June 3 Abundant Life Activity in the Garden

After church today, the kids literally ran to the garden to work! Actually, they ran for snack but i'm pretty good at deluding myself!

 

We tackled how to water the garden....we talked about rain, about the creek near the garden and then we searched for watering cans and water to water our growing plants....

 

 

Everyone agreed it is hard work! And we did a really good job making sure we didn't step on the plants before watering them!

Our work took supervision from some dads.....

So a quick goodbye until next week when we'll do soil samples to send to Virginia Tech for analysis to make sure our soil is rich in all the right nutrients. And next week i'll make sure i get pics of all the kidlets! Sorry Harrison!

 

The fence is fab!

Thank you Long Fence for the advice and supplies! And thank you Jim and Hanson for slogging out to Long Fence on just a miserable rainy day....

Hopefully this work of art will keep the critters at bay.....it's too beautiful to tamper with!

And we have a big gate to let the big equipment through to till the soil.

 

Welcome 2012!

Have you wondered if St. Andrew's was doing a garden this year? We definitely are.....this blogger has been struggling to figure out how to blog from one of the earlier ipads. Some things are easy.....everything else needs an app!

 

Over the winter leeks were harvested (50 pounds worth). We received a grant to install fencing and relocate the water line. Greenview Landscaping did a great job plowing the area and the soil looks great.

And we say goodbye to our invasive species tree! Our only shade!

Look at the clear view of HB Woodlawn parking now that our land has been cleared......If you look closely Hanson and Michael have planted a few items. This picture is about 3 weeks old (i mentioned my ipad challenged blogging skills!)

 

We are officially a "People's Garden"! And the County loves our landscaping.......

The United States Department of Agriculture has created a "People's Garden" program that recognizes and encourages gardens like ours to exist.  I signed us up.....and they sent us a sign! 

Well, we stopped praying for rain cause we think 16 inches in August and September were probably enough!  Kind of a disappointing tomato year but everything else seemed to kind of keep plugging along.

The other big thing that happened was the County Board recognized St. Andrew's with a beautification award citing us for contributing to the positive appearance of our county.  Jim Williams accepted the award for St. A's and here he is (in the middle) with the County Board Chair Chris Zimmerman (on the left) and the county staff director on the right.  The description of our location to the board included mention of our garden!  Yeah!

Award winning photos of our youngest harvester! August 27

Is there a cuter picture of a happy St. Andrew's harvester on this stormy day? I think not!  Even with a hurricane threatening our shores, our youngest harvester and her mom made their way to the garden this morning to make sure our AFAC clients get fresh produce!

It takes a whole lot of basil to up our poundage totals!  We are at 277 pounds now with many items left to pick.  If the deer, birds, squirrels and rabbits hadn't feasted on our tomatoes our numbers would be higher!  But every pound helps!

Thanks to our St. Andrew's harvesters for all your hard work........and bring your cameras next time you harvest so we can add to our display........

Kudos to Hanson for his talk at Central Library - August 10

Through our garden work over the last 4 years, our gardener, Hanson Gildemeister, has become known in the Arlington community for some of his gardening techniques.  On August 10, he gave a talk on different trellis setups for plants.

The library garden has become a real showplace for gardeners.  It is at the main entrance and very visible to all who visit the library. 

One of our garden pals coordinates these talks and they are very well received by the community.  And we are very proud of Hanson for all of his work.........

Harvesting kicking into really high gear.....August 9

Today was Michael's turn to harvest and deliver the vegetables.......He started out admiring the flowers and clipping the dying blossoms.....the flowers are in really good shape!

On to the peppers......we have different kinds and they are growing at different speeds so he checked the different plants to see what was ready to be picked.

The okra has survived the onslaught from "Thumper" and has some pods ready to be picked.

So today's harvest totaled 59 pounds!  So far this year we have donated 175 pounds of produce to the Arlington Food Assistance Center! 

Keep praying for rain!