MSU ExtensionGardening in Michigan

So let's get started.Welcome everybody tothe final 2022cabin fever conversation episode.Abby and I are here.We are both extension educators withMSU Extension based out of Lansing, Michigan.And cabin fever conversationsare centered aroundlighthearted andcasual conversation that willhopefully spark some joyand excitement about gardening,which today and snowy Lansing has,I think much needed.And snowy all over Michigan,much needed, kind of sourceof joy and enthusiasm.The conversation will beabout 30 to 40 minutes,and it will be followed byquestions from you all from the audience.如果你有任何问题,please put them in the Q and Adown at the bottom,and they will be directed to Abby and I.And we can ask our guestKelly, your questions.And also we have ASL interpretation today.Thank you, Lisa so much for being here.If you need live captions,live captions are enabled.You can move them around on your screenor you can hide them ifyou don't need to use them.I'm using a little carroticon down at the bottom.So with that,I think I'm going to pass it over toAbby to introduce our speakertoday. Thanks so much.So we're thrilled to have our speakertoday for the thirdin our shortened 2022 season.Today we welcome Kelly McClellanfrom Edible Flint,just about an hour awayfrom us here in Lansing.So thank you so much for being here, Kelly,I know you'rethe program director at Edible Plantwhere we're excited to learn more,both about the work thatyou're doing and how you'regrowing both community andplants in Flint, Michigan.So I thought just to get started,we can talk about whatis bringing you joy this time of year.I know Isabel shared the snow.It's a great timein Mid-Michigan.What's bringing you joy right now?Yeah, thanks so much, Abby.And thanks for having me on this afternoon.I'm really excited to talk with you all. Yes.If you had asked me this questionyesterday, I would have said,I think the snow is finallydone and then woke up this morning.And we've got a few inches here in Flint.So I think what's bringing me joy to things,my house plants becausethey are green and they are growing.And then also conversations like these,talking with our Edible Flint volunteersandother community gardeners about what we'replanning to grow this springand summer and how we're planningto work together andshare good food for the community.Yeah, I love that.I think this is the time ofyear when a lot of people start to getexcited for the hopes and dreams oftheir garden of the summer, right?You can kinda forget about thethe errors of years past or what wentwrong and have that blank slateto start with.So it's an exciting time for sure.Definitely, yeah,lots of dreaming and lots ofseed cataloglooking... looking through seed catalogs.Yeah. I was totally in the same boatto like us " SPRING is here!"And I was like, "Oh,I'm just kidding... it's Michigan."So Kelly could you tell usa little bit about the origin of Edible Flint?Yeah.So Edible Flint isa non-profit organization here inFlint and we have been around since 2009,so I have not been involved withedible Flint since 2009.I've been involved for aboutthe last four years.But Edible Flint reallystarted with community members,gardeners, farmers,people interested in local food in Flint,coming together and wantingto connect with eachother on things likeproductive use of Flint's空地,访问权resources to supportgardening and food production,治愈thy food access and thenalso connection to each other.So Edible Flint's mission is tosupport community residents in growingand accessing healthy food in orderto reconnect with the land and each other.So we see kind of like the,the technical parts ofgardening and growing food as just to,just as important asthe people side of food and food access.So yeah, that's a little bit aboutthe origins of Edible Flint.And definitely want to shout outto the folks in the organizations thatstarted this organization thatcame up with that mission becauseI think it really hasguided our work the past 12,13 years and continuesto be really relevant today.Yeah, that's a very,it's a very bold mission,but I also think it's such an admirable oneto not just think about, you know,the production andhow to create as much food as possible,but also how to createrelationships and connectionsand place-making and community.So I know you sharedkind of that original vision.How has it evolved to be whatit is today and what is it today?What is what is kind of likethe primary program areas?Yeah. Great question. So so yeah,over the past 12,13 years, a lot has changed.A lot of programs havebeen created and most ofthose programs still exist today.So some of our key programsinclude our garden kits,which we provide every year.So they are just going onsale this week andour online orders open next week.So Flint folks, if you're on the call,I hope you're consideringpurchasing one of our garden kits.And those kits