Going Green Foundation Prepares for Growing Season

The open field behind may not look like much now: two rows of freshly laid dirt and three boxed-in spaces with plants just starting to sprout.

But soon, that area will fill with peppers, tomatoes, lettuce, strawberries, onions and more–the first large-scale growing season for the Going Green Foundation, and a dream come to almost full fruition for founder Maureen McIlrath.

Her vision? To create a sustainable, organic food source for families, neighborhoods and eventually, whole cities. It’s an effort that doesn’t start or end with her, but one the Going Green Foundation is determined to be a part of.

It all started more than two years ago when McIlrath, then not even gardening at her own home, began to learn about organic community gardens.

“It started with me becoming conscious of not only what was going on with the food and what was going on in my community, but becoming more conscious of things,” she explained. “Then as I started getting more involved, I think I became more evolved, which means I started getting more involved in my community; I started learning more about this.”

And she learned quickly.

The Going Green Foundation and its biggest project–the farm–are two-and-a-half years in the making. In that time, McIlrath has earned nonprofit status for her organization, secured leased land from the city of Dearborn and has been through her first growing season, which began after breaking ground last June.

Now, facing her second growing season and easing into the idea of being a full-time gardener, McIlrath is eager to get her hands dirty–and the hands of about 40 youngsters, too.

The Crowley Park farm will be the site for 36 individual plots where local children will learn how to grow and harvest their own fruits and vegetables. Twenty of the spaces will be given to children from low-income families, while the other 16 will be paid spots for families looking to get their kids involved.

The six-week Saturday program, which begins May 14, will teach youth about recycling, how to care for plants, science and ecology. And the main goal is that even after the six weeks, kids will be able to take their fruit and vegetables home for the whole growing season to share and eat with their families.

“The point is for them to understand where their food comes from, that it’s not as hard as people think to do it, and that … I get a big joy harvesting my own food and eating what I’ve grown,” McIlrath explained. “I feel like I’ve done something positive.”

The rest of the space will be used for hoop houses, which are used like movable greenhouses to sprout plants in the off season, as well as a butterfly garden and–in the biggest area–crops that McIlrath plans to sell and share with the community through the Dearborn Farmers Market, as well as an on-site market.

“That’s my plan: to hopefully be able to distribute right here in the neighborhood as much as possible, work with local businesses,” she said. “I’d like to get a lot of the herbs I grow right into local restaurants.”

Eventually, she hopes to receive her U.S. Department of Agriculture certification–a three-year process that she has already begun–backed by a $6,000 grant from the USDA to be used toward getting the hoop houses up and running. And she wants to inspire and help others to start their own gardens and green projects.

“I started a community garden program through this,” McIlrath explained. “So what I do is if I get resources and I have extra, I share with other people who are doing this on smaller scales, and help them duplicate the idea.”

Like her farm, McIlrath’s clout as a go-to green individual in Dearborn continues to grow. She helps others in the area start their own gardens, has a hand in the greenhouse at , and will even have her own segment soon on city of Dearborn Television called Going Green with Maureen.

The Fordson effort is one the school approached her to help out with as it works to make the school greener. McIlrath helped them plan for their courtyard, and will lead a at the school on May 16, where community members can tour the greenhouse and learn about what students there are doing.

With each project, McIlrath said she hopes to show others that starting a garden–whether it’s for one person, or a whole community–is possible for anyone who wants to try.

“You can be like me and have no experience in gardening and come out and grow food for not only yourself, but your family and the community, and really enjoy doing it,” McIlrath insisted.

And as more people become inspired, she said she believes her garden and others like it will continue growing, both figuratively and literally, for generations to come.

“This is a lot of work in two years already, and another three years to get fully rocking,” McIlrath said. “I want to see this be in the community forever.”