PURPOSE
Beauty is absolutely a basic-human-need.
Watching the buzz-beater, laughing with a newborn, dressing-up real fancy one night, seeing a loved one succeed. We can all agree that after experiencing something amazing, awesome, and inclusive, you get a high that can last days. To be within and a part of aesthetically beautiful creations is agreeably life-giving.
Art is not just some fancy thing that rich people “understand”. It is purely appreciating the aesthetics of life and incorporating them into the fabrics of our creations.
We want to beautify our lives by collaborating with local artists. By working on visual projects, we want to learn and teach the fundamentals of how authenticity, purpose, and positivity can be spread through Art.
PEOPLE
Leads
Graft Team
Special Thanks
Bridget, Charlie, and Bede of Resilient Spirals
Melissa and the whole team at UNI
Bourne Building Co.
DHDC
PROCESS
Sandwich break
Local homegrown eggs from our good friend (organic, free-range, you know…all that good stuff), organic kale from the greenhouse, and a solar-powered cooker…what can be better than community coming together for healthy & delicious food?
Upcycling Cutting Boards
This week’s class was focused on tapping in to our creativity to Upcycle. Huge thanks to our own Logan who prepared the materials and guided the students to finish their very own upcycled cutting boards.
12-week Workshops with Detroit Middle Schoolers
We partnered up again with the amazing team at Urban Neighborhood Initiatives to continue our STEM+Environmentalism curriculum. This semester, from Feb through Apr, we have the pleasure to work with the middle schoolers. While we would have preferred in-person workshops, we are committed to providing a quality experience virtually for the students! Let us or […]
Playing ADAPT on the Garden Table
Shout out to Bridget of Resilient Spirals, who developed a one-of-a-kind card game called Adapt that guides players through an interactive process of designing the world of their dreams. We had laughed and had a great time while uncovering priorities and new ideas for our garden project.
Local business helps move some raised beds
Our new friend Marco from GreatLakesDecoConcrete.com spontaneously offered up tremendous community service. Word got around that we needed help moving around some heavy raised beds for the new garden layout. Thanks for your generosity and expertise Marco! Saved us time and our backs…
Building Winter Compost Bins
Huge thanks to Jesse from Starr Valley Farms for leading the build and workshop! The goal is for the neighborhood to continue feeding this custom vermicomposting bin (worm composting) all winter long, so black gold will be ready by spring.
Created a Garden Table Portal
As in-person classes are in flux, this custom garden table provides a simple way for youth to come into nature and back to learning. This was created from some salvaged material and with help of local artistry; it was a wonderful way for the community come together.
Hauling Some Donated Mulch
Thanks to Courage Church for the generous mulch donation and the neighborhood muscle. You can never have too much mulch!
Planting more Perennials
Fiddlehead Ferns, Perennial Arugula and Celery, Serviceberry trees. Thanks to Mike for contributing your time, energy, and positivity on this awesome Saturday! We are a big step closer to the Permaculture Forest Farm…
Volunteer Saturday
We spent today tidying up the lot, weeding, mulching, and painting the garden table. Fatimah, Tracy, Samreen, and friends were a huge help and brought so much energy to the project.