• Thanks to All for Another Wonderful Year

    The Monmouth University Community Garden is pleased to announce that this year’s donated harvest results have surpassed all previous donations. The Community Garden, located at the corner of Beechwood and Brookwillow Avenues, is a membership garden where individuals and families “rent” a plot for the growing season (April – October) for $30 to grow their own vegetables and flowers. These local gardeners – and several organizations – Providing Hope and Shore House – then take responsibility to help upkeep our community plots, from which the vegetable harvests are donated to a number of community agencies. This year, harvest donations were provided to:

    • Food Bank of Monmouth and Ocean Counties
    • St. Vincent De Paul Food Pantry
    • Long Branch Senior Center
    • Good Samaritan Food Bank, Freehold
    • Ronald McDonald House, Long Branch
    • The Center, Asbury Park
    • Soup D’Shore at St. Luke’s Methodist Church
    • Lutheran Reformation Church Food Pantry
    • St. Brigid’s Food Pantry

    We provide you with an illustration of how the 3,576.50 lbs of donated organic produce breaks down and what its cash value represents to the community. Prices used are the average price per vegetable from local markets (total cash value of the donated harvests was $6,706.52).

    • Tomatoes – 821 pounds harvested ($1,633.79)
    • Lettuce: 44 pounds harvested ($87.56)
    • Peppers – 783 pounds harvested ($1,558.17)
    • Watermelon – 56 pounds harvested ($223.44)
    • Eggplant – 725 pounds harvested ($1,422.75)
    • Basil & other herbs – 44 pounds harvested ($175.12)
    • Beans – 358 pounds harvested ($533.42)
    • Carrots – 30 pounds harvested ($38.70)
    • Cucumbers – 227 pounds harvested ($224.73)
    • Peas – 17 pounds harvested ($34.00)
    • Onions – 51 pounds harvested ($101.49)
    • Spinach – 12.5 pounds harvested ($18.62)
    • Squash – 188 pounds harvested ($280.12)
    • Kale – 9 pounds harvested ($17.91)
    • Swiss Chard – 75 pounds harvested ($126.75)
    • Collards – 9 pounds harvested ($35.82)
    • Strawberries – 7 pounds harvested represents $34.93

    The Community Garden thanks all our gardeners, our volunteers, our Freshman Seminar students from the “Playing in the Dirt” class, and the sorority sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha for all their work during this very successful 2013-2014 growing season.

    For more information on the Monmouth University Community Garden, or to become a member of the garden, please go to our website: www.monmouth.edu/communitygarden

  • Garden Tour Tuesday September 9th!

    Come join us for a tour of the community garden next Tuesday, September 9th from 12 – 9. Join members of the garden steering committee and current members of the garden to see how the garden has grown. Take a tour and get information on how you can volunteer or join next season. Meet us in the garden!

    Rain date is Wednesday, September 10th at the same time.

  • Harvesting and Sharing

    Healthy organic fruits and veggies shouldn’t be a luxury. They are necessary for the body to function at its fullest capacity. This is one reason our MU Community garden has happily reserved many plots specifically for community donations. For four years now the MU Garden has donated literally tons, nearly nine thousand pounds, of fresh produce to food pantries and soup kitchens across Monmouth County.

    Providing healthy produce has been a community effort at the garden! Gardeners and volunteers participate in maintaining the community plots. From weeding, to watering, and dropping off donations – donating thousands of pounds of produce each summer is something we all contribute to! As the season moves ahead and the garden matures from seed to ripened plants – our united efforts continue to be needed. If you harvest from the community plot, please remember to weigh the produce and fill in the information in the log found in the mailbox to the right of the shed.

    We have many places we partner with for our donations and will be sending out a list soon via email. Please feel free to email the steering committee if you have any questions.

    Otherwise, see you at the garden!

  • Garden to Table Lecture Tomorrow!

    Tuesday, August 19th, 5:30 pm

    Featuring John J. Murphy III

    Aramark Executive Chef at Monmouth University

    Bring your lawn chair and join us as John prepares a dish or two right in the garden using ingredients picked from our community garden plots.

    John is a graduate of New York Restaurant School and has worked in Restaurant Serenade, 3 West, Trap Rock Brewery, Highlawn Pavilion and the Hilton at Short Hills. He opened three restaurants as a sous chef and has been Executive chef for three restaurants. He opened St. James’s Gate as Executive Chef where he received Best Comfort food from NJ Monthly. John joined Aramark in 2010.

