The Dinner Garden

San Antonio Friends! Come Paint With Us!

2012-01-25T14:54:00.000-08:00

Saturday, January 28, 2012

Whimsey Tree benefitting The Dinner Garden

7:00pm - 9:00pm

In our ongoing commitment to give back to the community, we are sponsoring this Fundraising class to benefit The Dinner Garden. We will donate 50% of the proceeds from this class to The Dinner Garden. This event is open to the public. For more information about The Dinner Garden visit www.dinnergarden.org

This is a Painting with a Purpose charity event. 8910 Bandera Rd.

instructor Jennifer Snellings

Cost: $35 per seat.

TO REGISTER CLICK HERE

Our New Partnership!

2012-01-25T14:51:00.001-08:00

The Dinner Garden is thrilled to announce our partnership with The Arc of San Antonio. There clients have graciously offered to pack up seeds for The Dinner Garden. We are honored that these fine adults have decided to work with us to end hunger in the United States.

If your food budget is $5.

2012-01-19T18:25:00.001-08:00

This is from My H.E.B. Texas Life magazine, January 2012, p.11

If your food budget is $20

2012-01-19T18:24:00.001-08:00

This is from My H.E.B Texas Life magazine, January 2012, p. 11

Broccoli almost ready to harvest!

2012-01-18T12:08:00.003-08:00

Thanks for coming out to see us!

2012-01-17T20:09:00.001-08:00

We had fun at the seed swap today!

Our contribution to The Green Spaces Alliance seed swap!

2012-01-17T14:42:00.001-08:00

We are asking gardeners in San Antonio to plant Amaranth seeds and donate the plants to people in need of fresh and healthful food. We are supplying the seeds, starter pots, and directions. Once the plants are growing, gardeners can go to AmpleHarvest.org, and find the closest food pantry accepting donations of fresh produce.

Interested gardeners can come meet us at the seed swap, 7pm January 17, 2012 at Green Spaces Alliance and pick up Amaranth seeds!

Bounty Beyond Belief seeds

2011-10-21T14:55:00.001-07:00

Big thanks to Bounty Beyond Belief for sending us a big donation of seeds for our dinner gardeners! We love it when a small, family owned company steps in to help out people in need.

We won the Birds Eye Grant!

2011-10-19T11:52:00.000-07:00

A huge thank you to everyone who voted for The Dinner Garden in the Birds Eye Share the Wonder Grant program! The $20,000 in grant money will help us get a lot of families gardening.
We are thrilled to have the support of Birds Eye as we work to end hunger in The United States!

Last day to vote!

2011-10-13T09:53:00.000-07:00

Today is the last day to vote for us in the Birds Eye Share the Wonder Grant contest. We would appreciate it if you took a minute to go vote for The Dinner Garden at this link http://www.facebook.com/BirdsEyeVegetables?sk=app_231400043547941

The prize is a $20,000 grant to fund our program. Thanks so much!

San Antonio! Want to volunteer with The Dinner Garden?

2011-09-20T16:49:00.000-07:00

We are having volunteer orientation coming up, click here for info and to let us know you are coming.
Volunteers of all ages and abilities are welcome to join us. Children under 16 years old must be accompanied by an adult.
We look forward to meeting you!

We need your vote!

2011-09-20T08:31:00.000-07:00

CLICK HERE TO VOTE FOR THE DINNER GARDEN

We are competing for $20,000 in grant money from Birds Eye Vegetables to fund our program. Please help us by clicking on the link above and voting for The Dinner Garden. You can vote every day until Oct. 17, 2011, so go ahead and set the alarm on your phone to remind you to vote.

$20,000 would go a long way towards getting seeds into the hands of people who want to grow their own food.
Thanks for helping us help people in America grow their own food.

Distribution sites

2011-09-19T12:58:00.001-07:00

We always need small businesses to help us give out seeds to people wanting to start gardens. Does your small business want to become a distribution site? Email me info@dinnergarden.org

Cantaloupe Basics

2011-08-23T11:20:00.000-07:00

How do you cut and use Cantaloupe? The Dinner Garden will show you!

Banana Basics

2011-08-23T10:35:00.000-07:00

How to peel, cut and eat bananas! It is another short video from The Dinner Garden!

Bell Pepper Basics

2011-08-23T10:14:00.001-07:00

Want to know how to cut, use, and eat bell peppers? The Dinner Garden is here to help!

Cooking Video! Making Mozzarella and Grape Tomato Salad!

2011-08-22T12:07:00.000-07:00

Dinner Garden founder Holly Hirshberg shows you how to make an easy and delicious Mozzarella and Grape Tomato Salad.

Mozzarella Balls & Grape Tomato Salad —powered by eHow.com

Teaching in Houston, Tx

2011-08-15T20:12:00.001-07:00

I was invited to speak at Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson's Youth Summit about hunger in America and what teenagers can do about it. I told them I was going to teach them how to change the world, one seed at a time, by growing their own food and eating their veggies.

It was an amazing experience. For those of you who think there are no good people left in the world, it will do your heart good to know that these teenagers want to make their communities better for everyone.

We started the session with a little community service. I asked the teenagers to pack up seeds for our gardeners. This showed them that in less than 5 minutes, a group of 17 people can pack up enough cauliflower seeds to help over 180 families have cauliflower plants that will produce all season long. If the family lets one cauliflower plant go to seed every year and then saves and plants the seeds, they can have cauliflower for the rest of their lives.

Next we cut open some fruit and veggies and harvested seeds while snacking on the fresh produce. They learned where seeds come from and how easy it is to harvest and save seeds.

Finally, we made newspaper seed pots and planted some of the seeds we harvested. Growing is easy when you know what to do and it doesn't cost a lot of money.

In a few weeks, the teens will use the seeds they harvested in the class, along with other Dinner Garden seeds to start a big community garden.

While we were working, we talked about the difference between not having anything you WANT to eat and having absolutely NOTHING to eat.

We talked about how food comes from the ground.

We talked about helping people help themselves.

I have no doubt we will see wonderful things from these teens as they grow up. They are a group who will make their communities better by empowering people to pull themselves up.

Some Love from Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution!

2011-08-03T16:22:00.000-07:00

I love the show Food Revolution. I am a big junk food fan, but this show really has helped me focus on eating better and of course, eating better is our mission here at The Dinner Garden.

We were proud and honored to be chosen as one of the Food Revolution Blogs of the Month! It is exciting to know that one of my heroes knows who we are and likes what we are doing.

Help us out! Donate!

2011-07-28T08:22:00.000-07:00

We need a membership to Grant Station. This will help us in our fundraising efforts.

We have over 50,000 families on our waiting list for seeds and we need to raise the money to keep The Dinner Garden operational.

Here is the info on GrantStation:

A GrantStation membership provides nonprofits with profiles on current grantmakers and step-by-step tutorials on how to secure available funding. Developed and tested by fundraising professionals, GrantStation information is based on in-depth and ongoing research. All GrantStation membership benefits are accessible through the Internet.

U.S. Charitable Giving: Members get connected to the top national, regional, and local giving programs. They can perform powerful, targeted searches on thousands of private grantmakers, including foundations, corporate giving programs, religious funders, and associations with grantmaking programs.

