Garden Beds: Beginning to Raise Some of the Beds

I drove by the garden this morning and some of the beds have been built up (by Doug and crew) -- Thanks to Doug Hilton and Phil Ramey (both master gardeners) and their crew for the work, and AARP and United Way for the money that made buying the supplies possible.

Fall clean-up day 2012

Saturday morning was a great day for garden clean-up. We had more than 25 volunteers, and among them many Master Gardeners, who came to help. Many hands makes quick work!

Here are some pictures from our morning -- we had fun doing hard work and the garden looks gorgeous -- just right for winter weather that's headed our way.

Many thanks to everyone who helped, and to Chef's Pizza, who donated our post-work feast.

This is what happens when you don't harvest your sweet potatoes in time -- beauties this big aren't much good for eating, per Master Gardners. Doug is the real beauty in this picture, though, of course!

Master Gardeners aren't afraid to get their hands (and everything else) dirty:

Taylor and Jackie pull up tomatoes:

Everybody working:

Eagle Scout Bradley (on right) and his brother Eric have a good time "punching" the compost down:

Finally: the garden at the end of our work:

Thanks again, everybody! Happy day!

Transition time

Sorry it's been too long since I've emailed or posted a blog -- a lot has been going on in my life, the most recent of which has been a hard drive crash that really did keep me from communicating well.

The first thing I want to write about is our Saturday, October 27 garden celebration/clean-up day. We're going to start at 10 a.m., and it's going to be pretty low-key. You may or may not know: the First Presbyterian Church shares with us the property upon which Harvest of Hope is located. One of the church's few requests of us is that when we bed down the garden for the winter, we leave it in good shape. Saturday, October 27 is when we're going to get the garden where it needs to be for the winter. Please join and help us!

What's in it for you: Not only will we do good work together; we'll also get to eat together. Doug Hilton, our superman Master Gardener, has talked to Chef's Pizza, and they will be donating pizzas for our lunch. Please let me know if you plan to join us that day.

The other thing I wanted to let you know is that my family and I will be moving to Virginia in December. This has been a decision long in the making, and not an easy one. I want to thank you for giving me the opportunity to serve our community at Harvest of Hope in my disorganized and disjointed way, and I want to encourage you to continue to grow our garden. We need folks to join us in leadership roles to carry the Harvest of Hope garden forward. We hope that other community gardens will be born as time goes on, and we need you to help grow them.

Here are some pictures from this week -- first, the tomato cages as well as straw and manure/compost that Doug and Phil have gotten for us for filling up the beds once Eagle Scout Bradley has finished raising them to 15 inches.

Second and third -- our fall garden, with lettuces and broccoli ready for harvest.

Happy day!

Listen in!

My friend John gave me a heads-up that Sam Jones will be on NPR this week.

I first encountered Sam through a local voluntary simplicity group, and since then have mostly waved at her as she bikes and I run by on the Greenbelt, but every chance I get to interact with her I'm wowed by her faith in action and her wealth of knowledge. She's as friendly as she is smart.

Anyway -- Sam is a community activist who was integral to the founding of the Carver Community Garden in Johnson City. This week she's the guest on NPR radio show Religion for Life. Here's the link, and, in case you don't want to link, here's the bit about it:


My guest this week on Religion For Life is Sam Jones who blogs at Tennessee Transitions. She is a community activist and advocate for transitioning our communities and our lives to the post-petroleum reality that is coming.  She speaks candidly about the issues that we are facing as well as the importance of living simply.

Thursday, September 20th at 8 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Sunday, September 23rd at noon on WEHC, 90.7.
Sunday, September 23rd at 2 pm on WETS, 89.5.
Monday, September 24th at 1 pm on WEHC, 90.7..
Via podcast beginning September 25th.


If you can, also check out Sam's blog (see link to Tennessee Transitions above). Good stuff; I need to read it more often myself.

Go, Sam!

In news of our garden, I'm sorry I'm not being more bloggy these days -- a lot of unrelated stuff going on for me. Watch in the next couple of weeks for more info about our October 27 celebrate and clean-up day. Anything you'd like to see or do that day? Let me know!

Happy day.

Raising the beds

Yesterday, Doug and I met with Bradley and his mom. Bradley is a local Boy Scout working on his Eagle Scout award, and he's chosen Harvest of Hope to be his project. Through the winter, he's going to be raising the sides of our beds to approximately 15 inches, so that we have deeper beds all around. We're thankful Bradley's chosen us, and look forward to working with him! If you see him in the garden, be sure to thank him yourself!

Here are some pictures from yesterday afternoon -- Bradley and his mom, Suzie:

Doug talking to Suzie and Bradley about composting:

And just because it was so lovely, one of the Holston Valley Unitarian Universalist Church's fall plantings, starting to grow:

God bless your day!

Meet Doug!

We have a new master gardener working with us at Harvest of Hope, and he is super. Doug is a former force recon Marine who grew up in Gate City but has been in Kingsport for quite a while. He's going to help us do great things. Thanks to Nancy, who recruited him to our cause, and to Doug himself for joining us and being so ready to help.

Here's the garden -- we're starting to clean some beds and ready for fall. If you are planning on a fall garden, it's time to get it going if you haven't already. We're working on clearing some beds now.

If you're in the garden, please harvest what's ripe and take it to share!

Happy day.

No better time

As my husband and I harvested the rest of our corn this weekend, and -- GULP! -- canned for the first time (nobody was injured : ), we talked about how glad we were to finally be trying this, which we'd talked about for more than a year.

We also talked about how there's no better time for us to figure it out, and to try to pass it along to our kids. Food prices are going to get higher, especially this year, as a result of the severe drought most of the country has been feeling -- here's just one article about it. There's no better time to be growing your own, and learning to store some of it.

Happy day!