  • Garden Chat

    The Monmouth University Community Garden is happy to be a part of the historic West Long Branch community. As community garden members we feel that the garden is a wonderful addition to the neighborhood. Neighbors may become members of the garden and have a place to plant, harvest, share knowledge and give back to food insecure communities. No community is without its learning curves though. As in any organization there comes a time when it is necessary to sometimes regroup and restate our purpose and goals.

    The community garden serves many purposes. It is a membership organization. Members sign up, usually in March, for individual plots or simply to volunteer. Individual plot members pay a small fee. However, members may choose to just work the community plots or help to deliver produce for donation etc. Those who have individual plots are in charge of planting and caring for those plots. In addition, they are in charge of caring for the community plots. What are these community plots? Each year, our garden provides tons of produce to food insecure communities throughout Monmouth County. With the planned help of community garden members and volunteers we harvest veggies and then donate them to garden recognized organizations.

    The garden, however, with its lush veggies, plump tomatoes, juicy squash, and vibrant zucchini, is quite the temptation for passerby. We love to have our neighbors become members of the garden. If you like what you see in the garden, please sign up next year for your own plot! We would be happy to have you! However, please remember that the community side is for food insecure (i.e. hungry) members of our community and the private plots are for individual member use. Food pantries are having a harder time than ever providing their communities with fresh produce. It’s important on a human, moral and ethical level that those who have, not take and allow the garden to be a place that cares and shares.

    As always, Happy Gardening!

  • 2014 Community Garden Season Blooms to Life Thanks to Home Depot!

    The 2014 Monmouth University Community Garden is looking good folks! The rows are teeming with a variety of green and colorful life from flowers to lettuce and strawberries soon to be ripe. Many thanks for the advancement of the community plots must be given to one of our faithful sponsors – Home Depot of West Long Branch. With a team of dedicated workers they donated and planted oodles of yummy vegetables and laid the rows with black cloth to help cut down weeding. The leftover plants are for sale at $1.00 per cell pack.

    Each spring since the garden’s inception, Home Depot has come with a team of workers to help plant and prepare the community plots of the garden. They come armed with numerous plants, tools and good will. We are – as always – very grateful to them! Thank you Home Depot for helping are garden grow for another year!

  • Learning from the Community in Community Gardening

    There are many benefits to community gardening. For folks with limited outdoor space it provides a place to engage in a past time that connects you to nature and feeds your soul and body. For others, it is an opportunity to practice a skill lost in today’s supermarket culture. You grow what you eat so you know exactly where your food comes from.

    Doing so as a part of a community then is a bonus.

    Many of the gardeners with plots at MU’s Community Garden have diverse skills and expertise. There are those who grow stellar tomatoes year after year or giant pumpkins and those that grow potentially prize winning cabbages. There are other’s though, who until they signed the application for a plot never did more than water an indoor plant. What a great opportunity! Many skilled gardeners are happy to share knowledge with all who ask. The steering committee has several master gardeners who are always happy to teach a new gardening skill.

    If you have questions about your own plot or just want to learn a bit of new gardening lore – We have open gardening sessions every Tuesday from 5:30-7:30 and Saturdays at 10 a.m. Come on out and garden with your community!

  • Monmouth University Community Garden in the News

    Sharing the Bounty – The Outlook

    http://outlook.monmouth.edu/index.php/news/1362-mu-helps-local-community-with-big-event

    http://outlook.monmouth.edu/index.php/news/1293-university-students-raise-awareness-for-world-hunger-at-community-garden

  • Celebrating the Earth – With a Garden!

    Spring is finally here! For gardeners the arrival of spring means planting, nurturing and tending the earth. And for the Monmouth community gardeners it means our 4th annual kick off! The garden plots are assigned, tilled and ready for planting.

    In celebration of earth week, on April 26th from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m., we invite one and all to join us in celebrating the earth as we officially open the garden! It’s a great opportunity to connect with other gardeners, share a skill – learn a skill and feel a part of community.

    As the garden prepares for another year of planting and community building – we will be utilizing this site as a major means of communication. In addition to the site and the blog, emails will be sent alerting you to plot and weeding assignments, when the water is turned on and other upcoming events. Check your email and back here for MU Community Garden News!