GrantStation Insider: GrantStation's weekly bulletin of grantseeking opportunities is delivered right to members' desktops each week. The Insider provides the latest information on upcoming national and regional funding opportunities.

Federal Grants and Loans:Produced exclusively for members and sorted by deadline date, the federal grants and loans section offers detailed program, contact, and application information on an extensive listing of federal grant opportunities. This information is updated twice weekly.

State Grants and Loans: GrantStation links to each grantmaking department in every state, making state funding research easier.

International Charitable Giving: Identify grantmakers based in other countries that support organizations throughout the world.

Write and Learn: Step-by-step tutorials on building grant requests, writing letters of inquiry, and managing grant awards.

Dinner Garden Founder Holly Hirshberg, 2011 CNN Hero!

2011-07-14T13:45:00.000-07:00

Here is the CNN Heroes video of Dinner Garden founder Holly Hirshberg. Enjoy!

Guest Post from Nick, brother of Dinner Garden founder, Holly

2011-07-14T12:28:00.000-07:00

I have really, really special news.

I have to start by telling you about my sister, Holly. Holly was always a wonderful big sister, but unlike Bobby and me she preferred her privacy and anonymity. So you might not have heard much about her before.

But a couple of years ago, when all this sadness and tribulation with the economy began, Holly and her husband Sean were faced with joblessness and a lot of struggle. I know I had a long period of unemployment a few years ago, and it can be tremendously sad. Add that to the fact that Holly and Sean had two kids, several pets, and a considerable mortgage, and the difficulties seemed to stack up.

When I was unemployed, I moped quite a bit and bemoaned other people's mistakes that had led to the economic situation we were in. Most of us did. My sister, despite often not knowing whether her mortgage would be paid each month, looked through the blinds and saw that there were people whose problems went even deeper than shelter- There are people across the United States who are starving, and when times are tight for people like you and me, they are truly devastated. So my severely economically challenged sister used the time off in the recession to devote herself to people who were struggling more than she.

To that end, she started The Dinner Garden (www.dinnergarden.org), a not-for-profit dedicated to teaching people easy ways to grow their own vegetables in their yards and even inside their apartments if there is no yard available. The Dinner Garden also provides all of the supplies and instructions necessary to get people started. The most beautiful part of all is that people don't have to demonstrate need in order to avail themselves of the Dinner Garden's help. Hungry people need only inquire, and DG sends them everything they need instead of setting up hoops for them to jump through. What's more beautiful than that?

The results were instantaneous and continue to mount; As of this writing, the Dinner Garden has served more than 65,000 individuals, families, and communities across all 50 states. People have started to take my sister's idea and run with it in other countries. Think about that- in less than 5 years, my sister's work has helped feed a small city's worth of people. I'm still astonished by it.

So it's only appropriate that she finally gets some recognition. Now, my sister would much prefer that you visit www.thedinnergarden.org and help fight hunger than pat her on the back, but hopefully some national TV exposure will serve both goals. Holly will be honored on CNN's "Heroes", starting Saturday. If you're available, you should tune in and see what a truly great person can do -even with her back against the wall- to help people who have it even worse.

You can watch the segment at the following times:

(these times are eastern time and the segment will air within the hour listed)
CNN:
8a
11a
2p
11p (incl 2a re-air)

Headline News:
6:30a
1:30p
6p

CNN international:
2a
6a
7p

Saturday

CNN:
10a
3p
5p
10p (1a re-air)

Headline News:
8a
2:30p

Sunday

HLN:
5:30p

Monday

CNN en Espanol:
7p

Did you grow Dinner Garden seeds?

2011-07-13T11:41:00.000-07:00

Would you please take our quick 4 question survey? Thanks! Click here to take survey

Do you grow a Dinner Garden?

2011-07-13T11:29:00.000-07:00

Please take a pic with your cell phone and text it to us at 210-979-1776 or email it to info@dinnergarden.org

Thanks!

How to chop, peel and eat cucumbers

2011-07-13T11:26:00.000-07:00

Here is a Dinner Garden video about how to chop, peel and eat cucumbers.

How to use kumquats

2011-07-12T23:05:00.000-07:00

Your guide to using kumquats from The Dinner Garden.

How to use carrots

2011-07-12T23:00:00.000-07:00

Here is The Dinner Garden's short video on how to use carrots.

Lemon and Lime Basics

2011-07-12T18:57:00.000-07:00

Short video from The Dinner Garden about how to use Lemons and Limes.

Community Garden in San Antonio

2011-07-12T10:01:00.001-07:00

The Dinner Garden supplies seeds to home and community gardens all over the United States. Here are some pics I took at a church community garden here in San Antonio. These plants are all grown from Dinner Garden seeds!
The families growing food in these plots use the produce to feed their family, trade with other gardeners, and donate to others.

CNN Hero!!

2011-07-12T09:41:00.001-07:00

We are so excited! Holly Hirshberg, Founder of The Dinner Garden is being honored as a

2011 CNN Hero!

You will be able to watch the CNN piece about Holly and the Dinner Garden on

CNN, Headline News, CNN International, CNN en Espanol at the following times this week:

The times are approximate and it should air in the hour listed below! Eastern time!
Friday:
CNN:
8a
11a
2p
11p (incl 2a re-air)

Headline News:
6:30a
1:30p
6p

CNN international:
2a
6a
7p

Saturday

CNN:
10a
3p
5p
10p (1a re-air)

Headline News:
8a
2:30p

Sunday

HLN:
5:30p

Monday

CNN en Espanol:
7p

It will also be shown on the CNN Heroes website!

This pic is was taken at a Dinner Garden, Community Garden here in San Antonio!

Cancel Our Live Webchat

2011-07-11T09:14:00.001-07:00

We have to cancel our live webchat scheduled for tomorrow night. We will let you know when we reschedule!

Holly's interview with Michael B. Maine

2011-07-06T18:56:00.000-07:00

Holly Hirshberg, founder and Director of The Dinner Garden, did an interview with Michael B. Maine the other day. Check out what she has to say and why she works so hard to keep The Dinner Garden going. You can watch the interview here

Tomato Basics

2011-07-06T18:54:00.000-07:00

This is our video about how to cut, use, and eat tomatoes.

Fig Basics

2011-07-06T18:53:00.000-07:00

Here is our short video about how to cut, eat and use figs.

Garlic Basics

2011-07-06T18:51:00.000-07:00

Here is our new video about how to peel, chop, and use garlic.

Onion Basics

2011-07-06T18:50:00.001-07:00

Here is our short video about how to peel, cut, and use and onion.

Our 1st live webchat!

2011-07-05T14:04:00.000-07:00

We will be having our 1st live webchat on Tuesday, July 12 at 7:30 Central time on UStream.

We will show you how we pack up seeds and talk about gardening stuff! Hope you can join us!

Thank you!

2011-06-09T10:12:00.001-07:00

The Dinner Garden and AmpleHarvest.org

2011-06-08T11:12:00.000-07:00

We have been working really closely with our friends at AmpleHarvest.org. AmpleHarvest.org is your go-to source when you have leftover produce and want to donate it to a nearby food pantry. It is the perfect marriage! We help people grow their own food and AmpleHarvest.org helps people share what they have grown.

