{"id":1381,"date":"2025-07-27T20:35:26","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T00:35:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/?p=1381"},"modified":"2025-07-31T20:56:43","modified_gmt":"2025-08-01T00:56:43","slug":"another-hot-sunday-another-amazing-day-at-south-warren","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/2025\/07\/27\/another-hot-sunday-another-amazing-day-at-south-warren\/","title":{"rendered":"Another Hot Sunday, Another Amazing Day at South Warren!"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hey garden family!<\/p>\n<p>We had scorcher at the South Warren Community Garden last Sunday! I showed up just after the crew had gotten started, dropped off a cooler with ice for everyone, and managed to grab some photos of the fantastic materials the Macomb County Health Department brought us before I had to take off to update the website.<\/p>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1385\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.34-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.34-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.34-480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2>Big News: Partnerships That Actually Matter!<\/h2>\n<p>First things first &#8211; we&#8217;ve got to give a massive shoutout to <strong>Tameria Baker<\/strong> from the Macomb County Health Department for stepping up in a huge way! After months of working together, she helped to secured funding to get us some essential tools that are going to make our garden work so much easier:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>New shovels and a wheelbarrow (because let&#8217;s be honest, good tools make all the difference)<\/li>\n<li>Whiskey barrel planters for berries<\/li>\n<li>Two 100&#8242; metal hoses with reels<\/li>\n<li>Plus other odds and ends that every growing garden needs<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It&#8217;s incredible when local health departments recognize that community gardens aren&#8217;t just about pretty plants &#8211; they&#8217;re about public health, food access, and building stronger communities. Having that kind of institutional support behind what we&#8217;re building? That&#8217;s the real deal right there.<\/p>\n<p>And here&#8217;s another win-win moment: My company, Fusion Marketing, donated $100 to the garden as part of closing a new contract. I love it when business success can directly support community growth!<\/p>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1384\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.56-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.56-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.38.56-480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2>What Our Amazing Volunteers Accomplished (In the Heat!)<\/h2>\n<p>Even with temperatures that would make anyone want to stay inside with the AC cranked up, 10 incredible volunteers showed up ready to get their hands dirty. Here&#8217;s what happened while I was running around with that cooler:<\/p>\n<p>Garden Infrastructure &amp; Growth:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Stef, Kat, Cola, and Zach planted tomatoes, peppers, and zucchini in the beds we filled last week<\/li>\n<li>Nick worked his magic in the pollinator garden &#8211; weeding, planting new natives, and using that county mulch to fill the weed barrier around the garden<\/li>\n<li>More grass cutting to keep our space looking sharp (I see you Will \u270a)<\/li>\n<li>Nick also spotted some Bee Balm and New York Aster that are going to give us gorgeous fall blooms!<\/li>\n<li>And here&#8217;s a game-changer: They set up our brand new scale for the garden! No more borrowing the scale from our Eastpointe crew &#8211; South Warren is officially self-sufficient in the veggie-weighing department. This makes tracking our harvests so much easier and more accurate.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1382\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.31.52-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.31.52-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.31.52-480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Community Connections &amp; Fresh Harvest<\/h2>\n<p>Our produce stand was absolutely buzzing! Jocelyn created an amazing sign for the stand (seriously, the creativity in this group never stops), and Lauren managed it like a pro. She gave away full-size tomatoes, a handful of grape tomatoes, and extra seedlings to community members who stopped by.<\/p>\n<p>We had 4 people visit the stand, and here&#8217;s the best part &#8211; one person committed to volunteering with us next weekend! That&#8217;s how this community grows, one conversation at a time.<\/p>\n<p>The harvest was beautiful &#8211; primarily Swiss chard and tomatoes. According to our <a href=\"https:\/\/lookerstudio.google.com\/u\/0\/reporting\/d877214d-5c36-4282-923c-586189724318\/page\/p_n0nl36vcod\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">public impact dashboard<\/a> calculator (which is pretty cool because anyone can check it out), we harvested produce worth $17.43 for the community. That might sound like a small number, but it represents real food security and nutrition reaching our neighbors!<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1387\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.32.45-1024x768.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"768\" srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.32.45-980x735.jpg 980w, https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.32.45-480x360.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>From Garden to Table<\/h2>\n<p>Lauren took home all the extra Swiss chard and immediately turned it into soup &#8211; there&#8217;s nothing quite like that garden-to-table satisfaction! Jocelyn also harvested two of the larger tomatoes, and you know those are going to taste like summer itself.<\/p>\n<h2><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-large wp-image-1386\" src=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.33.05-1024x619.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"619\" srcset=\"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.33.05-980x593.jpg 980w, https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/4\/2025\/07\/2025-07-31-20.33.05-480x290.jpg 480w\" sizes=\"(min-width: 0px) and (max-width: 480px) 480px, (min-width: 481px) and (max-width: 980px) 980px, (min-width: 981px) 1024px, 100vw\" \/><\/h2>\n<h2>Behind the Scenes: Making Data Work for Community Impact<\/h2>\n<p>While our amazing crew was battling the heat and getting their hands dirty, I was at home tackling some of the less glamorous but equally important work &#8211; our harvest tracking system!<\/p>\n<p>I spent the afternoon making some cool modifications to our harvest tracker. Now it starts with a calendar review that highlights all the produce logs from both our gardens. This gives us an awesome bird&#8217;s-eye view of what days we&#8217;re harvesting and lets us spot historic trends over time.<\/p>\n<p>It might sound nerdy (okay, it definitely IS nerdy), but this kind of data tracking is what helps us show the real impact of what we&#8217;re doing. When we can demonstrate consistent harvests, growing volunteer engagement, and increasing food donations, it makes conversations with partners like the Macomb County Health Department so much more powerful.<\/p>\n<p>Plus, there&#8217;s something pretty satisfying about seeing all those harvest entries building up on the calendar &#8211; each one represents real food reaching real people in our community!<\/p>\n<h2>Looking Ahead<\/h2>\n<p>Our next Sunday Garden Party is this weekend from 10am-2pm at <a href=\"https:\/\/share.google\/2m3sC4ZZ0JLXVf0SY\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">13690 Toepfer Rd in Warren<\/a>. Come join us &#8211; no experience needed, and now we&#8217;ve got even better tools to share! The soil doesn&#8217;t judge, and neither do we.<\/p>\n<p>Whether you want to plant, weed, harvest, or just hang out under the shade and chat, there&#8217;s a place for you in our garden family.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>South Warren Community Garden&#8217;s volunteers battled 90-degree heat on July 27th to plant new crops, manage our produce stand, and set up essential equipment. Plus big news: Macomb County Health Department secured funding for new tools including shovels, wheelbarrow, and hoses!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":404,"featured_media":1383,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","wds_primary_category":0,"activitypub_content_warning":"","activitypub_content_visibility":"","activitypub_max_image_attachments":10,"activitypub_interaction_policy_quote":"anyone","activitypub_status":"federated","footnotes":""},"categories":[40],"tags":[],"dipi_cpt_category":[],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-garden-party-recap"],"acf":[],"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"South Warren Community Garden","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/404"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1394,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/1394"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1383"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"dipi_cpt_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/urbanseed.info\/south-warren-community-garden\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/dipi_cpt_category?post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}