The Orange Thumb Project

It’s time to prepare for the orange thumb season! The Project Orange Thumb is underway! What, you ask, Project Orange Thumb? I mentioned it last year- it is a terrific community gardening grant program. This is really great for solidifying a community and making your area a prettier, cleaner place. The Project Orange Thumb grant is sponsored by Fiskars (that company that makes those excellent scissors and other stuff– the only brand I’ll buy). It’s a grant program open to any community group (whether you be part of a gardening club or a youth group or a school) interested in improving the neighborhood with gardening, horticulture, “greening,” or desiring to improve your area with gardens. This is a terrific way to jumpstart a beneficial and beautiful community project! Twenty grant recipients from the United States and Canada will be chosen. Application deadline is February 17, 2009. That’s only a month away! Winners receive $1000 in gardening-related stuff and up to $1,500 in Fiskars gardening tools. Fiskars is an excellent brand, by the way. This is a really phenomenal project.

This is the 6th year of Project Orange Thumb; it’s been very successful, providing more than $300,000 to over 100 community groups throughout the U.S. and Canada! If you have been looking for an excuse to get your neighbors gardening, this is the perfect motivation. Go to the Project Orange Thumb grant website to see how you can apply, and read the rules for the grant. It’s not a contest or sweepstakes, and only groups (not individuals) may apply. But the deadline is February 17, so you won’t want to wait too long.