It’s wintertime. The snow is falling, accumulating, and there isn’t much hope for finding a garden bed under all of it. So what do we do in the winter? The answer is: plenty. In addition to their normal winter work, every program has welcomed a new staff member. This means introducing a new crop (get it, crop? pun intended) of folks to Grow Pittsburgh’s programs, production sites and office.
Remember to check the #winteratGP hashtag on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter. Here’s what else each team has been up to:
Community Gardens
The crew welcomed AJ Bisesi, Community Garden Coordinator, to the team. In addition, they’re working on organizing files, wrapping up lots of loose ends from last year’s projects and even purchased a new filing cabinet! It doesn’t sound thrilling but this work is important to keep the team organized during the busy planting and harvesting seasons. Speaking of, the team is creating agendas for and facilitating garden planning meetings for gardens around the City and County.
They are also planning for the annual Seed Swap (planning in process pictured above)! With partners the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh and Phipps Conservatory and Botanical Gardens, the annual Seed Swap will happen Saturday, February 27 from 11:00 a.m.-2:00 p.m. You do not need to bring seeds to participate!
Education
The education team welcomed School Garden Coordinator Eva Barinas. They have also chosen five new schools for Grow Pittsburgh’s affiliate school garden program and will begin planning spring planning and garden meetings with the schools this winter. Winter also always brings A Garden Primer, the 3-part garden series, to the center stage. The education team will plan and teach these classes (with the help of other staff) in February and March.
Edible Schoolyard Garden Educators are working through the Winter Cooking Program! If you’d like to hear a bit more about the Winter Cooking Program, check out the video created just last year.
Operations
The Operations team keeps things running smoothly in the office, from staff W2s and shredding old documents to grant writing and budgeting to planning events in and out of the office. In case you missed it, we had a pretty epic cleaning day and foosball tournament organized by Operations (check out the photo album here).
All the new staff will receive some training and welcoming by the Operations Staff. In addition to the fun work in the office, Office and Membership Manager Christina celebrated her daughter’s 6 month birthday with pureed carrots and a Grow Pittsburgh onesie.
Production
In addition to welcoming Nick Lubecki as the new Frick Greenhouse and Shiloh Farm Manager, the production crew has been preparing for spring at full force.
Current tasks for production include working on crop rotations taking inventory of current seeds, and putting together a seed order. Soon, seedling schedules will start and crop rotations finalized. In Braddock, Marshall will work on getting electricity connected to the greenhouse and building seeding benches to put inside.