Project Orange Thumb

My husband and I tried to start a vegatable garden last spring. It’s a great way to do something good for the environment, enjoy the fruits of your labor while saving a little money, and really enjoy the summer months. Unfortunately, a completely shaded 5×10 balcony isn’t the place to grow award winning tomatoes and green beans. We’re looking forward to the day that we can plant a real garden and enjoy our own produce, but until then we’ll watch Project Orange Thumb grant in awe.

Project Orange Thumb is a grant program that awards thousands of dollars worth of green goods and Fiskars gardening tools to groups focusing on green living, sustainable agriculture, horticultural education or neighborhood beautification. Community garden groups, schools, youth groups, camps, and clubs are all eligible to submit their application, including their creative answer to this year’s following question…

In an inter-galactic exchange program, an alien is sent to Earth to learn our ways. The United Nations chooses you to explain how gardening makes you feel. Express in it non-verbally because, of course, he doesn’t speak your language.

They want to know how gardening makes you feel. Not how to plant a seed or water a garden. What it does beyond the obvious. I love that.

If you’ve got a “Orange Thumb” and your group has a compelling answer for how gardening makes you feel, submit an application to Project Orange Thumb. You can put all those gardening tools to work and get your community garden flourishing this spring. Deadline is February 17th, so you have a little time to think about the question and get creative!