Monday, June 27, 2011
"Support" feature is under construction...
Thank you for your past,present, and future support of our garden! The "Support" feature to the right enabling donations to be planted in our garden will be operational shortly...it WILL be good!
Kidz Thyme!
Our Kidz Thyme program is full of fun organized, supervised garden activities every Wednesday night from 6-7pm led by Debbie Cook and helpers (moms:) Stories, snacks, crafts, dancing, (and yes gardening!) are shared with our Jr.Gardeners designed to nurture a love for gardening (and eating vegetables!) along with taking care of God's creation while also giving the moms some alone time in the garden as well. Ages ranges from 2-12 with the older kidz helping out with the little ones. Come spend thyme with us...it WILL be good!
Garden Gritz: Maters and Taters!
While the kidz had their thyme, we had our first Garden Gritz gathering last Wednesday night at 6:30 and talked about maters and taters. Briefly, we discussed the two different types of tomato plants (Determinate-having a set amount of fruit produced, a bushy type plant with no pruning necessary; and Indeterminitate-plant/vine continually grows with an indeterminate amt of fruit and needs to be pruned regularly to keep under control..especially the suckers). We talked about the varieties planted in the garden to include "Brandywine" (A tomato sandwich tomato dark pink/red in color) The first two beds planted in May and we just harvested our first 4 maters today!; Next up, "Amish Paste" (A smaller Roma type tomato..new to the garden this year) Planted 1 1/2 beds of this heirloom tomato; Rutgers (a fav from last year. Good tomato for slicing or saucing...the tomato that Campbell's Soup grows for their soup!); Our yellow tomato bed consists of "Valencia" (which we grew last year and they were de-lish), "Amana Orange", and "Yellow Pear Cherry" (cute as anything) all of which are low acid tomatoes great for those that don't do well with regular maters. Next up is the locals' favorite.."German Johnson". A whole bed..so stock up on the Duke's mayo! Last but not least (and to be the longest!) we have planted "Longkeeper Tomatoes" recommended to us by our own Marion and Bobbie Hargrove. They were so excited about this breed of tomatoes which enabled them to enjoy a tomato in March saved from their last season's harvest in VA...sounds good to me! We have planted each bed a couple weeks apart to prolong the harvest of fresh sweet maters until the first frost and hopefully if the Longkeeper's pan out, we will enjoy our favorite fruits of the garden while the snow is falling!
We also talked about potatoes and the importance of harvesting them on a cloudy day or as the sun sets. A natural forming toxin called solanine that develops in sunlight turns the taters green. Ironically, when the potatoes are cut and planted, we set them out in the sun to develop a thin layer of solanine which helps protect them from diseases and pests. After harvest, however, the solanine is not needed nor wanted because in small does if consumed, they can be toxic and in large amounts, fatal (yikes!). So if you can't wait until our next garden harvest of potatoes and have to buy them from the store and you notice green on them, either cut that section out or better yet, just throw out and wait till our next harvest!
Thank you everyone for a great first Garden Gritz! Next week we will chat about composting from collection to completion. It WILL be good!
We also talked about potatoes and the importance of harvesting them on a cloudy day or as the sun sets. A natural forming toxin called solanine that develops in sunlight turns the taters green. Ironically, when the potatoes are cut and planted, we set them out in the sun to develop a thin layer of solanine which helps protect them from diseases and pests. After harvest, however, the solanine is not needed nor wanted because in small does if consumed, they can be toxic and in large amounts, fatal (yikes!). So if you can't wait until our next garden harvest of potatoes and have to buy them from the store and you notice green on them, either cut that section out or better yet, just throw out and wait till our next harvest!
Thank you everyone for a great first Garden Gritz! Next week we will chat about composting from collection to completion. It WILL be good!
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Springing into Summer in the garden...
"There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven...a time to plant and a time to uproot…" (Ecclesiastes 3:1-2)
Our summer season begins this month with a garden full of many fruits and friends! We have been blessed in abundance and welcome the plantings of so many new members this year along with the replanting of past members! We have lotz of kidz attending our Wednesday night “Kidz Thyme” now led by Debbie Cook (thank you Debbie!) as they engage in an hour of garden themed activities full of crafts, dancing, singing, snacks, and yes..gardening too! Thank you everyone for your help and support! It is never too late to join the garden! Come grow with us!!
Some of our spring plantings have begun to final with flowers while many are still producing. Our long awaited peas, broccoli, garlic, strawberries, and onions were well worth the wait and we look forward to our beans and blueberries later this month. Our tomato plants are in ground with more planned…looking forward to that first tomato sandwich!! Lots of peppers planted too with eggplants following soon. Many cantaloupes and watermelons seeded and praying for no squash bugs!
