$1,000 Green Grant Award Goes to Hands on Harvests

Logo for Hands On Harvests with drawn hands holding a plantHands on Harvests in Fairfax County is awarded a $1,000 Green Grant in the Recycle and Waste Reduction category as part of Keep Virginia Beautiful’s 15th Annual Green Grants program.    

Every year, government, non-profit, civic, and service organizations in Virginia are invited to apply for grants ranging from $500 to $1,000 that will help address environmental concerns in their community.  Grants must focus on one of the following priorities:   Litter Prevention, Recycling & Waste Reduction, Cigarette Litter Prevention & Recycling, or Community Beautification. 

HOH programs include Grow A Row, which provides free seeds, seedlings and education about sustainable growing practices to gardeners who donate some of their harvest donated — having received over 10,500 pounds of fresh produce in 2024 to donate to those in need!  They also have a program called FarmBot, an agricultural robotics program with public school partners, as well as food gardens in food-insecure areas.

Volunteers adding soil from wheelbarrows to create a new vegetable garden.Composting is an essential part of every HOH garden: It allows us to dispose of garden debris on-site, which then decomposes into compost that we can put back into the gardens to nourish our plants. Composting reduces the need to buy bagged amendments, eliminates pollution and fuel consumption related to transportation (from the garden center, to the landfill), and creates feelings of proud stewardship and self-sufficiency among our gardeners.

With funding provided by the Green Grant award will be used to purchase a compost aerator and two bins for storing dried leaves that can be added to the pile throughout the year.  They will also create bilingual signs that explain in simple terms how to compost and would provide free bilingual composting training to the gardeners, garden mentors and students so they know how to: cut and add debris, balance these greens with browns, turn over and water the pile, and recognize when it’s ready for use.

By using a composting system at their community gardens, they will be a model for the organization’s two guiding principles: self-sufficiency and sustainability. Thank you Hands on Harvests!