include all the seeds,all the transplants, and tons of information,kind of a how to guideon how to grow a garden,whether it's in your backyard,whether it's a community gardenor a church garden.We provide those every year.And over the past few years,a lot of our programming hasfocused on our educational farm.So about three years ago,Edible Flint was really generously gifted.An urban farm spacejust south of downtown Flint.So we have named it theEdible Flint Educational Farmand have worked reallyover the past two yearsto bring it upto producing a lot of really fantastic food,relying on our volunteers.And this year our focus atthe farm is on education.So we've got a whole series of workshopsand lunch and learns and kids programming,as well as just informal times for people tocome be in the space, see what we're growing.So the farm has definitelybecome a larger part of, of what we do.Then kind of getting atthe connecting people to each other piece,Edible Flint has hosted a food garden tour.I've I think there's been 10 or 11 of them.We didn't have food garden to her in2020 and 2021 because of COVID.But we are working to bringthat back in 2022,which I'm really excited about.And so that is where wegather people and either take busesor convoy of bikesthroughout the city to visitdifferent gardens and showdifferent typesof food production in the city.So really kind of just a celebrationand a time toconnect and share successesand maybe share challenges too.So I could goon and on about all our programming.But that's, that's the summary of it.Thanks.It's I think it's really special to havethat farm and that gathering spaceand sort of like the huband a place for peopleto kind of gather and learn.So why do you think the work that youall do is important and howdoes it serve the community?Yeah, great question.So the work of Edible Flint reallylargely supports a strong local food system.And that involves everyonefrom the person who's growingtomato in their backyard to puton their burger or whatever.To an urban farmer,to someone who's doing alittle larger scale production.So we really focus on the backyard gardeners,the community gardeners andthose people maybe takingthe first steps intoselling what they're growing.But the work is important because it helpssupport a source of治愈thy food and fresh foodand locally grown food in Flintwhich has always been kind of a desire.And we haven't always had the,the supply to keep up with the people whowant that amount oflocally grown food in the city.One thing I mentioned whenI was talking about the origins of Edible Flint,was talking about land use.So similar to some other urban areasin Flint, or in Michigan.Flint has a lot of vacant landwhere there were once homes orbusinesses or industrial sites.And Edible Flint workswith a lot of groups to turn some ofthat vacant land intoproductive space for growing food.And there are a whole set ofchallenges that come along with that.I'm sure a lot of you are familiar withpotential soil contaminants and needinga source of safe and fresh water.And so those aresome things that we kind of walkpeople through and provide resources on,is how to turnthat vacant land that isreally abundant in the city of Flint.Into an abundance of fresh local food.Yeah, it's really interesting to think ofall the unique things aboutFlint and how thiskinda fits into all of those.I know you mentioned, you know,the water crisisI know that was a lot of emphasis oncommunity gardening and accessto fresh fruits and vegetables.And then even just seeing what'shappened over the last couple of years.I know we've seen in Lansingthe interest in gardeninghas increased so much.The interest in being alittle bit more self-reliant and ability,and ability to kind of supplement foodsthat we are getting elsewhere beforeit has just increased so much.So always interesting tothink about the unique.Aspects of a place thatcause programming to develop, right?And I think for those of us,on our call board who are in different areas,It's whenever you're thinkingabout starting programs like this,it's so helpful to think aboutwhat are assets locally.I know in Lansing,we similarly have the asset ofvacant land and a lotof which is in floodplains,which is not necessarilygreat for building, right?So what are those unique local featuresthat make a program like thissuccessful and help shape it.So that's cool.So can you tell us a little bit about both,maybe like how the communityinteracts with the organization.Uh, you know, you've shareda little bit about that,but also I'm curious how that impactswhat ya'll grow andhow that kind of like how they are ableto inform the growth of the farm.Yeah.So one of the,my favorite things about Edible Flintis that our all of our programming,all of the work that we do isplanned and led by community work groups.And so and that was that'sbeen since the beginning ofEdible Flint to now.So just kind of structurally, you know,I am our one full-time employeeand then everything else that we do,it happens because ofAmericorp service members andvolunteers and community partnersand our rock star Leadership Board.And so that meansthat anyone can have a sayin how our programming goes andAnyone can have a say inwhat we're growing at the farm,which I think is, isa fantastic asset that edible Flint has.And I kind of see my job as making sure thatevery work group has what他们需要做什么,他们想要做什么。