We want to thank The Good People Fund for donating cards that explain this partnership and how The Dinner Gardeners can help hungry people in America!

*cutepic by Lafmil Photography

Tomatoes, the gateway drug

2011-06-08T10:34:00.001-07:00

My friend Pamela Price from Red, White and Grew calls the first tomato plant someone grows a gateway drug. It starts with growing tomatoes, then you need a pepper plant, and a little basil for flavor.

It just spirals out of control from there and next thing you know, you are a gardener!

A letter for you!

2011-06-07T18:09:00.001-07:00

The letters come to us, but they are really meant for our generous donors.

Seed sorting

2011-06-06T14:37:00.001-07:00

Before we can pack up seeds for mailing, they have to be sorted by type. We are sorting tomatoes today. There is an astounding variety of tomato seeds in the world!

Fresh veggies! Making me hungry!

2011-06-05T07:07:00.001-07:00

In addition to giving out seeds, we teach gardening skills. We went to the Quarry Farmers market and taught people how to make newspaper seed starter pots. We were surrounded by the beautiful displays of fruit and vegetables. This vendor even had goats there! We smooched those goats!

Pennsylvania

2011-05-26T11:16:00.001-07:00

Watch your mailboxes, PA we are getting seeds shipped out to you in the next few days!

Free seeds in San Antonio

2011-05-09T13:21:00.001-07:00

We just dropped off a bunch of veggie seed packs at coffee shop The Beverage Bar at 2950 Thousand Oaks, San Antonio, Tx, 78247. Stop by and pick up a pack! One pack plants a garden for a family of 4!

On to Pennsylvania!

2011-05-09T13:14:00.001-07:00

We have been packing up seeds like crazy! Thanks to a donation of seeds from Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and a donation of postage and supplies from The Good People Fund, we have been able to fill half of our requests from gardeners in Pennsylvania. We are working on the other half now!

We are so grateful to those who support our mission to help end hunger in America! Let's get growing!

Volunteers Julie and Nut

2011-05-09T12:55:00.001-07:00

Julie and Nut are so amazing! The pack seeds for us and handle all of our publicity.
If you think you can't garden in a small space, check out what Julie has done.
Her apartment garden is small but amazing. It feeds her family and neighbors and is cheerful and vibrant.

Other apartments in the complex look like this:

Here are Julie and Nut posing for a photoshoot with Lafmilphotography.com She was a good sport about the whole thing because it was about 100 degrees outside!

Free seeds in Bulverde, Tx

2011-05-05T10:56:00.001-07:00

We just dropped off 100 packs of vegetable seeds at the Bulverde Spring Branch library. Stop in, check out a book and pick up some seeds. One pack grows a garden for a family of 4!

Pennsylvania is next!!

2011-05-04T18:52:00.001-07:00

We are working on the shipment to our Pennsylvania Dinner Gardeners while watching Glee and The Voice online!

It is so nice having money for postage and supplies! We are so grateful to Rare Seeds for providing the seeds and to The Good People Fund for providing postage, bags, and envelopes!

Mailing to Ohio

2011-05-04T13:37:00.001-07:00

Here we are getting our shipment of seeds ready to send to our gardeners in Ohio. Because of bulk mailing rules, we have to mail seeds according to zipcode in order to receive reduced postage rates. These seeds are on their way! Happy gardening, Ohio! Don't forget to share your leftovers!

Huge thanks to The Good People Fund for donating the postage for this mailing!

Why does it take so long to get free seeds from The Dinner Garden?

2011-03-31T21:51:00.000-07:00

We know it is really hard to wait for seeds to arrive, and if we had a choice, we would ship seeds out to you on the day you put in your request. However, there are a lot of things delaying the process. Unfortunately, this means that some people have been on our waiting list for over a year.

Four Important Facts:

1) The Dinner Garden has two staff members, both of whom work more than 40 hours a week for free. Our CFO works part time managing our accounts and bookkeeping for no pay.

2) The Dinner Garden is run out of our Executive Director's home.

3) We have over 45,000 individuals and families on our waiting list for seeds.

4) In order to get discounted postage rates we have to mail out seeds in batches according to zip code groupings designated by the post office.

Here is how it works:

1) People request seeds

2) We fund raise to afford supplies to pack up seeds and mail them. These supplies include plastic bags, envelopes for mailing, address labels, and printer ink. Fortunately, our seeds are donated to us.

3) Once we can afford supplies, we either pack up the seeds our selves or recruit volunteers like girl scouts, church groups, and individuals to pack up 10-12 seed varieties for each recipient. This is a VERY time consuming task that can only be done when we have the bags needed for packing.

4) While the seed packing is taking place, we raise funds for postage to do a mass mailing. Our postage rate averages 37.5 cents per envelope. We have to mail things using the non profit bulk rate. If we sent them by regular mail our postage would be 88 cents per envelope.

5) Once the seeds are packed up, we spend a few days putting them in envelopes for mailing, labeling the envelopes, and stamping each one with postage. We usually spend between $200-$500 per mailing in postage.

6) Once our mass mailing is ready to go, we group it according to postal regulations and head to the post office to ship them off.

The process continues and repeats. Often, we are stuck waiting for enough donations to come in to afford supplies so our volunteers can begin packing or for donations to cover postage.

We are very, very careful with our donations, and work hard to make a little go a long way. It weighs on our hearts that we can't help everyone in need as soon as they need help.

We will continue to work to raise the money to get the seeds sent out. We hate that so many people have to wait.

Our work with The Dinner Garden is a labor of love and stems from our heartfelt belief that we are making a difference. We will continue to focus on our goal of helping individuals, families, and communities not have to worry about where their next meal is coming from.

From the bottom of our hearts, we thank you for your support of our mission, your patience with the process taking so long, and your working with us to help Americans have enough food.

Seed Packing Party in San Antonio!

2011-02-14T11:09:00.000-08:00

What: Packing up seeds

When: Saturday, February 19 10am-12pm

Where: St. Margaret's Episcopal Church
5310 Stahl Rd
San Antonio, 78241

Who: People of all ages and abilities are invited to help us pack up seeds. The building is handicap accessible and service dogs are welcome.

Details:

The Good People Fund has given us funding to mail out seeds to 6,000 families. Now, we need your help to get the seeds packed up and ready to go! Snacks and good conversation will be provided! Hope you can join us!

RSVP: info@dinnergarden.org
Please let us know you are coming!

Here is a little video to show you what to expect!

TEDx San Antonio Speech

2010-12-28T14:07:00.000-08:00

Founder of The Dinner Garden, Holly Hirshberg and writer/activist Pamela Price from Red White and Grew
give a TEDx talk about changing the world one garden at a time.

