The grant process is simple. Kids, or a group of kids, apply for grants by answering a few simple questions: why do you want to plant a vegetable garden to feed people in need? Where will you plant your garden? Who will help them grow your garden, and where will you donate your harvest?

Why do kids around the country apply for grants from Katie’s Krops to grow change in their community? Their reasons vary. Some grantees grew up being supported by emergency food programs that offered no fresh produce. They want to provide something better for those whose families currently rely on the very same programs.  There is a brother and sister team who reside in a community that was affected by a tornado. Residents in their communities lost everything and are in need of food. Their garden will supply food to the effected families.  Their reasons may be uniquely theirs just like their gardens.

Grantee gardens grow in unique locations. Katie’s Krops funded gardens are growing at public libraries and in backyards. Our gardens flourish on roof tops and in raised bed planters. Empty lots are turned into gardens of dreams by kids from 9 to 16. But one common bond, one dream connects us all.

We may be young but we are growing change in our communities. Our harvest impacts our communities in amazing ways. Our South Carolina grantees are donating their harvest to the food pantry that their school needed to start because so many students were struggling with hunger and unable to concentrate in class. Their fellow classmates will donate fresh produce to stock the food pantry.  Soup kitchens, food banks and families in need coast to coast benefit from our bounty.

Once upon a time there was a nine-year-old little girl from South Carolina who dreamed of growing a vegetable garden to help feed people who did not have enough to eat. She started with a garden in her back yard and then her school. Her dream grew along with her gardens. Four years later the impact from the dream of that little girl can be felt in communities across the country.

My name is Katie, and I am that little girl with that big dream. Never did I imagine how my dream would impact my community and communities across the country. Katie’s Krops gardens are now growing coast to coast. The concept is simple, grow vegetable gardens and share the harvest with people in need. The impact…amazing. Thousands of pounds of healthy fresh food has been shared with individuals who are in need. Perhaps it is what I didn’t envision, what I couldn’t image at nine-years-old that has surprised me the most.

Not only has Katie’s Krops donated thousands and thousands of pounds of fresh fruit and vegetables to soup kitchens, homeless shelters and families in need but we have also prevented thousands of pounds of waste from entering landfills. How? By composting waste from our schools, homes and Katie’s Krops Dinners we added much need nutrients to our gardens and kept it out of landfills. By helping our gardens we have had a positive impact on the environment.

Education has also been impacted by Katie’s Krops gardens. Our gardens and our grantee gardens are growing in community gardens, in backyards, in parks, at Boys & Girls Clubs, at churches and at schools across the United States. These gardens have become outdoor classrooms teaching environmental science, nutrition, agriculture and in the case of our gardens, compassion. Volunteers learn not only how to grow healthy food but they learn about the world around them. They learn that they, at a very young age, can change and can help their communities. These are lessons that they will, that I, will carry with me throughout my life.

I am thrilled to see the impact of my dream on communities across the country and I am very excited to see what else will continue to ‘grow’ from it in the year to come.

My love for gardening grew with each seedling I planted, each vegetable I harvested, each garden I started. As Katie’s Krops grew so did the need for volunteers to help in the gardens. I put out a call for volunteers at my school. The call was answered by the youngest students, the kindergarten class. They came to plant the seeds of change in our community and in doing so they became part of the magic.

The kindergarteners took to the soil with their spades and shovels. They opened the earth and planted our gardens with such excitement. They were connecting to the growing process. They were learning where the food they eat comes from.  They were soaking in the sun and learning to be kind to the earth so the earth will be kind to them. When kids begin cultivating their love for gardening at a young age, it grows as they do.

Their participation did not end on the day. My young volunteers saw the fruits of their labor. They visited the garden,helped to water their seedling and came to harvest. They were enjoying the magic that is gardening.

Those Kindergarteners who came to plant on that day are now in the second grade. I am thrilled to say that they just helped to plant our spring gardens. They, like me, have ‘grown’ to love gardening and the magic that blossoms from each and every seed they plant. It is never too young to realize the magic that can happen in the garden and appreciate the blessings the earth can provide. _­­­

My local soup kitchen/homeless shelter became my favorite donation destination. It was a sad day when they had to shut their doors due to lack of funding. Families and individuals in need in my hometown no longer had a place to go to receive healthy meals. I knew I needed to take action.

