FORT Green Team Enhances Recycling Efforts by Overhauling Recycling Center

FORT’s Green Team has overhauled its main recycling center to encourage recycling of previously unrecycled items and improve proper sorting of recyclable items. With crucial assistance from FORT’s facility manager, the Green Team installed shelving to make space for additional recycling bins for separating electronics from DVDs/CDs, batteries, small metals, and toner cartridges; and plastic bags from bubble wrap and plastic packing pillows. The new bins not only allow FORT to recycle previously unrecycled items, they will help to prevent “contamination” of bins with non-recyclable or improperly sorted materials, which can lead to entire loads of recyclables being dumped in a landfill. FORT’s recycling center continues to provide large bins for corrugated cardboard, #6 blocks of Styrofoam, mixed stream items (paper, paperboard, plastic containers, cans), and polystyrene peanuts; and the box for recycling LED and CFL light bulbs remains in FORT’s main copier room. The recycling center overhaul also entailed fresh wall paint, wall guards to keep bins from bumping the wall, new informational signage, and a FORT Recycling Center banner!

 

The People’s Garden in Fort Collins, Colorado

New garden sign with harvested vegetables on rock.

In 2009, the U.S. Department of Agriculture planted its first People’s Garden at the USDA Headquarters in Washington D.C. It was named in honor of President Lincoln’s description of USDA as “The People’s Department.” The mission of the People’s Garden is growing healthy food, people, and communities. In Fort Collins, CO, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) employees in Building B reached out across agencies to the entire National Resources Research Center (NRRC) campus, which included non-APHIS USDA agencies and the Department of the Interior’s USGS. Many employees worked hard to plant and nourish a garden area that would produce food all summer long for the Larimer County Food Bank in Fort Collins. This year, the People’s Garden donated a grand total of 339.36 pounds of produce to the food bank. This is an amazing, wonderful accomplishment!

All produce harvested from our People’s Garden was donated weekly to the food bank. Although we did feed a few local “furry” friends (i.e., rabbits, deer, and raccoons), we are very proud of our achievements. This effort would not have been possible without a great team of volunteers who prepared the garden, planted, weeded, and watered the plants from June to October. The volunteer gardeners, led by Karen March, included Sarah Allely, Anne Berry, Theresa Boyle, Cameron Donahue, Renee Fabini, Catherine Jarnevich, Camilla Kristensen, Cynthia Melcher, Bruce Meneghin, Laura O’Gan, Gordon Reese, Kasey Reyling, Vivian Salinas, Nadia Schulz, and Lisa Wambolt.

One new initiative enabled more NRRC campus employees to get involved in the People’s Garden program this year. We started using an online signup sheet to make it easier for employees to volunteer for different activities and choose which days they are available. Thank you, Theresa Boyle, for setting this up!

A huge thank you to Building B Manager Mary Garin and Facilities Technician Mary Mitchell for supporting us in this endeavor and making this possible. We look forward to a bigger and better harvest next year.

Three sisters: corn, beans, and squash.

Cucumbers with 3 sisters in the background.

Volunteer hand-watering garden.

 

 

Update on the People’s Garden

First day of planting.

The people’s garden for 2015 was planted by Kasey Reyling, Andrea Marks and Jody Burrows on June 1^st. They were able to plant a couple of seed starts that were grown, but most of the plants came from Gulley Greenhouse and Garden Center. The soil put down with the worms last year showed great promise for a successful gardening season and has not let us down.

The first harvest was collected on July 15th and produced 6.8 pounds of veggies and herbs for the food bank. The harvest included 4 cucumbers, 4 peppers, one tomato, one head of broccoli and several bunches of salad greens and herbs. This has been the largest first harvest in people’s garden history at building B.  So far our harvest has netted 78.8 pounds of produce.

First harvest.

The People’s Garden 2015.

The People’s Garden 2015.

Having a successful garden comes with its troubles as well. People’s Garden Coordinator Kasey Reyling had to chase a rabbit out from under the cabbage in June, but the damage to the green leaf lettuce was already done. He had quite the feast. The weeding is a never-ending job. We also have a resident young buck with beautiful velvet covered antlers. He seems more interested in laying in the shade by the hose hook-up then in the garden though.  The raccoons have completely destroyed the corn but they seem to be leaving everything else alone.

The People’s Garden’s resident buck.

The lone pumpkin is reaching state fair status and the Building B Green Team is planning a ‘guess the weight’ raffle during the month of October where the proceeds go to the food bank and the winner gets to take the pumpkin home for Halloween.

We encourage everyone to stop by and take a look at the progress and ask any questions you may have.

MAX is on the way!

The City of Fort Collins Mason Corridor and MAX Bus Rapid Transit projects are on track to bring some exciting changes to the NRRC Campus. The transit system, when fully operational, will enable riders to travel on the MAX buses between Harmony Road and downtown along the Mason Corridor.

The closest station to the NRRC campus will be the Spring Creek Station. Employees will be able to access the University Mall/Whole Foods shopping center and the Spring Creek Station via the Spring Creek Overpass. The structure features switchback-style ramps on both the east and west sides of the bridge. See more on the MAX project at http://www.fcgov.com/max/construction-information.php

We’ll keep you posted with more information on MAX – including discounted bus passes for NRRC employees!

The People’s Garden at Building B

In 2010, a group of employees in Building B created a People’s Garden in response to Secretary Vilsack’s People’s Garden Initiative. This initiative challenged employees to create gardens at USDA facilities. The garden was initially planted in pots on the back deck. This effort was made possible by a grant from the building managers which provided funds to purchase matching pots for the garden. Each pot was adopted by an employee in the building, who was responsible for its care during the work week. Volunteers would come in over the weekends and on holidays to maintain the plants. The garden was located on the back deck for the first two years, then moved to the front of the building due to lack of sunlight and wildlife activity out back. 

 

This will be the second year that the People’s Garden is located in the front area of the building. Each year, the People’s Garden Committee sends an  e-mail to everyone in Building B recruiting volunteers. Over the years, Building B employees have supported the garden by donating time, seeds, plants, and cuttings. 

The garden has produced a variety of produce including zucchini, acorn squash, tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, peppers, spinach, radishes, swiss chard, chives, broccoli, and strawberries. In 2012, 358 pounds of produce were grown and donated to the Food Bank for Larimer County. The caretakers of the garden also accept donations  of excess produce from employee’s home gardens to donate to the food bank. To learn more about the Building B People’s Garden, contact 2013 Coordinator Kasey Remley at Kasey.V.Remley@aphis.usda.gov.