Here are the links mentioned in the talk:

National:

DinnerGarden.org – Holly’s non-profit
RedWhiteandGrew.com – Pamela’s pro-garden hub

PetersonGarden.org – The Chicago Victory Garden group coordinated by LaManda Joy of The Yarden
AmpleHarvest.org – The association that connects gardeners with pantries
WorldFoodGarden.org – Eve Sibley’s garden group
LifeontheBalcony.com – Garden advice for apartment dwellers

In San Antonio:
www.PlantAnswers.com – Milberger’s Gardening South Texas radio show (scroll down)
www.DigforTexas.com – A group hoping to revive interest in the Texas governors mansion “origin story”

The Dinner Garden in American Dog Magazine!

2010-08-31T16:14:00.000-07:00

The Dinner Garden is excited to announce that we will be featured in the winter issue of American Dog Magazine! American Dog Magazine is sold all over the United States at Barnes and Noble. The winter issue will be on the stands from November 2010 to January 2011!

http://www.lafmilphotography.com

We would like to thank Abe Ortiz from Lafmil Photography for taking the pictures and making us look good for the article. Abe and his team were a delight to work with and we were thrilled with the pictures. Lafmil Photography is now the Official Photography Studio of The Dinner Garden. Abe will be shooting some pictures for our website so that we will be able to expand our fruit and veggie information! They will also be providing all of our promotional pictures and helping us out when we need a good picture!

Vote for an Orchard in Your Hometown!

2010-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:00

Edy's Edy's Fruit Bars brand and the Fruit Tree Planting Foundation are going to provide one community with their own orchard, so they can grow their own fruit. That's something The Dinner Garden can get behind! Go cast your vote for one of their Communities Take Root participants and help them reap the rewards of their own fresh fruit supply by going to http://www.communitiestakeroot.com/Home/Index. We have friends in Bloomington, Indiana who are fighting to get an orchard for the City of Bloomington Parks and Recreation Department.

Finding Green

2010-03-25T10:47:00.000-07:00

We want to introduce everyone to our new Dinner Garden volunteer, Diana.

I grew up in a family that owned a greenhouse & a florist. I watched my father garden throughout my childhood and took part in the joy when my parents would make a fresh salad with the aroma of freshly picked parsley & basil dancing in the air of our kitchen and witnessing the love that went into making homemade tomato sauce from very our own Jersey tomatoes.

Never did I take an interest in growing anything myself until I moved to Jersey City where we have a 600 square foot plot of land that was filled with garbage and overgrown with Japanese knot weed. If you do not know what Japanese knot weed is, consider yourself lucky http://www.invasivespeciesinfo.gov/plants/knotweed.shtml It happens to be on the top 100 list of most invasive species, imported to the U.S. for, believe or not “ornamentation”. After we identified and researched how tenacious a plant we had on our hands, it was decided the only thing we could do was to dig the entire garden out, 18 inches deep and physically remove as much of the extensive root structure as possible. Because of the rhizomes it disperses it’s nearly impossible to remove the whole plant. As we dug & raked & pulled being careful so as not to miss even a small bit of root, which would make new shoots on its own freakishly quickly. Needless to say, we had our work cut out for us. We started by uprooting the weeds day by day, foot by foot and as we saw them pop up their red little heads out of the ground we uprooted them. The work was intensive (three months of after work and weekend digging and sifting) but the payoff was victory of the most gratifying kind!

The uprooting was completed in stages for the time being and the planting began with tomatoes, zucchini, eggplant, peppers, swiss chard and some culinary herbs like parsley, basil and thyme, as well as a small flower garden. Each plant grew more robust and healthy than I could have ever imagined. The tomatoes needed both cages and staking just to keep the fruit laden limbs off of the ground! The swiss chard needed picking every day and the size of the basil plants was monstrous! I was new to this, and due to my inexperience I was disappointed when all but the green bell peppers were producing. So I tried to feed them plant food. I watered them. I pleaded with them, but to no avail. By July I was bad mouthing them anytime I looked at them, calling them duds and thinking maybe I'll just dig them out and throw them away. I wanted to pull them out because they weren’t fitting into my idea of how the garden should be. There was a part of me that was saying, “If these don’t abide by my wishes, I shall slay them!” But I left them alone because there was also a little voice saying they deserve a chance. To my astonishment, when the other vegetables seemed to be done for the season, little green peppers began to grow in an amazing profusion all over those once bare plants!

The peppers were late bloomers as I was myself to gardening and it reminded me how late bloomers must feel because some people think they aren't as big or strong or productive or beautiful as they "should be". Then, in the end when they bloom, they grow beyond all expectations. Late bloomers may take longer to develop and may look as if they will never amount to much but they are special, nonetheless. This is true for both gardens and gardeners alike. You and your garden will grow together and when it happens it will surprise you beyond measure. So give all plants a chance before calling it quits, they may just be the best addition to your garden & nourishing in more ways than one!

~Diana Randazzo

From a Supporter of The Dinner Garden

2010-03-16T15:42:00.000-07:00

We got this advice from one of our supporters. Remember that you can get a lot of supplies off Craigslist and Freecycle for free! - Sean

I wanted to let you know that you might let your clients know that they can eat fresh produce year around from their gardens, even in subfreezing temps, by creating a hotbed. This winter I used 4 bales of straw, situated in a square and covered with a double layer of old window panes, to make my first hotbed (I remembered my grandma having one 50 years ago). I kept parsley, kale, Swiss chard, turnip greens and rosemary growing all winter, even though this was an abnormally cold winter for our part of the country. There was a stretch in late December and early January when it was subfreezing here, both day and night, for pretty much the entire time, with night temperatures usually in the single digits, even down to 1 degree. Yet my hotbed plants stayed alive. When temps were expected to be 20 degrees or less, I put a thick comforter over the hotbed cover to provide some extra protection. This was my first year of eating fresh greens 12 months in a row.

We need Grant Writers!!

2010-02-20T06:55:00.000-08:00

As you all know, we have no funding yet. We are all volunteer and are funded entirely by donations. We need some grants (and corporate sponsorships!) to be able to take our mission to the next level.

Right now, we are looking for people to find and write grants for us. This is a great opportunity to gain experience if you are looking to enter the non profit world.

You will be helping to feed the hungry in the USA and gaining valuable experience for your resume at the same time.

If you know anyone who would be interested in working with us, please let me know! Thanks!

Holly@dinnergarden.org

Disney Parks Give a Day Get a Day community service project in San Antonio and San Diego!!

2010-02-04T11:03:00.000-08:00

What to know how to assemble seed packs for The Dinner Garden Witkids event?

Here is a video made by two volunteers!

Disney Parks Give a Day Get a Day community service projects in San Antonio and San Diego!

2010-02-04T10:58:00.000-08:00

The Dinner Garden and Witkids.org have teamed up to create a day of service like no other! Pack up seeds for people in need and get a free day at Disney Parks! There are only 140 spots! Sign up today!

These days of service will take place in San Diego, CA in February and in San Antonio, TX in March!

http://disneyparks.disney.go.com/disneyparks/en_US/WhatWillYouCelebrate/index?name=Give-A-Day-Get-A-Disney-Day

Here is a video showing how the event went in San Diego!

New Community Garden in San Antonio!

2010-01-24T11:49:00.001-08:00

Isn't gardening expensive?

2010-01-10T14:39:00.000-08:00

This is a question we get at The Dinner Garden all the time. Sure, giving away seeds is a good idea, but how can people afford to grow stuff when gardening supplies are so expensive?

