Teenagers Gardening at G.E.E.E.

A group of teenagers organized by a local Grand Crossing church have been gardening this summer at the Dorchester Projects.  They've been growing a variety of herbs in raised planter boxes.  We took the opportunity to show them how we grow tomatoes in buckets.

How To Grow a Tomato Plant in a Bucket

We made this diagram to show how we plant a tomato seedling into a bucket.

Outdoors at Dorchester Projects

Behind the Archive House of Dorchester Projects, we have installed a trading post to trade or give away seedlings.

Gardeners typically plant more seeds than necessary, just in case some don't sprout, to share with neighbors, or to simply use all the seeds in the pack.  We started several several hundred tomato seedlings extra and dozens of basil, squash, pepper, eggplant and other herb seedlings

One of the missions of the Archive House is make it's collections accessible to the community.  As well, the Rebuild Foundation is developing its resources to meet the community's needs.  One need is to increase writing skills, both expressive lyrical and practical, such as writing resumes.

At our first Open Sunday, we not only asked people to leave a note, but to leave a poem.  Some people just enjoyed the opportunity to write a poem; some people really appreciated that we value a poem for a seedling.

 Outdoors, we don't use a piggy bank.  These items are only for trade or for free.  We use a water resistant box to protect the notes and poems left.

We have pepper seedlings.

We have tomato seedlings.

We are growing tomatoes in buckets.

Visitors can help themselves to some parsley.

Archive House Indoor Installation

Cream Co. has installed shelves into an existing indoor glass window of the Archive House.

"How It Works" is updated, simplified and posted on the wall.

Homemade jams and cookbooks are also supplied as items for trade.

A new piggy bank collects money on the honor system.  All moneys go to Dorchester Projects.

Don't forget to leave a note.

GEEE Installed at Dorchester Projects as Artist-In-Residency

Since June of 2013, Cream Co., as an artist-in-residence, has stationed at the Archive House of Theaster Gates' Dorchester Projects in the Grand Crossing neighborhood of Chicago.

Dorchester Projects houses a small library including 14,000 volumes from the now-closed Prairie Avenue Art and Architecture Bookstore. The archive at Dorchester also comprises a canonical collection of glass lantern slides from the University of Chicago's Art History Department, representing approximately 60,000 images.  By relocating these resources into a restored local space, a diverse audience is encouraged to access and use them for research, contemplation and performance material – enhancing both the edifying and creative function of a library while enabling an empowered sense of ownership for the community.

GEEE operates as a trading post at the Archive House of Dorchester Projects.

Out in the gorgeous back yard, our surplus plants are available for trade or for poems or for free.  A handful of tomato plants are growing in GEEE reservoir planters.  The heirloom tomatoes will be available for trade as soon as they ripen!

Indoors, a small corner has been reserved for trading our house plants and herbs for items that will benefit Dorchester Projects: indoor and outdoor gardening items, art materials, books and support to teach writing and resume development, musical instruments, record albums and always valued immaterial support: dialogue, advice, recipes and poems.

http://theastergates.com/section/193928_Dorchester_Projects_Library_and_Archive.html