Both kind of the,the tools andthe connections and the resources.And so folks who are in Flint andGenesee County are welcometo join any of our work groups.So our work groups are really specificto our programming.And then we have a few work groupsthat focus on kind of likea structure and organization of Edible Flint,you know, as an organization.And so on our website,I hope that all of you will visit Edible Flint.orgnow or after this conversation.There's a breakdown ofall of our work groups,what they do,who's kind of the leader of that.And a great place to startif you want to get involved,but you're not quite sure andyou're in Flint or Genesee County,is we offer amonthly what we call our networking meeting,which is really just kind of a timefor gardeners to gather.We've been meeting on Zoomover the winter and problem.Our meeting will be on Zoom in March,but I'm hoping inApril we can be out at the farm.There won't be three inchesof snow on the ground.But that's a great placeto come to learnwhat all the work groups are doing.Kind of see where your interestsand expertise might fit in.And it's also no commitment required.You could come to one network meeting.Really like what you hear,but decide, you know,I don't have time for thisand that's totally fine.And so so yeah,I think keeping that community involvementand community leadership in all ofour work has been a really big strength ofEdible Flint since it wasfounded so many years ago.Yeah, I think kind of havingthe community defineits needs and then trying to meetthose needs as is really important.So let's talk a little bit about the farm.If that's okay.What kind of things do you all grow?And I'm particularly interestedif you grow any sortof perennial food crops,or is it mostly just veggies?And you could tell us a bit more about that.Yeah, definitely. So rightnow, it's mostly veggies,although we have plans to hopefully dosome more edible perennials in the future,we've got a few Berry bushes.We put in some strawberry plantslast year and we have,what I call our too sad cherry trees as wellSo that's on the list forthis year's few that.But what we really focus on showcasing ishow you can grow foodat all different levelsof kinda of how much space you have,the tools you have, the time that you have.So this year we're goingto be showcasing everythingfrom how to grow and containers and pots.我们百分度na do some coldframe demonstrations,which I'm really excited about.We're going to do some container gardening.That could be translated tosomeone who has a back patio.That's the space that they can use togarden and grow food.Then we show kind of your traditional inground garden at different sizes.We have a whole section of raised beds.We also have two hoop houses.在我们的箍的房子,we show... oneof our hoop houses this year isgoing to be more focused on,on the educational piece.So wide paths and kind offurther spaced plants so peoplecan really get up close and kind of see,好的,这是我们如何把我们的西红柿。And this is what it looks like up closewithout being right on top ofanother tomato plant or something like that.But we're also going to,in our other hoop house, showcase.You know, the tighter rows,the more... more intensiveplanting, if you will,that someone who like I said,is taking those first stepsinto maybe selling what they grow,where are trying to grow at a higher volume,can kind of see what that will look like.So the whole point of our,of our farm is for for people tocome and experience andexplore and then take some pieces back to,to their home or community garden.So in terms of the plants that we grow,it's really a variety.And we, like I said,work with our farm work group as well asour larger Edible Flint communityto determine what we grow.So last year we grewokra and one of our hoop houses,and that was a hot commodity.We had people coming bywanting to know the next timewe'd be harvesting okra.And so this year we're planting more.We also learned last yearthat we had way too many tomato plants.We went a little wild withvarieties of tomato plants last yearSo we're going to parethat back a little bit.We also have grownsome different types of winter squashes.So we had one last year,I think it was called a pink bananasquash that I had never grown before.And it grew, it was like thisbig, it was humungous.We couldn't talkabout education and learning.We had to do some learning to figureout when is the squash ripe and whenshould we