Remember that people were growing their own food long before gardening stores were invented!

Sure, those gardening catalogs are lovely, and there are definitely products that make gardening easier and plants grow faster. BUT, you don't need those products to grow enough food for your family.

Our Dinner Gardeners are really creative when it comes to growing food with no extra money to spend. They grow in old pots, milk jugs, discarded baby pools, boxes lined with plastic bags and holes for drainage, old coolers, coffee cans, soda bottles, and cartons. They make their own dirt out of yard clippings, bags of leaves people leave by the road, and kitchen waste. Our Gardeners make their own fertilizer out of compost and their own seed starting pots out of discarded paper. They collect rainwater and rinse water for their plants.

We have gardeners who plant in their front and back yards. We also have gardeners who have no yards and grow veggies in every available window.

Don't be tricked into thinking you are not a gardener. We are all gardeners. Anyone can grow their own food.

The seeds do all the work!

Nice Article about The Dinner Garden!

2010-01-10T13:55:00.000-08:00

Geri Miller wrote a really nice article about The Dinner Garden.

Please remember to tell all your friends about us. America needs more Dinner Gardeners!

Here is the article Digging In The Dirt, Changing Lives One Garden at a Time

Some notes about Growing Tomatoes indoors

2010-01-10T13:39:00.000-08:00

Here is some advice from our friends from Home Grown Edible Landscapes

Three things to consider:
1)Make sure that the container provides adequate depth for the variety of tomato (they've hybridized some specifically to grow in containers - mostly cherries). Typical depth is 14-16 inches for cherries and 16-18 for your typical variety.

2)Toms do best in a warm environment with moderate humidity (no drafts). The tricky part is keeping the indoor temps and humidity in the optimum range for flower set and pollen release. Otherwise you'll end up with a beautiful green plant! :) ...not that that's a bad thing. There is considerable evidence that night temperature is the critical factor in setting tomato fruit, the optimal range being 59° to 68°F. With night temperatures much below or above this, fruiting is reduced or absent. Low temperatures reduce the production and viability of pollen. High temperature, especially if accompanied by low humidity and moisture, hinders fruit set through failure in pollination and/or fertilization.

3) Soil - make sure that new garden soil is used in these pots every year. Toms are susceptible to early or late blight which is an easily communicated soil borne organism. Just like we rotate our crops in the garden, we should be careful not to replant a crop of the same family in the same pot year to year. Tomatoes are part of the Solanaceae family which also includes potatoes, pepper, eggplant, and husk tomato so don't plant any of these plants where you planted tomatoes last year.

Also, keep in mind that tomatoes are heavy feeders...this may be commonly known, but people forget that it becomes even more important indoors and in pots. They'll need to keep their eyes on their plants to watch for signs that the soil may be depleted of a certain nutrient.

We thank them for their help with info for our Dinner Gardeners!

Let Giving Begin This Year- by Volunteer Julie

2010-01-10T13:15:00.000-08:00

It can start with a church reaching out to The Dinner Garden for help with feeding its congregation. Never ending sentiment pours from emails and letters… ebbs and flows with each planting season.

Why not expand your horizons this year?
Plant a church garden and donate produce to families in need?
This alone ‘screams’ teen youth project. Let it begin as a small patch out back or even framing the front door. Edible landscapes can be gloriously beautiful! Offer a volunteer garden at a local senior center. Kale can be planted and both broccoli and cabbage go in the ground now for April’s harvest [unless your ground’s frozen].

If you have a few flowerpots there’s the ‘makings’ of an apartment garden. Follow the adventures of www.patiofarmersguild.com for pointers. And, finally, give seeds as a gift. Embolden a child’s world with the power to grow. There’s science, nature and God encapsulated in each seed.

Home Grown Edible Landscapes

2010-01-07T12:43:00.000-08:00

Our friends at Home Grown Edible Landscapes wrote a really nice article about The Dinner Garden and posted it on The Huffington Post. You can read the article by clicking on this link Article about The Dinner Garden.

We love to see companies devoting their business to helping people grow their own food and we are proud to have Home Grown Edible Landscapes as a supporter!

How many problem can you solve with home and community gardening? - from Sean Hirshberg

2010-01-06T15:59:00.000-08:00

Back before Holly and I started The Dinner Garden, when we still in the stage of pondering the problems of gas prices rising, hunger in the United States, and the dwindling funding of food banks, we discussed what the U.S. would look like in five years. I imagined a country where people became more connected to their immediate communities, because it cost too much to travel very far. That meant people would work closer to home, shop in their immediate communities, and grow food in community gardens. They would rely less on grocery stores for fresh items, so they would only need to shop once a month for staple foods. In essence, I imagined a step back in time for all of us.

When Holly came up with the idea of sending vegetable seeds to people for free, so they could grow those gardens, we took a step toward this possibility. Today, though, I was thinking of the broader impact of this initiative.

Consider the problems addressed by our programs. First and foremost, we can end hunger in the United States. If one out of every eight Americans had a home vegetable garden, we would have enough food for every hungry person in the U.S. Think that's impossible? During World War II, one out of seven Americans had a garden at home.

Home and community gardens are the ultimate in locally grown produce. Have you read about the issue of shipping produce thousands of miles to get it to your grocery store? Those trucks that ship the produce pollute the environment through exhaust emissions and use a massive quantity of fuel. Grow that produce in your backyard, and you eliminate that problem.

Yard space that is used for vegetable gardens is not used for grass lawns. No grass means no mowing. No mowing means no pollution from lawn mowers and no fuel used to power those mowers. If you live in a city that has ozone alert days, you know that lawn mowers are a major contributor to ground level ozone pollution. Replace your lawn with a Dinner Garden, and everyone will breathe easier.

How about healthcare? Gardening reduces stress, improves family bonding, is a great form of exercise, and promotes better nutrition through a diversified diet of fruit and vegetables. Home and community gardening is guaranteed to create a healthier population.

If you create a compost pile for your garden, you will never ship yard or kitchen waste to a landfill again. No more bags of leaves piled at the curb. Grass clippings, if you still have them, will feed your compost. All those kitchen scraps, like potato and carrot peels, lemon rinds, coffee grounds, and egg shells will go into your compost, which means they won't be going down the drain or to a landfill.

How many problems have we addressed? Hunger, healthcare, petroleum dependency, pollution, landfill waste, and family bonding. That's six major issues that could be solved or addressed in a major way through growing Dinner Gardens. How amazing is that?

So get your Dinner Garden seeds today. Grow food for your families, neighbors, and local food banks. Donate to The Dinner Garden to expand our mission. To grow gardens for one in eight Americans, we need a lot of gardens (38 million, if you want to know), but we're going to get there!

Happy Gardening!

Sean

Composting Breaks Down Pesticides and Preservatives!

2010-01-01T10:47:00.000-08:00

According to http://compost.css.cornell.edu/faq.html, pesticides used in the U.S. will break down in compost. Our friend, Nematode Nick, a local organic landscaper and guru in San Antonio, says that preservatives will also break down in compost. Cool, eh? Visit www.dinnergarden.org for more information!

