Tomato time!

Kathie sends this word:

Greetings from the gardeners: Pleased to report that today Clarence picked 25 lbs of tomatoes from the community garden & delivered them to the Kitchen of Hope. This first picking will be the first of many (we hope). Please spread the word that these fruits should be used ASAP and enjoyed for their goodness and nutrition.

It appears that the fresh potatoes have been used by recent K of H cooks - great!

Stay tuned for more info re crowder peas as these will be ready for harvest in September.

Thanks, Clarence and Kathie!

Good things

While I've been in beachside slowdown mode, I hear the rains have kept our garden going in the other direction! Last week, Ventana sent me some pictures of her girls in the garden with their Nana, and then delivering some of their harvest to Beverly at the St. Paul's Food Pantry. Thanks, Ven! Beautiful!

I also got an email from Alicia, another gardener, saying that she and her girls were proud to deliver 20 pounds of tomatoes, cabbage and one green pepper to the Salvation Army. Thanks, Alicia!

And, last but of course not least, Kathie wrote again to say that overall about 170 pounds of potatoes have been delivered to the Kitchen of Hope from our garden, and are being very well received by the diners there. Kathie said it's almost time for fresh tomatoes to be heading toward Kitchen of Hope from the garden about every other week.

This is good stuff we're doing, gardeners. Thank you so much!

Potato post

Blogger at the beach, folks, so even more spotty posting than usual. I've turned off as much of my responsibilities as I can do.

It's great, then, that Kathie emailed me today to tell me how happy the Kitchen of Hope folks have been to receive fresh potatoes from Harvest of Hope! I'll let her email speak for itself:

WOW - what a hit the new potatoes were with our guests at the Kitchen of Hope this evening! Several asked for seconds, even thirds. I announced that they came from the Harvest of Hope Garden & many knew of what I spoke. One man was amazed that volunteers from the community worked to give the KofH fresh veggies - he told me that nobody ever does such nice things for folks like him - I was very moved! The dining hall applauded when I told them that there would be more veggies coming & they all seemed grateful for the efforts of our gardeners - makes the work worthwhile I'd say! Kathie

PS: I took a photo of the potatoes in the steam table & will post to Clarence's FB page soon.

Thanks, Kathie! And thanks, everybody!

Happy day!

SHOUT rain out

Yesterday's morning thunderstorms put the kabash on mulching, but Phil Ramey was able to speak to the SHOUT group about gardening, and about the reasons why mulching is good. It was a treat to get to hear him talk again -- his enthusiasm is catching!

Here's a picture (blurry, but a picture nonetheless) of him talking to the group:

All the rain has been a blessing for our garden; it looks grand!

Thanks go out to Michelle Eskind and her husband -- they donated a new, small wheelbarrow to the garden. Clarence has taken the old one home, I think, to try to repair it, too. We appreciate them. I enjoyed talking to Michelle when I ran into her at Target last week -- she's donating her harvest to a couple of single moms she knows. Good stuff.

So back to the mulching that didn't get to happen yesterday -- I put a bunch of newspapers in the shed (to keep them from getting wet), four bales of straw (in addition to the two that were left there by Ann and Jimmy) out near the shed, and several pairs of gardening gloves (in the shed).

If you'd like to mulch your garden bed, bring some newspaper and use it after you water -- seven or eight layers think -- to cover the soil all around your plants. After that, help yourself to the straw and lay that a couple of inches thick on top of the newspaper. This keeps weeds choked out, moisture in, and creates a perfect environment for worms to be happy -- and worms are the best friends our soil has (they aerate and fertilize for us, for free).

I have to go tend my sheepies, so happy day!

Potatoes o' plenty

Nancy sent me this photo last week -- she (and maybe her cousin Jackie? Who else was there, Nancy?) dug up about 80 pounds of potatoes, as well as some beans and squash and who knows what else. They'll give the haul to the Salvation Army.

Kathie and Clarence also dug up a bunch of potatoes (88 pounds) for Kitchen of Hope.

Many thanks to the growers, waterers, diggers, Nancy the photographer, and to God! Now what's to plant behind these spuds? Kathie and Clarence say crowder peas are going in their former potato bed. Not sure what'll follow up in the other one.

Don't forget to join us tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for the SHOUT crew, which will be mulching the beds, starting around 9 a.m.

Happy day!

Pictures request

Thank God for all this rain! Gardens everywhere are singing!

I haven't had a lot to say here in recent days -- guess it's something about having kids home all the time -- most of my brain cells are dehydrated in the glare of their sun. It's a sweet sun, for sure, but it does wear one out.

SHOUT is coming to the garden again next Tuesday, and our project that day will be to mulch the beds. I'm going to get newspaper and straw to put down around the plants so that, as Phil Ramey recommended, we don't have any "naked" soil. If you'd like to come lend a hand, that group will assemble around 9 a.m. Phil Ramey will be there to direct. Thanks, Phil!

If you're headed to the garden this month, do me a favor and take along your camera. Get a few pics of yourself and/or your raised bed. I'm always looking for things to feature here and would love to have a picture and a few words from you about your raised bed and your gardening experience, and Harvest of Hope in general.

Happy day!