Volunteer Activities – Spring 2014 Green Shoots for New Americans Program Journey’s End Refugee Services, Inc.

Below is a list of activities available for volunteers with the Green Shoots for New Americans Program with Journey’s End. Volunteers can assist the program for one giant project, like constructing the greenhouse, but are welcome to help with a number of other tasks that will need to be done to make the program successful. Each volunteer will be expected to sign a liability and photo waiver, and will be given adequate instruction for the task at hand. Any volunteer working without supervision will be required to attend a volunteer orientation. Most activities will be supervised.

The farm will be located at 15 Brewster St., two blocks from Journey’s End’s office.

Classes

Classes for the program will begin on Monday, February 10th. Classes will be held every Monday from 10am-12pm, with the exception of February 17th, until March 17th. Classes are designed to provide ESL lessons, urban farming skills, marketing skills, and more. Students may need assistance with ESL lessons, tool and vegetable identification, and proper urban farming techniques.

Seedling Shelf Construction

Seedlings will be started indoors and grown under grow lights. Seedling beds will be placed on shelves to be built in the JERS conference room. The shelves will be built out of 2x4s and plywood and will each have three shelves. There will be 10 shelves built to accommodate 12 grow lights as well as storage.

Seedling Maintenance

Seedlings will need to be monitored and watered on a daily basis. Weekends will be crucial for seedling monitoring. Once big enough to be repotted, seedlings will be transplanted into bigger pots, labeled, and sold. Seedling Sales

Seedlings will be sold to a number of farms, organizations, individuals, etc. There will be a farm stand at the Tri-Main building to sell both seedlings and herbs & vegetables that are grown on the farm. Seedlings will need to be attractively packaged and cared for to attract purchasers. Seedlings will also be sold to local farms and other businesses, and will need to delivered.

TriMain Building Tuesdays & Thursdays 11-1pm May 1, 2, 3 Rummage Sale – Big seedling sale to community

Vegetables Sales

Herbs & Vegetables grown on the farm will be sold to local restaurants. Orders will be customized for each location, and delivered on a weekly basis. A variety of herbs and vegetables will comprise each order, and will need to be prepared for delivery.

Raised Bed Construction

Raised beds will be constructed out of 2x8s and be located outside of the greenhouse. Once the greenhouse frame is constructed, work on the raised beds will begin. There will be 4-6 raised beds at about 3 ft. wide and 12 ft. long.

Greenhouse Construction

Rimol Greenhouse Construction Videos, Step 1-27: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLC31E913285119CB2 These videos are a great learning tool for anyone planning to help with greenhouse construction. It is important that anyone helping with this task watch these videos.

Step 1: Assemble Frame Step 2: Frame Endwalls Step 3: Assemble Roll Up Sides Step 4: Install Wire Lock Step 5: Apply Poly Film

Kyla Jaquish Program Manager – Green Shoots for New Americans Journey’s End Refugee Services, Inc. 2495 Main St. Suite 317 Buffalo, NY 14214 (716) 262-5308 [email protected]