Donate as a Gift Today!

2009-12-15T10:37:00.000-08:00

There's still time to send a gift card to someone through The Dinner Garden! Chanukhah is almost done, but Christmas and Kwanzaa are still several days away! Stop hunger in the United States through your donation today!

Ending Hunger in the United States

2009-12-08T14:45:00.000-08:00

Imagine a United States where every home has a garden. On every apartment patio, you find containers filled with tomatoes, beans, squash, and cucumbers. Now imagine city and state parks with community gardens, church, mosque, and synagogue properties lined with fruit trees, their lawns replaced by vegetable and herb gardens, and schools with gardens that supply fruit and vegetables for their students' lunches. Empty, inner city lots grow produce for the neighborhood's residents.

In this America, no one would be hungry. No one would ever skip a meal. No child would go to bed hungry.

This is the future we are seeking at The Dinner Garden. Our future can be one where hungry is eradicated forever in a sustainable way. Visit us at www.dinnergarden.org to learn more. Do you want to support this future? Donate to us today!

Frozen!

2009-12-06T10:01:00.000-08:00

I am sad to report that The Dinner Garden suffered a hard freeze that wiped out our late summer crops. We lost our peppers, summer squash, and tomatoes. Our amaranth was pretty well spent, so we had harvested most of it. We left a test plant out to see how it fared in the freezing temperatures. We now know that amaranth does not like hard freezes. We're going to start another batch of these crops inside, and plant them outside in February.

Our fall crops are great, though. Our cabbage, broccoli, carrots, greens, and radishes all survived. We covered them with a sheet to protect them. The were not damaged at all. If the ground had frozen, it would be another story, but we aren't in danger of that here.

Last year, we never dropped below freezing, but this year, we got unlucky. Oh well.

'Tis the Season, by volunteer Julie

2009-12-05T10:32:00.000-08:00

Christmas hasn’t been traditional in my household for quite a
few years. There’s only me and the curly-tailed commando decking
the halls of my cozy one bedroom apartment. I’ve been so thrilled
volunteering for The Dinner Garden that even winter won’t dampen
my spirits. A garden in every backyard is no longer a dream but
rapidy becoming a possibility because of your generosity.

I’m here to say lets change the traditional holiday ‘greenery’
of our ancestors. Bring the magic of growing fruits and vegetables into
the home. Spare the live tree, possible re-use last years artificial
one OR consider what I’m doing by decorating with the green hues of tomato, eggplant and bell pepper.
Emphasize nature’s classroom while the children are home on break.

Most seeds only need a week in front of a sunny window to start no matter the chill outside.

Here are a few pointers and some of my preferences….

1] Clean pots with a mild bleach water if you’re going to reuse them.
2] I use fresh soil for indoor projects.
3] Be creative. I have the space surrounding my computer decked
out with bell pepper, tomatoes and a few other plants that
aren’t quite a foot tall, yet.
4] Use your windowsills. I have several long planters that will provide
salads in a month or so.
5] Know your plant preferences. My acid-loving veggies are waiting
on tomorrows mail for their special plant food.
6] Consider making a living headboard. It’s much simpler than
it sounds. I have a shelving unit between my bed and the
bedroom window. There are 2 four foot tomato plants loaded
with tomatoes and several varieties of eggplant laden with
blooms surrounded with starters.
7] Finally, don’t be afraid to hand pollinate.

HAVE FUN!!! Hang tinsel and very small Christmas ornaments from the
branches. Watch for tomatoes to turn colors with the kids. See who
can spot the emergence of new seedlings first. Bring your love of gardening indoors. The Dinner Garden has a new hybrid variety of mustard/spinach for winter growing that’s perfect for the window.

~Bless your holidays with the personal touch of green in the dead of winter.~

Cold out there!

2009-12-04T07:32:00.000-08:00

It is unseasonably cold at The Dinner Garden, so we're protecting all our plants with sheets and tarps. The cold weather crops should be fine, but we're still growing summer squash and tomatoes, and we don't want them to freeze!

Donations for gifts!

2009-11-23T08:53:00.000-08:00

This holiday season, give a gift that gives back! You can donate to The Dinner Garden to stop hunger in America through home and community gardening as a gift to someone else! For donations over $10, we mail a card to the gift recipient to let them know you contributed to The Dinner Garden in their honor. Under $10, and we email that card.

We have already received several donations, so request your gift card today!

Rain, Rain, Rain

2009-11-20T20:11:00.000-08:00

We are very thankful for the rain here in San Antonio. It is causing some flooding, but considering a couple months ago, we were very close to severe water restrictions, it's nice to have the rain, even all at once!

Green Aphids on Radishes

2009-11-19T10:50:00.000-08:00

Our radishes are infested with green aphids. We've been treating them with insecticidal soap, which works, but a week later, they're back. With our treatment, the plants are doing fine. This photo isn't great, but you get a pretty good view of the aphids.

1 in 8 Americans Don't Get Enough Food

2009-11-18T20:19:00.000-08:00

Have you heard that 1 in 8 Americans don't get enough food on a regular basis? It's called food insecurity. It means you never know where you'll get your next meal.

That statistic is from a USDA study in 2007. That's right, 2007, before the recession. Today, unemployment is over 10%, people have spent all their savings to pay their bills, and the layoffs continue to occur all over the country. How many Americans live with food insecurity now or will in the next 6 months?

We can help! Donate today to The Dinner Garden. We will provide free vegetable seeds and support, so these Americans can grow their own food.

The plants are okay today!

2009-11-18T08:18:00.000-08:00

All our plants are alive and happy today! The temperature dropped to 39 F degrees last night. We'll be back up in the 70s today though.

We have two young artichoke plants growing in pots, and these cold nights have made them so happy! We didn't expect that. Next Spring, we'll put them in the ground, where they'll grow into 5 foot bushes! Don't you want to grow your own vegetables?

Cold in San Antonio

2009-11-18T00:09:00.000-08:00

This fall is proving to be a cold one in San Antonio. Tonight, it is 43 F degrees. Will our tomato plants still be alive tomorrow? We hope so! We have summer squash growing too. We have patty pan and lemon squash growing, so we want a chance to enjoy them! Fortunately, the days are still quite warm, so the ground shouldn't get too cold. If this weather continues, we may have to build a temporary greenhouse!

In many parts of the country, you can still grow your frost tolerant plants, like carrots, beets, and turnips, so keep gardening!

Donations as Gifts!

2009-11-16T22:45:00.000-08:00

You can donate to The Dinner Garden as a gift for someone this holiday season! When you donate to us at http://www.dinnergarden.org/donationOrder.html, we will send a card to your gift recipient, telling them you have given the gift of life to them! Your money will help people grow gardens all over the United States. This holiday season, you can help stop hunger! Donate today by visiting the link. For donations over $10, we will mail the card to your gift recipient. For donations under $10, we will email a printable card to them.

Happy Holidays!

Guest blogger, Volunteer Julie!

2009-11-06T06:48:00.000-08:00

Though I find the final chapter on my Apartment Gardening Project closed, The Dinner Garden
has allowed me to soldier on.