pick it. But thatsquash and a lot ofthe other winter squash that we grew,were part of our vegetable soup that we hadat our fall harvest festival last yearshares, which was delicious.So another exciting thing I want to shareabout the farm is that we're addinga children's garden space this year.So really focusing on plants that arecolorful and maybe fun flavorsand textures and smell amazing.And a place where when kids andfamilies come to the garden that can betheir first stop to reallyexperience and learn where food comes from.It's so funny to think aboutthe things that you expectpeople to want froma garden and thensay get that feedback right?Like okra, I feel like I've heard froma couple of people isso in demand because they just don'tfind it locally very often.And it goes real quick.And then I think weall have the narrative of like,there's no such thing as too much tomato .But when it comes down to having toprocess hundreds and hundredsof pounds of tomatoes,it can very quickly be a thingof of too much tomatoes.Definitely, Definitely, Yeah.And one thing that we tryreally hard to do iswhen people come tous with those things like okra, orsome different herbs and things.And they say, Hey,I'm having a hard time findingthis the market or at the grocery store.We do our best to find those seeds andthose plants and grow themso that we can be that,that local source of food that's indemand.what's the most unique herb or crop or plant,that you've started growing inresponse to community demand.Oh, that's a good question.is there any herb that we maynot be super familiar with there?Something fun.We grew last year with stevia.And I don't know that that was superin response to like community demand,but just because we wanted tosee how it would growand it's a fascinating plant,Used as a sugar substitute.And so anytime I would havekids or come out to the farm,We'd walk over there and be like, Okay,Tastes this leaf andlet me know what you think.So Stevia, we tried our hand atgrowing ginger and one of our hoop houseslast year and it went alright.And what else, what else?Ginger is a hard oneand our northern climate,I know a couple of smallfarmers in Michigan that I'vetried their hand at it and keepdoing it because it's unique,but it's definitely notthe most efficient use of space in Michigan.Yeah, yeah, we did.Something that we incorporate it intoour garden kit last year was a pepper pack.So we worked with the Latinx technologyand community center here inFlint to identify some peppersthat were in demand.And so we demonstratedgrowing those at the farm andalso offered those peppersfor sale in our garden kits.And that it will be offered againthis year, which is really exciting.So I have a question.If people want to come visit the farm andhow do they go about doing that?Definitely.So the best way thatwe would invite you to visitthe farm would be to volunteer.And we have volunteer daysthat will begin in mid April.I think we're looking at starting thoseApril 12th this year.And we are out there onTuesdays, Thursdays, and Saturdays,10 a.m. to 1 p.m.all throughout the growing season formid April to late October.But we would ask that youconnect with us before you come out.So there's a simple volunteer signup on our web page.So if you havecomputer access andare comfortable with that,then you can sign up rightthere and we will add you toour our list of volunteers.You can also give us a call.We'll share out our phonenumber at the end of thisand we will get you signed up and,and connect with you.We've been really lucky tohave a fantastic groupof Master Gardener volunteersas kind of like our core.farm volunteers and they'rejust a great group to be a part of.So volunteeringis one option to visit the farm.We also have eventsthroughout the season and we're almostready to share our full calendar ofworkshops and classes andthings for the summer.So we'll have a series oflunch and learns willhave a series of workshopson Saturday afternoons.And I'm really excited forour fall harvest festival.That'll be in October,which we did last year,and we haveplans to make it bigger and better andmore of a community celebrations here.Is that where you eat the soup?That's where we ate the squash soup!Yes. Yes.and it was one of those October days thatwas like 75-80 degrees.So everyone's like sweating, eating soup.It was yeah.Yeah.So you mentioned the stevia plantthat you grew I'm curious.I've never grown Stevia before.So is it something thatyou found seeds from and started yourself?Where did you have to gofind plants somewhere?Because I think that's often the interesting (thing)We all think about like what isthe most interesting thing I can getmy garden and then the Lansing community,we have a lot ofimmigrant and refugee populationsthat sometimes somehowfind some unique seeds fromtheir home countries, and find a way to grow.in Michigan's climate,which I'm always impressed