery; The Wilds; and Walnut Creek Cheese.
We also thank these friends of the garden for their donation: Jody Basich, Councilman Anthony Brancatelli, Kim Hageman, John Jenkins, Joyce Kane, Jeff Kostura, Ellen Leonardi, Teri Lilley, Cher Miles, Tracey Nichols, John Petco, Kathryn Reiter, Kim Repinski, Mike & Margie Repinski, and Lisa Young.
"Recipes from the Garden" cookbook
The Ben Franklin Garden is proud to announce the publication of “Recipes from the Garden”. In the fall of 2012 the garden operating committee was approached by a gardener who wanted to produce a cookbook. The book would feature recipes that included fruits and vegetables, many of which are produced in Ben Franklin Garden. The committee thought it was a great idea and gave permission to begin the compilation of recipes. Gardeners were encouraged to submit their recipes and responded with recipes for appetizers, soups & salads, vegetables & sides, casseroles & main dishes, desserts and canning. In the end, over 100 recipes were collected. The recipes were reproduced and presented in a very attractive, colorful, spiral bound booklet.
The cookbook is available for just $10. The cookbook will be sold at garden events throughout the year. It may also be purchased at the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation office (2339 Broadview Road).
The garden would like to thank the following businesses for providing monetary support to offset the price of printing: Honey Hut Ice Cream, M&W Meats and the Old Brooklyn Community Development Corporation.
Volunteer Teams
To help defray the cost of operating the garden, gardeners and co-gardeners are asked to volunteer at least five hours during the growing season. To help make it easier for gardeners to fulfill their obligation we are introducing “Work Crews”. More than a dozen different crews have been identified for work from garden setup in May thru garden closing in October. The crews span a wide range of talents and abilities, hopefully something for everyone. Gardeners will be asked to identify four crews they would like to join. Gardeners will be notified of their assignment at the start of the season. The crews will be overseen by the Garden Co-ordinator. With this new plan we hope we can take advantage of the talented, enthusiastic volunteer force we have at our disposal.
Garden Set-up Crew (Involves one or two days in early May, includes staking plots, requires week-day availability)
Social/Fundraising Events Crew (Setup, cleanup, food preparation for all events, assists with Garden entry for County Fair)
Grounds Crew (Works weekly throughout the season to maintain the grounds, includes trash pickup and mowing)
Beautification Crew (Maintains fruit trees and berry patches, plants and maintains flower displays)
Hunger Center Crew (Plants and maintains any vacant plots for donation of harvest to hunger centers)
Hunger Center Delivery Crew (Weighs and delivers donated produce)
Tree & Brush Removal Crew
Weekend Opening/Closing Crew
Building Maintenance Crew (Cleans washrooms, shed and container throughout the season, plus season start-up and ending tasks)
Garden Plot Management Crew (Identifies troubled plots weekly, helps gardeners needing assistance)
Composting Crew (Maintains compost area throughout the season)
Equipment Crew (Assists Projects Sub-committee with equipment/tool repair, maintenance and inventory)
Garden Closing Crew (Involves one or two days in October to prepare Garden for plowing – requires weekday availability)
Ben Franklin Community Garden T-shirts
In 2010 the Ben Franklin Garden introduced two t-shirt designs. A limited number of each design are still available for purchase. T-shirts are sold at garden events – Kickoff Meeting, Ice Cream Social, etc. T-shirts can also be purchased by contacting members of the operating committee. Proceeds from the sales benefit the garden operating fund.
T-shirts in sizes Small, Medium, Large and X-Large are $13.00 each.
T-Shirts in 2XLarge are $15.00 each.
Special Women’s sizes are available in the red “Ben Franklin” design only.
Wear your heart on your sleeve
and your garden over your heart…
Colors – Camel and Pistachio
Please Note – scarecrow not included!
Show your garden pride wherever you "hang out"…
Move your cursor over the red/blue T-shirts photo for a larger view of the image.
Colors – Red and Blue