My friends, their parents, and our teachers came together to create a healthy meal for those in need. I may not be able to donate the vegetables to our local soup kitchen, but we, working together, could create our own soup kitchen. We sought out a local church with a large industrial size kitchen and a big, beautiful dining hall and asked them to help provide a location to host our dinners. The food, well, that was easy. I had big beautiful gardens filled with fresh healthy food. The meal would truly be garden to plate.

The menu would be based on the harvest in the gardens. It is as simple as picking fresh vegetables hours before the meal, creating a delicious dinner and serving it to our guests only hours later.

The Katie’s Krops Dinners have made me look at my crops differently. Garden to plate; this simple concept has changed my view on gardening and cooking. When I plant a seedling now, or as I pick vegetables at their peak, I am thinking of the yummy meal this vegetable will contribute too, the recipes it can create, the people who will benefit from it and the fun of cooking it. The seedlings I plant are going straight from the ground to the plates of families in need. Perhaps the most reward part of the dinner is meeting and sharing a meal with the families that benefit from Katie’s Krops. To view a few of the recipes from our Katie’s Krops Dinners, garden to plate, please go to http://www.katieskrops.com/katie-cooks.html.

I equipped my neighbor with the Safer® Brand Magic Start® Grass Patch Transition and asked them if I could help them restore their lawn back to the flawless grass that it once was. They were more than happy to give me permission, and so I got started. Check out the before pictures of the areas that were less than ideal!

For the next week or so I could not have asked for better weather conditions to help make my neighborly grass growing plan more successful. The temperatures ranged in the 60’s, and every day there was a nice afternoon rain shower to help encourage the grass to grow. By the end of the second week you wouldn’t have known that certain areas used to be bald!

I bet you’re wondering how this all works! Through a mix of nitrogen, phosphate, and potassium this condensed mulch containing seed, starter, and fertilizer is everything you need to fill in patches in your lawn. The nitrogen helps make your lawn green and neutralizes areas damaged by pets, while the phosphate fosters sturdy roots. Potassium is great for preventing and fighting disease!

Using the product is super simple, too! I just cover the bare area with the powdery substance and then water it. Watering the product will turn it a bright green, which lets you know it has been activated. Over the next two weeks the grass was watered once a day, mostly by rain, and voila! Amazing green lawn!

To learn more about this product visit http://www.saferbrand.com/store/organic-lawn-care/3610 and to learn more about Organic Lawn Care check out ecofriendlylawncare.com!

This is how it all works…

When you purchase a Best Value Solution from http://www.saferbrand.com/store/best-value you will receive a concentrated formula along with an application bottle. The concentrated formula will make four ready to use solutions for the price of three! Your choice of a 32-ounce sprayer, a 50-ounce sprayer, or a 128-ounce sprayer is available to you and should be used to mix and apply your solution.

Our top-selling solutions are available in this convenient formula, and all are OMRI listed which means they are compliant for use in organic gardening. If you haven’t yet tried using a concentrate formula we suggest you do so. The benefits to you are:

• High value product
• Savings – pay for three, get four!
• OMRI Listed
• Free Shipping!

To shop our Best Value Solutions visit http://www.saferbrand.com/store/best-value. Be sure to share with us which solution you chose by talking with our community on Facebook!

Our backyard garden started as a small patch in the corner of our house but as our passion for gardening grew so did the size our vegetable garden. I knew my father shared my excitement when he suggested we remove all of the ornamental shrubs that lined the back of our home to make room for more vegetables. Out came the shrubs and in came vegetable seedlings, strawberry bushes, herbs and trellises to allow for climbing vegetables.  In our ever expanding backyard garden my brother and I explored what we loved to grow (watermelon is his favorite & cabbage is mine) and had a few happy surprises. This past spring we mistook a gourd seedling for a cucumber seedling and before we knew it to our great surprise an enormous 8 pound gourds, not cucumbers, were handing from the window screens on our home where  they climbed their way up. It made for the most unique view and the best Halloween decorations.

Gardening has not only change the view from our windows but it has led to exploring new recipes and an excitement for cooking.  After growing a bumper crop of Japanese eggplant & zucchini my dad dug up an old family recipe from his father. My brother and I took to the kitchen with our harvest and whipped up ‘Papa Stags Eggplant Delish’ . To my surprise I love eggplant and my brother zucchini.  There is no better produce stand than our own backyard.