Management here changed and everything except the Purple Chinese Pole Beans and one tomato sit in large flower pots.... possibly on borrowed time.

Children still come to my garden. Just yesterday an urchin cried at her mother because
she DIDN'T want to step on the Mexican Heather. Her mother had asked her daughter to pick
up a wrapper from my garden. Lessons linger to be taught.

What remains bedded in the garden is illicit and I've officially become a green urban guerrilla.
Lines aren't officially drawn in the sand... not yet. Management changes every 6 months
at this complex. Let me hold my breath till spring and see what dreams grow with any seedlings
that may happen to appear.

Volunteering for The Dinner Garden has helped rein in some of my 'green urges'. I live
through the dreams and hopes of each seed packet that goes out. I know there's a child that
may taste a fresh tomato or cucumber for the first time.

Peering at the second half of my life I know there are gardeners out there reliving their youth through the beauty of a pole bean that reaches to the sky with no intentions of stopping..... so much beauty.

My garden included dancing geckos last summer. Scampering with their mouths open as I watered.

Each garden carries memories, lessons and hope for the next.

There's a deadline looming as cool winds blow through San Antonio... Dinner Garden's
official home. The deadline is Spring and, honestly, I can't pack seeds fast enough.
So many people are depending on us!

There are NUMEROUS school programs going on right now. I really don't know how Holly keeps up with all of the obligations.... school gardens, the Seed Program For School Kids, community gardens, gardens for Senior centers and what I call 'green events'. Gatherings of 'like-minded' people who would like to leave
the earth a little better for their children.

There's also a small sadness that comes with volunteering. Funding isn't optimal and
there are too many times when we have to stop and wait for donations. I live on a fixed
income yet know the importance of my work. I'll find a few dollars for plastic bags or
business cards. Three times I've gone crazy and bought all the seeds at Wally or the Dollar
Store.

More than ever the need is there and there's no stopping us!

We need your help to support our efforts in providing one more serving of veggies come Spring.

Thanks, Val Verde Vegetable Company!

2009-10-13T13:58:00.000-07:00

The Dinner Garden owes a huge debt of gratitude to our friends at The Val Verde Vegetable Company for their generous donation of 164.5 pounds of vegetable seeds! The even had someone drive the seeds 5 hours to get them here to San Antonio.

We so much appreciate the Val Verde Vegetable Company's commitment to helping us end hunger. This enormous donation will help our gardeners out on their path to food security!

Please Vote For Holly Hirshberg and The Dinner Garden!

2009-10-05T09:06:00.000-07:00

CITGO gas has launched a program called CITGO Fueling Good where they award a year supply of gas to the winner of the monthly contest. The entrants in the contest are all people who are working to make the world a better place.

The Dinner Garden is honored to be one of the finalists this month. Would you please click on over to http://www.fuelinggood.com/this-months-entries.php?profileid=285 and vote for us to win the year supply of gas? We do a lot of traveling, and this would really help us out.

Thanks so much!

New Promotional Video!

2009-10-03T18:32:00.000-07:00

The Dinner Garden has a new promotional video!
Dinner Garden Chief Operating Officer, Sean Hirshberg created the video and musician Moby donated the music!
Watch the video below and be sure to share it with your friends! You never know who is going to need our help!

We can end hunger! from Dinner Garden on Vimeo.

Thanks for the support, Barbara Winter!

2009-10-03T18:13:00.000-07:00

Dinner Garden Director Holly Hirshberg is being featured on the Joyfully Jobless website, run by author Barbara Winter. Check out Holly's picture and bio here .

Barbara Winter has been really helpful and supportive to us as we work on growing The Dinner Garden.

Barbara Winter is the author of the inspiring self help book Making a Living Without a Job. We highly recommend this book to all who could use a new perspective on how they are living their lives. Check out this info from her website and I think you will agree that this is a book you should read!

Welcome to the Land of the Joyfully Jobless

It’s different here. There’s not a cubicle in sight. You won’t find any One Size Fits All Business Plans or formulas to follow here, either. We see self-employment as an opportunity to share our unique gifts, passions and eccentricities with others so every citizen proudly creates a one of a kind enterprise that is a perfect fit for them.

We’re a peace-loving tribe. We spend no time trying to convince others to quit their jobs and join us. We’re delighted to be ambassadors, but we’re not missionaries. Staying inspired is a daily practice here. We’re not big on competition, although we love to collaborate.

Here are a few other things to know about Joyfully Jobless Land:

Citizenship: Voluntary

Your guide on this journey,
Barbara Winter
author of

Language: English spoken, along with every other language on Earth, but you’ll seldom hear words like can’t or shouldn’t. You will hear lots of conversation about ideas and encouragement.
Currency: We operate with multiple currencies, of which money is one; other popular currencies include satisfaction, laughter, joy and innovation.
Priorities: We place a high value on independence and creativity and urge every citizen to thoughtfully consider what matters most to them and to build a life that supports those things.
Mission: To leave it better than we found it.

Dreamers Welcomed. Whiners? Not so much.

Holly is interviewed by The Get Inspired Project!

2009-10-02T11:01:00.000-07:00

The Get Inspired Project is interviewing 365 people in 365 days to find out what inspires them. They interviewed Dinner Garden founder Holly Hirshberg.

“I can say that didn’t work out so I’m not gonna do it anymore, or I can say you know what, that didn’t work out but maybe that is going to put me on a path to something even better …” Check out the rest of her interview here

The Dinner Garden was thrilled to be included in this project!

Holly Hirshberg Commissioned A Yellow Rose of Texas

2009-10-01T14:31:00.000-07:00

Governor Rick Perry of the State of Texas commissioned Holly Hirshberg a Yellow Rose of Texas under the laws of on September 21, 2009 for her work with The Dinner Garden. This award is given only through the Office of the Governor to recognize women for their "significant contributions to their communities and to in the preservation of our history, the accomplishments of our present, and the building of our future." The Yellow Rose of Texas Award was conceived during the term of Governor Allan Shivers (1949-1957).

Saturday, September 19. 6-9 pm

2009-09-18T08:09:00.001-07:00

The Dinner Garden will be at the Mission San Jose, 6701 San Jose Dr. in San Antonio Saturday, September 19, from 6-9 pm.

You can see the flyer here

There will be family activities, mariachi's and a preview of the Ken Burns Documentary The National Parks: America's Best Idea.

Bring a picnic and lawn chairs, stop by an pick up free seeds for your fall planting.

The International Greenhouse Company

2009-09-18T08:00:00.000-07:00

The International Greenhouse Company has made our day! They sent us a huge box of 747 packs of seeds for our gardeners!

They carry everything you could possibly need for your greenhouse, including portable and mini greenhouses!

As we head into the colder weather, check them out so you can garden year round!

2009 Glamour Magazine Reader's Choice Women of the Year 2009

2009-09-16T10:02:00.000-07:00

Holly Hirshberg, Top Ten Finalist for Glamour Magazine’s Reader’s Choice Women of the Year

Holly Hirshberg, the Executive Director of The Dinner Garden, is a top ten finalist for Glamour Magazine’s 2009 Reader’s Choice Women of the Year. Glamour narrowed the list of thousands of entries for this award from all over the country to this final list of ten remarkable women. Within the next couple weeks, Glamour will announce the top five finalists, who will be listed on http://www.glamour.com, where readers can vote for the winner.

