Service Hour Opportunities
Two great opportunities to get started on those hours: gate duty and the plant sale.
Gate Keeper. You earn 3.5 hours for one week of service. This is a great opportunity as you may be at the garden planting, weeding or harvesting at that time. Read everything below before you decide…
The service requires:
- Lock the gate between 9:00-10:00pm in summer and 8:00-9:00pm in early spring or late fall.
- Lock the sheds and close the side gates.
- Check water faucets and hoses along the center walkway to be sure they are turned off.
- Begin service Sunday and complete your service Saturday evening.
If you want to sign up, do the following three things:
- contact me directly by email janet.valentour@yahoo.
com; - provide me with multiple weeks – first, second, and third choices; and
- include your Phone Number.
Please note: gate lock up starts April 14. The first three weeks of May are already filled.
Hope to hear from you, Janet Valentour
To volunteer for the Plant Sale May 11 contact:
- Help with Charity plots: weed, water, harvest. Check white board (especially for watering opportunities) on shed or email Sharon (sharonfleming@gci.net).
- Trim brush, branches and trees along both sides of the perimeter fence.
- Cut down all trees within the garden; these are small cottonwoods, alders and willows that are close to the fence. Some are in the corner by the pile of wood chips but there are some at the far end of the garden by the sand pile and some just inside the inner gate on the left by the meadow.
- Mow grass in the meadow, around the pavilion and down the center pathway.
- Weed whack areas the lawn mower can’t access such as along the center pathway and charity plots (Do Not weed whack along people’s plots, these should be done by individual gardeners), behind the climbing beds, the far end of the garden near the gate that goes to Montana Creek, around the amendment piles (chips, composted grain and manure piles), the area leading to and around the weed pile, and around the sheds.
- Tidy up the Flower Bed next to the inner garden gate. This mainly needs small trees removed and orange hawkweed dug up (hawkweed should be bagged and put in the dumpster).
- Pickup and dispose of any garbage in the garden.
- Maintain Pavilion: Pull weeds and/weed whack under and around the pavilion, move chairs–wipe them down and place them in the exhibit area.
- Take old tires to the land fill; contact the Garden Board for reimbursement.
- Help maintain and repair equipment (weed whackers, mowers, wheel barrows, etc.). Contact John Thedinga (jfthedinga52@gmail.com).
- Paint trim on shed. Contact John Thedinga (jfthedinga52@gmail.com).
- Check condition of hoses behind sheds—hang up good ones and dispose of bad ones.
- Move large boards; they are along fence adjacent to plot D25. Cut into smaller pieces with circular saw or chain saw, and either move to burn pile if they seem burnable or if too rotten, put in dumpster.
- Clean out ditch; located from spent grain pile to fence (near the back of weed pile).
- Burn materials in burn pile. Check with the Garden Board before burning!
- Assist with Compost Project: Help build roof and help make compost. Contact Joel Bos (joelboster@yahoo.com).
Special events (contact Cynthia Krehbiel)
Charity plots – check the board next to the shed
Mowing and Weed Whacking
Weeding the Rhubarb Mound
Rebuild a charity plot (contact Sharon Fleming)
Cleaning out drainage ditches
Every plot rental includes a requirement to perform 5 hours of community service for a 10 x 20 plot and 1 hour for a climbing bed.
Your efforts will maintain our common spaces and keep garden programs and facilities running.
Garden Security
Close and lock the main gate 9-10:30 p.m. each night, beginning Sunday and finishing on Saturday.
Includes quick inspection of the lot, locking sheds & dumpster, turning off water faucets, closing perimeter gates.
Service credit: 3.5 hours.
Please only sign up for this service if you know you can lock the gate for the full week. In your email request, list a few optional weeks and your contact phone number.
Contact Janet Valentour: janet.valentour@yahoo.com
Tool & Equipment Repair
- Pump up wheelbarrow tires; bike pump is in the tool shed
- Repair broken wheelbarrows behind the shed
- The JCG is especially thankful to persons with the time and knowledge to keep our gas powered machinery in good repair.
Grounds Maintenance
- Weed the JCG Flower Beds next to the main gate.
- Weed the mound around the rhubarb.
- Mow grass along and between rows, along the roadsides, in the large open space beside the covered shelter, around amendment piles and compost piles, and around the sheds.
- Trim brush and branches away from the fence line corridor, inside and outside fence.
- Pick up and dispose of any garbage.
- Weed-whack areas that the lawn mower can’t access, for example, edges of the center aisle, around the charity plots, behind the climbing beds.
- Weed whack path to horse manure pile for access.
Weed whack around brewery grain pile and the chips piles. - Tarp weed piles.
- Burn wood piles. Make sure a second person is standing by with a hose!
- For details about grounds maintenance go to our Contact Us page and select Maintenance from the pull down menu of recipients.