The garden girls are very happy in their new home and playground (Thanks John Galloway and Tim Cook!) Our 10 chickens are fed a menu of organic feed with garden greens daily and will return their gratitude with fresh eggs to share in the fall! We also look forward to welcoming many butterflies into their new houses built for them by Bruce Pederson (thanks Bruce!) and painted by the many hands of our kidz! Bruce has also planned and will be building our garden shed later this month (thank you again!)
This past month we celebrated Mother’s day with our annual flower sale with many plants purchased in support of our garden (thank you!). We also enjoyed our 1st Annual First Fruits Potluck Lunch as we showered Eric Prenshaw and his fiancé Carley, with gifts for their upcoming wedding along with thanking him for all his help in the garden through his internship. Thank you everyone for your help and support towards both of these events.
Following on our successful summer series last year of learning how to cook with our harvests, we have planted three workshops this summer designed to nurture our knowledge on nutrition and learn about why all this good food we grow in the garden (and buy locally) is so good for us. We begin with the class, "Learn How To Make Cultured Vegetables" led by Denise Kennedy, a natural chef and certified nutritionist (also one of our garden members!) on June 11th from 2-4pm in the fellowship hall. There will be a talk, hands on demonstration, door prizes, and product purchase opportunities. The cost is $10.00 per person. See Donna Poe for signup and details.
In July, we welcome Ron Veitel, the general manager and chef from Saxapahaw General Store on Sunday, the 31st from 2-4pm with a presentation on nutrition and the benefits of consuming healthy, organic, and locally grown foods. In August, Jessica Oswald, from the county extension office joins us on Saturday, the 20th from 12-2pm for a two hour lecture and hands on demonstration on preserving our food through canning, drying, and freezing methods. We will provide more details soon on both of these events. Save the dates for our super summer series!
Looking forward to growing with you this summer…it WILL be good!
-Donna Poe
The Garden of Concord
Our summer season begins this month with a garden full of many fruits and friends! We have been blessed in abundance and welcome the plantings of so many new members this year along with the replanting of past members! We have lotz of kidz attending our Wednesday night “Kidz Thyme” now led by Debbie Cook (thank you Debbie!) as they engage in an hour of garden themed activities full of crafts, dancing, singing, snacks, and yes..gardening too! Thank you everyone for your help and support! It is never too late to join the garden! Come grow with us!!
Some of our spring plantings have begun to final with flowers while many are still producing. Our long awaited peas, broccoli, garlic, strawberries, and onions were well worth the wait and we look forward to our beans and blueberries later this month. Our tomato plants are in ground with more planned…looking forward to that first tomato sandwich!! Lots of peppers planted too with eggplants following soon. Many cantaloupes and watermelons seeded and praying for no squash bugs!
The garden girls are very happy in their new home and playground (Thanks John Galloway and Tim Cook!) Our 10 chickens are fed a menu of organic feed with garden greens daily and will return their gratitude with fresh eggs to share in the fall! We also look forward to welcoming many butterflies into their new houses built for them by Bruce Pederson (thanks Bruce!) and painted by the many hands of our kidz! Bruce has also planned and will be building our garden shed later this month (thank you again!)
This past month we celebrated Mother’s day with our annual flower sale with many plants purchased in support of our garden (thank you!). We also enjoyed our 1st Annual First Fruits Potluck Lunch as we showered Eric Prenshaw and his fiancé Carley, with gifts for their upcoming wedding along with thanking him for all his help in the garden through his internship. Thank you everyone for your help and support towards both of these events.
Following on our successful summer series last year of learning how to cook with our harvests, we have planted three workshops this summer designed to nurture our knowledge on nutrition and learn about why all this good food we grow in the garden (and buy locally) is so good for us. We begin with the class, "Learn How To Make Cultured Vegetables" led by Denise Kennedy, a natural chef and certified nutritionist (also one of our garden members!) on June 11th from 2-4pm in the fellowship hall. There will be a talk, hands on demonstration, door prizes, and product purchase opportunities. The cost is $10.00 per person. See Donna Poe for signup and details.
In July, we welcome Ron Veitel, the general manager and chef from Saxapahaw General Store on Sunday, the 31st from 2-4pm with a presentation on nutrition and the benefits of consuming healthy, organic, and locally grown foods. In August, Jessica Oswald, from the county extension office joins us on Saturday, the 20th from 12-2pm for a two hour lecture and hands on demonstration on preserving our food through canning, drying, and freezing methods. We will provide more details soon on both of these events. Save the dates for our super summer series!
Looking forward to growing with you this summer…it WILL be good!
-Donna Poe
The Garden of Concord
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