by.But I'm always curious about the origins ofsome of those things that werenot used to seeing.Yeah.Yeah. Great question.So wait, the Stevia I know we gotsome transplants from one ofthe local nurseries that we worked withto to supply our garden kits.I also think and I'm not sure Ginnyone of our farm volunteers is on the call.I think she started from somefrom seed at home as well.So I think we had both transplants and seeds.But I know that it is moredifficult to start from seeds and wewere able to tosource that from one of our local nurseries.Thanks. Yeah.So looking towards the future,I know the organization has shifted andgrown so much since you started back in 2009.What do you hope to accomplish?Or what is the, what's the visionfor where Edible Flint goes from here?What are you hoping to get back?Yeah, yeah.So I think continuing因为它在我们的工作任务is so relevant and stillso the work isstill so needed in the community.But a few things we've goton the horizon is expanding our work atthe farm and reallyfocusing more on aneducational opportunities,engaging more people inthe work that we do at the farm.And then also working to kind of be part ofthe larger network supportingoverall urban agriculture andfood production in Flint.So we've really kind of focused in,especially in the last year or sosince I've been formally in this role,we've really focused onsupporting backyard gardeners,community gardeners,and very beginning kind of market gardeners.But there's a whole arrayof other organizations that we work with tosupport urban farmers andkind of really robusturban food production in Flint.And then I think the third thingthat I'm hoping to strengthen inthe future is just continuing tocelebrate food and celebratewhere food comes from.Celebrate the people who grow our food,even if that's us as an individual andan I really see Edible Flint asa key part ofcontinuing to build a culture in Flintthat appreciates and understands andsupports locally produced foodby our friends and neighborsand community members.Love that! So another questionI'm curious about is whatkind of you mentionedthe one community partner whichwas Latinx Tech organization.I didn't catch the full Name, butI'm curious how else you've worked withcommunity partners or what aresome of the other kind英诺华的tive partnerships thathave come out of this work,maybe the unsuspecting community partners.Yeah, great question.So we've got kind of thethey're really aligned partners.So our local conservation district,the Flint Fresh Food hub,and we work really closely with.So those are the folks you would expect.Some other partners are kind ofjust based on proximity.And so there is a new building being built,maybe two or three blocks away fromour farm site by Genesee Health System,which is going to betheir youth mental health facilitywith kind of all their youth services.And so we have worked withthem and they areplanning to open their building,I think, either later this yearor early next year,and hoping to work really closely with them.But they were a key partner onour fall harvest festivallast year with reallyconnecting with neighbors becausethey - coming into the neighborhood - thatwe're kind of already establishedand they wanted to connect withneighbors and kind ofshare what that facilitywas going to be doing and kind ofwhat resources would be therefor for community members.So that's one kind ofout of the box partnership.And trying to think of any others.We would not be able to do what wedo without our AmeriCorps service members.And there's a really strong network ofAmeriCorps members servingat all differentorganizations throughout Flint.And so some really fantastic connectionshave come through our AmeriCorps memberstalking with other servicemembers throughout the city tobring programming or bringparticipants to what we're doing.So yeah,我会highlight those partnerships.So there's a question thatcame in again about the urban farm.And I know it's, it's Edible Flintbut there is curiosity.Do you grow any sort ofpollinator plants or native plants?or, you know, anything that's a littlebit outside of that edible box.But still, you know, connected.We do and we have plans to grow more.And so one partnerwho I neglected to mention,but I'm sure you all are familiarwith is MSU Extension.And so Barsland, who'sbehind the scenes on this call,works really closely withus and it's going to helpus put in some more pollinator plantsand do a native plant workshopat the farm this year,which is really exciting.So we have a small existing spaceof, of pollinator plants,but we are really excited to expand that.I've heard ofthat organization to create such a plant.So there was another questionthat came in from the audienceabout your gardening kits andhow do you choose whatgoes in there? as well as I know youmentioned early on which I reallyappreciate the kind ofvariation and whatresources people have access