Grow Y’own Summer/Fall Newsletter

September 1,2015

 News out of the box!

   Grow Y’own has aligned with the Climate

Change Leadership Institute (CCLI), in an effort to call on Santa Fe to adopt a climate impact fee (averaging $25/yr per household)

to be used to lower our greenhouse gas emissions and fund the most strategic and uplifting sutainability initiatives including solar power(beginning at the south side library), low income household weatherization, community gardens, and bike lane expansion.

   There was a community awareness event at Verve Gallery on Wed. Sept. 2nd from 5:30-7pm to discuss procedures and planning for the future.

For more information on the Santa Fe Environmental Impact & Community Empowerment Initiative, visit www.takeresponsibility.us.

Help Santa Fe take responsibility for climate leadership by signing up and forwarding this petition link to your social media contacts to help bring about this empowering local solution to climate change by reducing carbon and methane emissions, and seed programs that spur on a thriving sustainable economy. You can sign the petition online at :

www.takeresponsibility.us/impact_fee/impact_fee_signup.html               

                                     Thank You!!

 

   We’re closing in on the end of the Summer growing season, and moving into Fall harvesting and replanting for the next 2 seasons. Its still never too late or too cold to begin setting up and planting a Grow Y’own. We’re offering a $50 finder’s fee to anyone who tells their friends or neighbors about GYO, and they eventually buy a bed! Growing locally reduces our carbon footprint dramatically, by not shipping food thousands of miles, drastically cutting down on our water use, and supplying income to the local economy through jobs and buying materials from Santa Fe and New Mexico suppliers.

   We have just recently completed a large installation at IAIA- the Institute of American Indian Arts, as well as setting up beds on the Cochiti and Santo Domingo Puebloes. Ongoing instructional classes will help all Native American communities learn how to garden year round, and take advantage of the myriad of foods that can be sustainably grown and harvested.

   Grow Y’own has set up gardening programs at over ½ of the local elementary and high schools, as well as the prominent array of beds at the Santa Fe Community College. We’re trying to help the remainder of schools in our area to join in and teach their children/students the

many benefits of horticulture and sustainability.

So if your child attends a school without a GYO program, tell someone there about us, and we’ll get them started with free seeds, starts, and continuing instructionals.

   We continue to work with Many Mothers, giving beds to young Mothers with infants, so that they can enjoy the freshest, most organic, and free foods for their babies and families. To contribute or volunteer to help, please call Carole Garland at

699-5811, or email to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

Your time and valuable aid will be most appreciated and worthwhile!

   We have also given beds to the 4 locations of the St. Elizabeth’s shelters, the last of which was funded by CCLI. After 4 years, they continue to supply their tenants with fresh food, giving their surplus back to the main Alarid location.

To help build futures and save lives, please call982-6611, or write to This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

    Its September 1st, so its time to think about preparing for the Winter season. This means getting out your Winter covers to check for any necessary repairs, or ordering now so that you’re not caught in the lurch when  that first early unexpected frost is forecast!

For those who wish to grow successfully through the Winter, we’re available to help you set up our pot and bulb heating systems with EZ Heat sensors. Please call now, or very soon, as we get quite a rush of orders, and we try to accommodate everyone as quickly as possible.

For those who already have setups, check to make sure your bulbs are still active, and your cords and pots are in good working order.

If anyone has last year’s heat setups with larger than 100w bulbs, please call me and I’ll redo your setups for free with lesser wattage bulbs.

The higher wattage bulbs created too much heat inside the pots and burnt out.

   If anyone needs help cleaning out their beds, refreshing the soil with amendments and fertilizers, and replanting, we’re here to help.

It gets pretty crazy this time of the year, so don’t wait till the last minute! The sooner you plant your Fall crops, the more successful you will be with your Winter growing and harvests. Call me at 490-1849, 466-0393, or e me at

This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it., or This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..

    Agua Fria Nursery has the complete array of starts, seeds, bulbs, amendments, and fertilizers to make your Fall gardening complete, and they will continue to supply starts for your year-round growing! Call these wonderful and knowledgeable people with your questions or requests at (505) 983-4831. Got aphids? They’ve got ladybugs!!

   So join in where you can, keep yourself informed about our fragile and rapidly-changing climate environment, don’t procrastinate with your Fall preparations, continue to Grow On with your

Grow Y’own hooped and raised beds, and tell others how easy, fun, helpful, and profitable it can be to be empowered by growing yourown food supply!

Giving you all the big green thumbs-up!

Ken