Private gardening classes and tours of the Demonstration Garden are available for small groups. Please e-mail with details of your request.

Available at Common Ground:

• D-Handled spading fork 43" long
• 50' 30% shade netting
• 50' of remay floating row cover
• Redwood Seedling Flats (3 full size flats and 4 half size flats)
• Haws Watering Can
• Hula Hoe
• Transplanting Trowel
• Hand Fork

Needs to be built:

• Mini-Greenhouse 5 x 10"
  (see pages 135-39 in "The Backyard Homestead Mini-Farm & Garden Log Book")
• Wheelbarrow Soil Compost Sifter
  (see pages 135-39 in "The Backyard Homestead Mini-Farm & Garden Log Book")

If you would like to volunteer in the Demonstration Garden, please call Common Ground at 650-493-6072.

Would you like to make a tax deductible contribution to help fund the Demonstration Garden? You can help in any of the following ways:

• donate online using a SSL-secured online transaction! PayPal makes it easy and safe to contribute to Common Ground using a credit card or fund transfer. Just click on a contribution level below:

• mail a check to Common Ground, 559 College Avenue, Palo Alto, CA 94306. Please indicate that your contribution is for the demonstration garden.

The teaching and demonstration garden project of the Common Ground Garden Supply and Education Center in Palo Alto received a grant of $2500 from Rockwell Collins. A record number of grants were awarded as part of the 2009 Rockwell Collins Green Communities Program. Started in 2004, Green Communities has helped fund numerous projects that have benefited the environment in locations where Rockwell Collins operates.

This is the third year that the garden project has received a grant from the Green Communities Program. Only projects conducted or sponsored by qualified non-profit organizations were eligible. The following criteria were used in making project selections: 1) tangible environmental benefits of the project; 2) sustainability of the project benefits; 3) participation in the project by Rockwell Collins employees; and, 4) completion of the project within the calendar year of the grant award.

In response to our dear friend's encouragement and support the Church's Outreach Commission elected to donate Common Ground's Demonstration Garden. In June 2009 $1,000 was granted for Planting Seeds of Change as we train ever more Backyard Gardeners.

"I have been volunteering at the Common Ground Demonstration Garden since March 2008. Supporting the mission of Common Ground is great. I have discovered that the benefits to myself are greater: I am constantly learning new aspects of sound organic gardening, how to feed the soil properly to help plants thrive. This information directly benefits my own garden. I meet and work with people who share my interests and I get to spend enjoyable hours outdoors getting a healthy workout better and more fun than any available at any gym. The work at the Demonstration Garden feeds my soul." Marie-Louise Rouff

"If you want good energy dancing, come start here in the garden and your energy will grow like the vegetables!" Nella

"I have no garden of my own, so I have the opportunity to learn biointensive gardening techniques here with a group of very fun people. Seeing the garden soil become amazingly friable after double digging (easy on the back!) and growing one crop has shown me the efficacy of these techniques." Ann Gunderson