to, right?So not everyone might havea quarter acre community gardenwhere they're participating in.Some people might want tohave a couple boxes ontheir porch or something like that.So do you have variations in your kits orwhat what do you kinda provide thereif you can give us any insight into that?Yeah, that's a great question.So I will direct you toEdibleFlint.org/gardenkitsto really dig into all the details,but I'll talk throughthe highlights right now.So we have, like I said,our community work groups and ourgarden starters work groupthat works on the kids meets year round.So right now we'rereally ramping into puttingthe kits together overthe next few months with our seedsand transplants.But from August toJanuary we were meeting regularly,connecting with folks whohad bought our kids inthe past and talking withother community gardens and seeing,okay, what do people want,what do people want to see?And one key thing that weheard over and over this year,this past year, was that our traditional kit,as we called, it was too big.It wasn't meeting whatpeople needed because they were havingto find homes for their other plantswhich was happening andthey were sharing with neighborsand sharing with family.So what we did is we cut the kit in half.We cut the size of it in half.So you got all the same plants,just half of them.And you have the option,if you have one of the larger gardens inour traditional kit was a great fit for you.You can purchase two, and it'sthe same price as it was before.And so we we changed that inresponse to what we werehearing from community members.We also added two kit options this year.So last year we added pack.This year we added a greens kit.So we're going to have kale, collared,mustard greens, turnip greens,and enough seeds ofthose so that people can dosuccession planting and havea source of greens all year long.So we added the greens kit.We also added an herb kit,which is kind of somethingthat had been on our minds forawhile and we are offeringa limited number of those this year.So definitely check out our website forexactly how many plants andseeds and things are in each of the kits.We focus a lot on making sure thatthe price points are not something that's,that's going to be prohibitive for people.And we also accept EBT,snap benefits to buy your,your garden kits because you canbuy plants and seeds with your bridge card,which is something that we're trying to,to spread the word about more this year.Okay.So we have one morequestion for you and then Ithink we're going to turn to moreof the audience questions.Well, what folks who want to learn more orSafari support your project need to know.And how can they do that?Yeah, great question.So I again, will just echoour websiteHas everything that we've got goingon and I try to update itreally regularlywith with upcoming opportunities.If you want to stay in the know,definitely sign up for our e-mail newsletter.That's a pretty easy sign-up on the website.We have a newslettercoming out on Monday withall the info about garden kitsand some upcoming opportunities.So sign up before then and you'llget it in your in your inbox.We are a non-profit and wesurvive off of donationsand grants and funding.So if you have it in you tobe generous with a donation,there's that opportunity onour website as well.And then also justCome out to one of our events.Volunteer at the farm, We'd loveto see you get to know you.You know, we serve Flint and Genesee County.We've had volunteers fromoutside of the county as well.So if you're ever inthe Flint area, you know, make a day of it,come volunteer at the farm on a Saturday,do lunch at the farmers market,maybe do a mural tour around town.There's, there's a lot to do here.I love it.So along the lines ofthe community partner question,we're curious.An audience member asked if there areany other health organizationsthat you work with.So how do you make those links betweenaccess to healthy food andthen some of the other aspectsto support community health.Yeah, great question.So one thing thatI neglected to share thus far,but is it one of our big partnershipsis with the Hurley Food Pharmacy.So Hurley is the hospitalhere in Flint and they havea food pharmacy wherepatients are referred there to get治愈thy array of foods and they walk throughthe pantry witha nutritionist or someone who's,who has nutrition trainingand really learn more aboutcooking withfresh foods and things like that.So that's where we donate mostof the food that we grow at the farm.And they have supported us with resources andwith connectionsto other organizations supporting health.So that's one key health partnershipthat I can't believe I haven't mentioned yet.It's really impressive.I feel like it's justlike layers upon layers,connection and a communitywhich is really fun.We had another question that came inthat I really, really like,if you could clone yourselfor hire