Coleman Adult Day Services
6695 N. Chestnut Street Ravenna, OH 44266
Coleman Adult Day Service is a community agency located in Ravenna, and serves approximately 50 clients per day, ranging in age from 35 to 95. The Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers (MGV) have been providing programs at Coleman since 2008. PCMGV's provide hands-on activities 3-4 times a year with the adults who are served by this facility. Some examples of the activities are salsa making, garden planting and holiday centerpieces using live greens. For more information please click here: Coleman Adult Day.
Edible Kent Gardens
There are many volunteer opportunities encompassing a wide range of activities with Edible Kent. In 2024, our Master Gardener Volunteers took responsibility for the two Edible Kent gardens which border the Haymaker Farmers Market. We added edible plants to the existing grounds and manage the gardens throughout the summer. The goal of the gardens is to provide education about nutritious plants and demonstrate how to grow various vegetables and herbs. These gardens are located next to the Master Gardener Volunteer table at Haymaker. More information on this project can be found here: Facebook Edible Kent.
Haymakers Farmers Market
The Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers staff a table at the market on the 1st and 3rd Saturdays of the month from May through September. Feel free to drop on by to ask any of your most pressing horticultural questions, as well as receive Portage County Master Gardener Volunteer class information and educational handouts. Information on the farmers market can be found here: Haymaker Market.
Holden Elementary School Garden
The goal of the Holden School Garden project is to support the Holden Elementary School community’s use of their garden as a hands-on educational resource. During the school year, teams of Master Gardener Volunteers provide grade-level specific classroom and garden-based activities that are linked to the school district’s content standards in science, mathematics, social studies, and language arts for students in grades 1 through 5. During the summer, Master Gardener Volunteers continue to provide support in the garden to the 4-H SPIN Club. Additional information on the school is here: Holden Elementary School.
Kelso House
The Kelso House is a historic museum in Brimfield. In 2014, the Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers restored and repaired the Kelso kitchen gardens, adding period plants and herbs. Every year in June, children from the nearby elementary school tour the museum. Master Gardener Volunteers teach children how important kitchen gardens were in an 1860s home, both for food and medicine. Details about the Kelso House is located here: Kelso House.
Leighton Elementary School
We are currently assisting a fifth grade class to restore student-created gardens at Leighton Elementary School in Aurora. The project connects horticulture, nutrition, and food sampling to the state curriculum. Learn more about the school here: Leighton Elementary School.
Let’s Grow Ohio Challenge
This is a state-wide challenge for Master Gardeners from each Ohio county to collect and contribute as much food as possible to food pantries, like our local Raven Packs, to better support food insecure citizens. Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers collect and contribute produce gleaned from their home gardens and community gardens (such as Holden, Leighton, Shepherd House). Produce numbers are then tallied and passed on to the Ohio State University. More about this exciting program can be found here: Ohio Victory Gardens - Let's Grow.
Portage County Seed Library
Groups of Master Gardener Volunteers and Portage County citizens meet at our local libraries to sort and package donated seeds. The seeds are then 'checked out' by library patrons. The patrons agree to save seeds to donate the following summer/autumn.
Portage Garden Helpline
Provides a resource for all Portage County residents and organizations from April 1st through September 30th. The Help Line project consists of answering questions from the public through our internet form at: go.osu.edu/pchelpline. Please click here for more information: Portage Garden Helpline.
Shepherd House of Portage County
The Food Forest Gardens are a cooperative project of the Shepherd’s House (previously Haven of Portage) homeless shelter and the Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers. The gardens provide fresh food for the Shepherd House kitchen and Raven Packs for distribution to residents of Portage Metropolitan Housing Authority apartments in Ravenna. The gardens include annual vegetables such as garlic, tomatoes, peppers, squash, cucumbers along with perennial fruits and herbs including apples, seedless grapes, pears, mulberries, strawberries, blueberries, red raspberries, chives, oregano, thyme, and mint. Native plantings include serviceberry, daisies, purple coneflower, and bee balm to attract pollinators and provide beauty. Additional information is located here: Shepherds House.
Thomas Anderson Gardens Monuments
The Portage County Master Gardener Volunteers have planted native pollinator plants around the three monuments in the Historic South End of Kent and monitor and manage these small gardens as needed.