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Smithfield, Rhode Island, United States
Hello all, and welcome to the Revive the Roots "Get Rooted" Blog! We are a Rhode Island non-profit corporation that takes on farm restoration projects for sustainable production and community building! This blog is our outlet for updates about our farms and corporation, for more information you can find us on facebook.com, FarmFreshRI.org and very soon RevivetheRoots.org!

Wednesday, June 15, 2011

Become a Community Gardener, Learn & Share with us!

At Niantic Gardens we host several Community Garden plots in order to give locals in our area an opportunity that they might not have otherwise. By hosting Community Gardens we provide a catalyst for neighborhood and community development, encourage self-reliance, provide opportunities for intergenerational and cross-cultural connections, and produce healthy food alongside one another as a community. 



If you are interested in the availability and pricing of our Community Garden plots please feel free to contact us.

info@revivetheroots.org
(401)305-0539

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Volunteer Application Form

A quick update for all Volunteers!

First and foremost we would like to thank all of our old and new friends for all of the great work they have done for us on this project thus far! We couldn't have gotten this far without all of you!


Secondly, we would like to welcome all of our incoming volunteers! By word of mouth and recent press coverage we have seen a huge increase in interest in our project and willing volunteers to participate. As apposed to focusing on 'how' we can accomplish a goal, we can now thankfully reach out to all of you for help, and we sure need it!

As you may or may not know, we are a non-profit corporation, and that means that even our Board Members are volunteers. The majority of us have even chose not to pick up any other jobs so that we can focus all of our energy towards this project, we are quite literally getting by and living off of love (thanks to the caring help of family and friends). So every bit of help, every and any moment you spend working with us is helping us immensely and we are so grateful for your willingness and desire to take part in our initiative!

Now, as far as working on the farm is concerned, there are a few things that you should know in order to have an enjoyable and fulfilling experience working alongside us on this project.

Our Address is 10 old forge rd, but our parking area and entrance are located on Farnum pike, if you look up the directions to 373 Farnum Pike, Smithfield RI you will surely find our field!

(This shows you directions from I-295 North)
View Larger Map

We work seven days a week, we encourage volunteers to work any day that they see fit, but we ask to please call ahead on any particular day that you would like to come by! We plan for BIG volunteer days on Fridays and Sundays , as those days tend to have a heavier work load and nearly the entire board works on those particular days!

We start work at 8 o'clock, but we don't ask volunteers to come until 10am and our work day typically ends between 4pm & 8pm.

Things to bring:
*(asterisk means very important!)
  • *water
  • *lunch
  • metal rakes
  • hoes
  • hat (the sun beats on you particularly hard in an open field)
  • *work boots/work shoes
  • gloves (optional, we can supply gloves)
  • dress in layers, we have funky weather in New England!


for directions/information call/text Greg @ (401) 654-3865 or email info@RevivetheRoots.org


We hope to see you soon!



Wednesday, May 18, 2011

An upate in regards to the previous, and current week!

Revive the Roots would like to formally thank all who attended our Wine & Cheese for all of the support. Including the donations we received from non-attendees, the wonderful grant from the Smithfield Land Trust, the door fees, and the silent auction, Revive the Roots made about $5,650! Needless to say, this event was a huge success!

We now have the funds to prep our fields for the planting of vegetable starts, fruit and nut trees, and berries! Up to this point, we have been growing veggies in our own greenhouse that was designed and built over this past winter by Zachary Murdoch with the help of all of us on the board and our volunteers. However, we needed more space to start our first garden, so a gentleman, named John Emin, stepped up to offer his own high tunnel space and his services watering every day. John also was one of the first to guide us in our initial proposal to the land trust. Thanks to John, we now have thousands of vegetable seedlings growing larger everyday!

We would also like to thank Barbara Rich and the Smithfield Land Trust for the $1,200 grant and the chance to make this vision a reality! This is the opportunity we’ve been waiting for!

In addition to those mentioned above, we would also like to thank Lonnie Thurber, Monroe Allen, Forte Four for the beautiful music, Greenvale Vineyards, Newport Vineyards, Sakonnet Vineyards, Shy Brothers Farm, Newport Creamery, the Potter League, all the businesses for the silent auction items and gift cards, Green Drinks, Smithfield Peat, mulch, all of our wonderful volunteers, the University of Rhode Island,
And thank you again for attending our event! We can confidently say that it was your presence, support, and contributions that made it all worthwhile. 