an assistant,what would be the first couple of things you将增加啊r do more of?Well, that's a really great question.First of all, I would just have themtake over my work so I could take a nap...More seriously, I think.I think we have a lot of opportunity to,to do more programmingat the farm and at othersites in the community.And I think this year we're just kindof constrained by capacityand kind of like this is whatI'm comfortable putting on our calendar.So I think if if Ihad another person on board,I would want to do more classes,workshop, informal times toconnect about growing food.Both at our site and then it atthe community gardens that wework with throughout the city.And I know you shared a little bitabout some of the donation work youdo in partnershipwith local health organizations.But do you have any other,like food sharing programsor opportunities for folks toeither share food with each other or withothers in the community who are engaged?Yes.So we don't have anythingformal setup right now,but a resource that we are working我们很快就会分享,is a kind of directory of food pantries andother food organizations that would gladlyaccept donations throughout the garden given.And so we've been connectingwith, with these groups.And we'll kinda put it all onone page so that if you haveyour inevitable abundance ofzucchini at the end of July or early August.We can direct you withsomewhere that will gladly takeit and share it andmake sure that it gets eaten.Great.And we have one atone final question fromthe audience member going to wrap it up.But where would somebody start?If they wanted to dosomething similar in their area?That's really good question.I think 1 first step would be to lookfor anyone in the community who's alreadydoing this type of work and just learnmore about their experience,what they've been doing.And see if you could partner work together.There's no sense recreatingthe wheel or kind of, you know,starting from scratch ifsomeone's already two or three stepsin to starting a community gardenor an organization similar to Edible Flint.I know that there's also some resourcesthat you all will send out,kind of just astep-by-step guide to like how do yougather the people andthe resources and the site to,to start some sort of community gardening.So I think my first step would definitely begetting connected withinyour own community andseeing if there's other peopledoing similar work,are interested in doing similar work.That be step one.That's such a great recommendationbecause I think so often whenwe discover a problem forthe first time or we discover like an idea,也许我们应该开始社区花园。It can be easy to forget that there have beenpeople who are working towards that solution.And I think a lot of folks have this energy.I'd like, I'm just going to do something.And it's important to get connected withthe folks who are doingthat work in your community.And I know they're reallywonderful people and a lot ofcommunities throughout Michigan whoare engaged in this kind of work.And so not to just reinvent the wheel, right,get connected and looped in withthose community grassroots organizationsalready doing great work.That's a great reminder.Yeah.And another thing that I'll I'll kind ofleave with is it's okay to start small.You know, if, if your community garden oryour whatever effort youwork with starts withtwo or three raised beds.That's an awesome start.And that will probably bring inother people were interested inwho were really enthusiasticabout gardening andgrowing food for the community.Awesome, Cool.So with that, I thinkwe're going to wrap it up.Kelly, thank you somuch for joining us today.I learned a lot from you and I'mexcited to get involved with Edible Flint.And so this isour last cabin fever episodeof 2022 as well.So thank you so much toour audience members for joining us.One last thing is we do have a survey.We would like you all to please complete,just offering feedback about the program.So it's up on the screen.We'll also send it out along withadditional resources in the follow-up e-mail.But I have the QR code.If you have a smartphone,you can use your smartphone to just kind ofnavigate to the link very quickly.And we would appreciate yousubmitting the survey andgiving us some feedback.Abby,is there anything you would like to add?Just it's been great having youall with us again this season,thanks to those of youwho have been with us sincethe first one back in March 2020,What we thought this would bea much shorter program.Turned out. So it'sbeen another greets you then appreciateall of those who have watched with usalong the way andwe'll hopefully see you next year.Yeah.And thank you so much to our interpreterLisa, today as well.Yeah.Thank you for your support.Thanks, everybody.Great.So I'm going to stop sharingand say goodbye. Thanks everybody.And thank you so much, Kellyand both of you for being here.Yeah. Thank you.This was fun.