Greetings
garden friends.
Praise God
for the abundant harvests of food, membership, and fellowship in our garden
this year! Our summer season is in high
gear and filled with God’s Goodness!
Despite the early season of chilly wet weather turning into hot and dry
days, our plantings have been amazing…thanks be to God! We are presently harvesting (lots of!)
potatoes, cucumbers, basil, beans, blueberries, and tomatoes! All of the garlic and onions have been
harvested with lots more curing to be shared later. We have just begun harvesting some eggplant
and yellow squash with zucchini soon to be.
The sweet potato plantings are beginning to vine and the butternut
squash (under row covers) will surely be fine!
We are
very thankful for our interns this summer, Chris Grimmet and Andrew
Hammond!! They have been so helpful in
participating in nearly all of our garden workdays/tasks, leadership, and extra
projects on the “to do” list to include the building of our new bamboo bean
tunnel! We only wish they could stay
planted with us for many more seasons!
We are
especially thankful to be able to share God’s many blessings of food to our
local food pantry, S.A.F.E. as we join
together in our common mission of empowering and feeding the hungry in our
community by taking care of God's creation (which includes His people) all
while sharing and witnessing the love of Jesus Christ. It is my passion and prayer that in providing
fresh produce from the garden, "family members" will be empowered to
eat healthier as well as wanting to learn how to grow their own food either at
their home or at a community garden! We have been coordinating extra
efforts in our donations to include washing, packaging, and enclosing garden
info cards (with tips and recipes!) inviting “family members” to grow with us
and learn how to grow their own food while helping to feed the hungry in our
community.
A
committed membership or fee is not required for the family members at
S.A.F.E. We do, however, encourage them to grow with us, work for an hour
during any garden work day/night (many levels of tasks available!), for a share
of that days harvest. We are so thankful for the several family members that
have joined our garden family both on a regular and occasional basis.
They all have expressed their joy in being able to give back what God has
blessed them with. And how they have enjoyed growing as a community,
making new friends, learning how to eat and prepare healthy foods, and ever so
thankful for God's abundant harvests.
Our
growing partnership with S.A.F.E. includes the tentative plans of offering a
dinner/cooking class later this month (and possibly ongoing) in order to
further empower our neighbors of how to eat healthier and cook the foods shared
by the food pantry (and the garden).
Thank you Andrew Hammond for leading this endeavor! More details will be shared soon.
Also this
month, we look forward to enjoying that first ripened tomato sandwiched in
between some Duke's mayo (and a little pesto:) at our annual Tomato Sandwich
gathering to be held again this year in conjunction with our Vacation Bible
School celebration luncheon on Sunday, July 27th at 12:30 pm. Mark your calendars with more details to
follow! Invite your friends!
Thank you
everyone for your prayers and support of our garden.
It WILL be
good!
-Donna Poe
Garden
Coordinator