In response to being a finalist, Holly said, “I have read Glamour Magazine since I was 13 years old. The amazing women nominated for Woman of the Year have been a huge inspiration in my life. It is an honor to find myself in such amazing company.”

Sean Hirshberg, the Chief Operating Officer of The Dinner Garden and Holly’s husband, nominated Holly for this award for her tireless efforts to feed the hungry in the in the United States through home and community gardens. Holly started The Dinner Garden, at the end of 2008, in response to the Great Recession and the skyrocketing gas prices, to help people grow food at home.They provide fruit and vegetable seeds for free to anyone who wants them.“We are teaching people to provide for their families and communities,” said Holly.“We are giving the seeds to families to plant gardens and providing the information to make the project a success.”

As of September 2009, The Dinner Garden has distributed seeds to over 14,000 families and many community gardens in 39 states around the country. Each day more requests pour in. By the end of the year, they project 40,000 families will be growing Dinner Gardens.

One garden can make a huge difference in the financial and emotional status of a family and a community. A family and a community that work together toward a common goal are more likely to see success. “We love to see people working together to lift each other up. We love to see people laughing, sharing, and eating together. Feeling a sense of connectedness is what makes life worth living,” Holly said. Families that grow gardens can save the seeds from the fruit they grow to plant more vegetables and trade for more seeds. They can feed their families and neighborhoods, and they can sell their excess produce for extra income.

The Seed Kingdom

2009-09-06T08:15:00.000-07:00

We are truly grateful for the continued support from The Seed Kingdom. They are big believers in our mission and teaching people to provide for themselves.

We appreciate their donations of seeds and hope that you will check out their website and send some business their way!

Have you Started a Gardener Today?

2009-09-06T08:10:00.001-07:00

By guest blogger, DG volunteer Julie!

It's a simple thing to do. A bag of dirt $2.00, if that much. Seeds can be passed from gardener to gardener. Much like the vegetable garden movement is spreading at my apartment complex. My garden encompasses three small areas. An upstairs neighbor [with four children in tow] broke ground and planted her garden next to mine. There will be one more completed four doors down by the end of the weekend.

It's really quite a simple thing to promote change.
It all starts with admiration for what you've accomplished. Tell them how all of this is possible for them next time you're complimented on your garden. Some times all it takes is the basic gesture of seeds to get someone started and you've just become part of the solution. Four children will help me release beneficial insects next week. You bet they'll learn something. They'll also become protectors of every garden in the area.

Unfortunately, the same four children also know what it's like to go hungry. They had pan bread drizzled with borrowed syrup for dinner last night. Their mother broke ground on a garden for her family yesterday. A statement empowering her family and an active lesson for her children. I know first hand that the need is there and I'm there to help them as best I can. Somewhere there's another gardener, many, I'm sure, doing the very same thing.

Read more of Julie's writing here.

The Dinner Garden this weekend!

2009-08-27T12:38:00.000-07:00

Grow Food Right in Your Own Backyard (Or Someone Else's)

Aug 30, 2009 1:00 PM - 4:00 PM

Description:
Join Green Spaces, Texas Public Radio, and the Culinary Institute of America at the Pearl Stable for an afternoon of gardening and cooking tips. The event is free and open to the public, and no reservations are required.

Location:
Pearl Stable
312 Pearl Pkwy. #2
San Antonio, TX 78215

Contact:
For more information, call 210-222-8430

The Dinner Garden will be at this event handing out free seeds. If you want to start a garden, stop by and say hi!

The Seed Kingdom helps us out again!

2009-08-17T16:46:00.000-07:00

Our friends at The Seed Kingdom have come through for our gardeners again! Today we got a donation of watermelon, cantaloupe, bean, squash, and okra seeds.

They were kind enough to remember The Dinner Garden and send another donation without us even having to put in a request! That is the kind of company they are running over there! Compassionate, helpful and committed to ending hunger.

Thanks guys!

Granny's Heirloom Seeds

2009-08-10T11:00:00.000-07:00

The Dinner Garden wishes to send thanks to our friends at Granny's Heirloom Seeds and Gardener's Choice Heirloom Seeds for the donation of open pollinated and heirloom seeds and plastic bags. The two things we always need!

If you are gardening with us and intend to sell your produce, you should check out their website to buy Farmer's Market supplies for a very reasonable price

They also have a lot of info on how to harvest and save your seeds so you will have seeds next year.

We send them a huge "Thank You!" for their support in our quest to end hunger!

Thanks, Walmart!

2009-08-06T07:41:00.000-07:00

Our friends at Walmart gave us a $25 gift card! It will be very useful when we need more office supplies! Thanks, guys!

501(c)(3)

2009-08-04T11:52:00.000-07:00

We finally got our 501 (c)(3)!!! That means we are a non profit registered with the IRS and any donation you made to us will be tax deductible!

We are so excited that we finally got our 501(c)(3) and our working on contacting foundations and companies looking for corporate support.

If you know a company that would like to be involved with The Dinner Garden please have them send me an email!

Thanks, Sakata Seed!

2009-07-31T05:44:00.001-07:00

Sakata Seed is obviously committed to ending hunger. We know this because they just donated 15lbs. of fruit and vegetable seeds to The Dinner Garden!
This is a huge donation and brings us a lot closer to to meeting our goal of providing seeds to the kids in Arkansas.

I ordered 4000 seed bags and today our volunteers will be hard at work dividing these seeds out and making them into interesting gardening packs.

We so much appreciate the generosity of our friends at Sakata Seed! Thanks, guys!

Working with Ample Harvest!

2009-07-30T09:47:00.000-07:00

The Dinner Garden is thrilled to announce that we are now working with Ample Harvest! Ample Harvest is a brilliant idea where home gardeners donate the produce they grow with people in need.
Simply genius!

Right now, they need people to spread the word about AmpleHarvest.org. If you have a food pantry near you, please contact them and ask them to register here . When gardeners log on to Ample Harvest, they will find a nearby pantry where they can drop off fruit and veggies for people in need. They are relying on word of mouth to contact food pantries because so many are small and hard to find.

Here is the way things will work:
1) The Dinner Garden provides seeds

2) World Food Garden provides gardening advice, connects people to gardening mentors, tells them when to plant, and arranges seed exchanges

3) Ample Harvest connects gardeners with the food pantry closest to their house, so produce can be donated to people in need.

We are so thrilled to be working with these organizations!

We Love Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds!

2009-07-27T12:15:00.000-07:00

We love Baker Creek Heirloom Seeds and are so proud that they have chosen us as an organization they support. Every time we contact www.rareseeds.com, we are amazed by their passion for gardening and their devotion to ending hunger.

Today, they sent us a bunch of handouts and seeds for our table at Greenfest. We appreciate their support so much and hope that you all will visit their amazing website, check out their crazy cool seeds, and order some for your garden. In their catalog, you will find fruits and vegetables you never knew existed!

Extra good news, it is a family owned business!