On another note.......

We will be hosting a Volunteer Driven work this Sunday May 22nd at Niantic Gardens, all who are interested in coming by just for a visit or lending a helping hand are welcome!
We plan to construct more raised beds, plant some veggies! We rely heavily upon volunteer efforts so anyone who is willing to help us out this weekend please come by for some hard work and some fun afterwards!

So long as the weather permits, we plan to get a burn permit for the day so we can have a bit of a bon-fire!

We will start work at 10am and finish sometime between 3pm and 4pm.

Things to bring:
*(asterisk means very important!)
  • *water
  • *lunch
  • rakes
  • hoes
  • hat (the sun beats on you particularly hard in an open field)
  • *work boots/work shoes
  • gloves(optional)
for directions call/text Greg @ (401) 654-3865 or email Greg@RevivetheRoots.org

We hope to see you there!


Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Calling all helping hands, again!

Last week was a success!
Thank-you again to all participants last week!

Last Sunday we brought together a great group of hard working volunteers to begin preparation of our raised beds for community gardens & production. We had gotten plenty of work done over this past week and have already begun preparing for another, even bigger, volunteer driven work day.

This Sunday, May 15th we will be working in the fields of Niantic Gardens to construct more raised beds. We rely heavily upon volunteer efforts so anyone who is willing to help us out this weekend please come by for some hard work and some fun afterwards!

So long as the weather permits, we plan to get a burn permit for the day so we can have a bit of a bon-fire!

We will start work at 10am and finish sometime between 3pm and 4pm.

Things to bring:
*(asterisk means very important!)
  • *water
  • *lunch
  • rakes
  • hoes
  • hat (the sun beats on you particularly hard in an open field)
  • *work boots/work shoes
  • gloves(optional)
for directions call/text Greg @ (401) 654-3865 or email Greg@RevivetheRoots.org

We hope to see you there!


Saturday, April 30, 2011

Our story thus far...






The Revive the Roots Foundation is an organization that began in January of 2011, but our roots are based within friendship. As a group, since our beginnings, we have wanted to transition to a more self-reliant and healthier life-style. In it’s immature stages this idea was fulfilled to some extent by our imagination, creativity, and exploratory nature. All of our dreaming begun to pay off as soon as we started to show initiative on the Englsih families property “Wionkhiege Valley Farm,” where we fully developed our goals and aspirations.








An immense opportunity presented itself fresh off of the grape vine. There had been an un-occupied and unused property right around the corner from Wionkhiege Valley Farm that had been formerly owned by the late Mary Mowry. Upon her passing, F. Monroe Alan had been appointed executor of the property and with no use for the property, and fearing the continuation of this, Mr. Allan gave the property to it’s current proprietors The Smithfield Land Trust. We immediately began the preparation for a presentation to the Land Trust, as to explain to them what we wished to use the property for and how it could benefit our community.


The Land Trust and Town Council embraced our idea’s and aspirations with open arms, and we are currently being leased the property, formally dubbed Niantic Gardens. We are forging ahead with our projects and are already fathoming future endeavors. We welcome all to become character’s in our tale and to make significantly positive changes in their own lives, as well as assisting in our participation as a community in a movement that will change the face of American culture and the definition of living well.



We intend to strengthen and empower our home, with one hand in the soil and the other in yours.

Thursday, April 28, 2011

Some new additions!

Our new little buddies!

Our plant order came in, and we met it with soil and persistence!

Chris displaying our impressive load of strawberries!

We've had a-lot of new additions to the project, mainly being our new chicks & our enormous plant order. We learn something new every single day that we work on this project, whether it be how to tend to the chicks, how to plant trees, or just how to work as a team. We invite any, and all who are interested to join in on all the fun of this amazing new project that we have started. You can get in on the action either by emailing us at info@revivetheroots.org, or simply signing up to be a volunteer! (click that link and be brought to the Volunteer Sign-Up form)

We hope to see you on the farm soon!
Peace & Love.