As our garden adventures continued my grandparents joined in including my 95-year-old great grandmother, Grammie. My Grammie had spent her childhood on a farm in Poland and working in the Katie’s Krops gardens brought back childhood memories that she was eager to share . Still, at 95 years old my Grammie cooks a very special Christmas Eve dinner for my whole family.  The 1st course is cabbage soup, Kapusta, a dish from her native Poland. It was a very special moment last Christmas when I was able to provide the cabbages for her soup from my garden. Although our childhoods  may have taken place almost a century apart and half a world away the garden became our come bond.

What started as a way to give back to those in need in my community has turned into a way to bring my family together. From the backyard to the dining room table our family’s bond has grow along with the garden we grow.

Late in 2011, the Rodale Institute released their 30 year side-by-side farming study, comparing organic farming systems against conventional farming systems. This report not only confirms all of the thoughts and outcries felt by organic gardeners like yourself, but can provide you with the facts you need to convince a friend or family member to grow organically in 2012.

Here are the 7 facts that prove organic farms outperform convention farms. To read the entire study, click here.

1. Organic plants are more resistant to drought conditions – The study shown organic corn yields were 31% higher then conventional yields in years of drought.

2. Those “Organic won’t feed the world” claims are incorrect!– The Rodale Institute found that after a 3 year transition period, organic yields were equal to conventional yields year over year.

3. Organic farms = $$ – Results of the study show that the average net return per acre of an organic farm is $558/year, compared to just $190/year for conventional farms.

4. Healthy Soil = Healthy Plants – As most organic gardeners know, synthetic pesticides and fertilizers damage the health of your soil by stripping them of nutrients and eliminating beneficial insects and organisms. This study proves our thoughts by showing organic farming practices improve moisture retention and in turn, produce healthier soil.

5. Organic uses less pesticides – Another common fact of organic gardening is that organic gardening/farming requires fewer pesticides. Since pests are becoming increasingly resistant to synthetic chemicals, conventional farmers are spraying heavier doses of chemicals in order to have the same affect. Organic pesticides work WITH nature to eliminate the pests, not damage the soil or harm beneficial organisms.

6. Organic uses less energy – The study shows that organic farming used 45% less energy then conventional systems, thus providing 28% higher production efficiency.

7. Organic produces less GHG’s – The study shows that conventional farming systems emit almost 40% MORE greenhouse gases per pound of crop production, then organic farming systems.

We feel these are some staggering claims, proven by the study. We invite you to read the remainder of the study and learn why organic gardening and organic farming is able to feed the world! For more on our technology and our products, click here

The new project will make plots of land available for public lease so residents can plant and cultivate organic gardens. While the current space only allows room for a few organic gardeners, this new space will allow up to 30 gardeners and additional plots across the city.

The continuous push for organic community gardens across the country is a movement that Safer® Brand is in favor of, but Safer® Brand supports such efforts in the likes of support for Katie’s Krops.

You have been aware of Katie’s Krops from our Facebook charitable campaign as well as Katie’s most recent post here on myorganicgardeningblog.com. Katie is looking to expand her children run organic gardens across the country and Safer® Brand wants to support such efforts by providing Katie with grant money as well as outfitting each garden with an full line of Safer® brand products, to keep the gardens pest free.

You will surely hear more about Katie’s Krops as we enter 2012, as well as community gardens supported by our Master Gardener, William Moss and his ‘Get Out and Grow’ campaign.

I also had the pleasure of meeting the editors and Editor in Chief of Organic Gardening magazine, THE publication in the organic gardening sector. What a truly amazing organization and the employees we interacted with on our trip go to show why Rodale is the industry leader!!

Another unbelievable part of the trip was a visit to the Rodale Institute, a research facility located about 20 minutes from the Rodale campus. Truly amazing things happen at the Rodale Institute including one of the biggest breakthrough studies in organic gardening. The Farming Systems trial matches Organic Farming right up again Conventional Farming to determine which method produces the highest yields, profits, lowest energy input, as well as the lowest greenhouse gases emitted.

The results of this study were not secret to us who have been gardening organic for many years now. Organic farming produced similar yields, while requiring less energy and emitting less greenhouse gases. This study was a 30 year study and provides definitive evidence of the sustainability of organic farming.

One walk around the Rodale Institute, led by their Executive Director “Coach”, shows just why Rodale Institute is a top notch facility and providing us with proof to why our organic gardening and way of life is not going anywhere soon, and can help feed the world. Their newest study matches up GMO crops against organic crops to determine which produces the highest nutritional value. We are all anxious for the results of this study, but we already know organic gardening is superior.

Visit the Rodale Institute’s website and read some of the amazing educational information on their website, including the great article on GMOs and Sustainable Agriculture, and Compost tea.