The Take Over of the Cukes!

The rainy August might have delayed the growth of our tomatoes and squash (slowly but surely they are showing signs of harvest), but the cool, damp days seemed to benefit our cucumbers. They are sprawling across our little garden, too many flower buds to count have prickly baby cukes!!!

First Fruits of Our Labor!

Our garden now bears two tiny green tomatoes! Despite their small size, they hold both the love of our labor and the promise of what's to come. And as August rolls around and our garden, God willing, becomes bountiful, I do not want to forget this first thrill.

Gorgeous tomato plants (above)

Thriving squash plants (below)

What does our garden need of us?

A few reminders and to-do items:

• KEEPIN' IT CLEAN: Please remember to straighten up when you leave the garden. Shannon and I have purchased a plastic drawer that we can now store all our 20/30 garden tools in. Also, a hose-on-a-wheel wind-up "thingy" was purchased to aid in keeping the hose clean and less tangled. Please remember to wheel the hose in, and keep it neat in the garage when you leave the garden site.
• RECEIPTS?: If you have made a purchase for the garden, please email me with the total of your expenses. I will start working on crunching the numbers, so we can determin how much is owed to those who have purchased garden supplies.
• NEED NEW SEEDLINGS: The seeds in the garden-bed on the far left never took. Yana mentioned that she was going to look into seedlings that we can plant in this bed. Yana, if this is something you cannot do, let us know. There were supposed to be cucumbers and beets in that bed, but lets at least replant it with something. We've got the space! Let's not waste it. :)
• STAKE IT: Some of the tomato plants need to stakes. I have some extra twine; I will be responsible for this duty.
• PESKY WEEDS: Weeds are starting to come up at the garden. So when you are out watering, be on the look out for those pesky weeds. It is fairly obvious now which are the veggie plants and which are the weeds. Any weeds that you pull can go in the compost bin.

Food for Thought...

My friend Ann clipped this little blurb out of the July 9th Metro for us:

"'Almost everyone around here has a garden. If they would grow a row for the food program and the Friendly Meals program, it would help so much.' New Hampshire's Fall Mountain Foodshelf Pantry director Mary Lou Huffling has begun asking local gardeners and farmers to grow extra rows of produce to donate to food banks."

The 20/30 Vision Community Garden is certainly in its trail stages, but as we continue to learn from each other and from our little plot of earth it is worth remembering the different ways we can think about giving back.

Weeks Four: Tree Trimming

Many thanks to Kate, Yana and Andrew for their help this week in trimming the shrubs and trees at the garden this week. On Tuesday evening, Andrew and I trimmed the lower bushes and shrubs. The trimmers that Shannon and Roscoe purchased for the chore were amazing! Thursday night, Kate and Yana borrowed a towering tree trimmer from a friendly Brighton neighbor. Thanks to the hard work of these ladies on Thursday night, our Community Garden will get a great deal more sunlight! Thanks, Gardeners!

Also, the squash, cukes and tomatoes are really starting to show noticeable signs of growth! We will have the ingredients for a superb summer salad in no time!

Marigolds!

Hey green friends!

Roscoe and I sought out to plant the marigolds this evening at our lovely community garden.  One trip to home depot later, we came to the garden ready to get our hands dirty (i still have dirt under my nails)!  We planted them as directed by our fellow gardeners but then learned that marigolds and tomatoes are great companions as they keep the bugs from eating our lovely tomato plants.  So we were advised by Pat & Bill to pay attention to the bugs-if it seems there are a lot and they are harassing our sexy tomato friends, then we need to order some more muscle (marigolds) to keep those crazy fools out of our garden!  

We have some pics of the garden and my dirty hands to prove our labor.  If you look close, you'll notice we have a garden ghost.  Seriously, I'm not kidding!  What is that white thing in the picture?!?  Freaky!!!

And we bought a nice device to go on the hose so that you can choose between "shower, mist, etc."  We found trellises for our tomato plants (when needed) and some serious looking clippers for trimming.  

One last note- Bill suggested we make sure to give the garden a good hearty watering during these hot summer days...and the evening is a perfect time for it.

Happy gardening friends...

-ss  

Let the Decomposition Begin!

Hi all ya'll Garden Growers and Garden Groupies!

I've barely written on a blog, much less written a post about decomposing food waste, but that's what this entry is all about! The garden did not need to be watered last night, thanks to a wonderfully ground-soaking spring rain, therefore the composter got some extra attention. New additions include: a large pumpkin which I had left-over from Halloween (yes, I kept this fruit a very, very, veeeerrryyy long time, but it was just so beautiful and now ended up serving a special purpose in the end!), and one large bag full of starbucks coffee grounds! (A barista told us to stop by the Washington Square Starbucks on Friday's, when they usually make fresh bags.) So the garden received both brown and...orange?

According to http://www.compostguide.com/, a compost requires a ratio of about 25 parts brown material to 1 part green material! You know what that means...bring on the brown!...which even includes newspapers, cardboard boxes, and dryer lint, which are all carbon-rich materials! (wet and/or tear these items into small pieces first, but don't over pile the composter, recycle the rest!)

A bit about what's going on inside our large plastic outer space-like worm home we call a composter:
"Compost is the end product of a complex feeding pattern involving hundreds of different organisms, including bacteria, fungi, worms, and insects. What remains after these organisms break down organic materials is the rich, earthy substance your garden will love. Composting replicates nature's natural system of breaking down materials on the forest floor. In every forest, grassland, jungle, and garden, plants die, fall to the ground, and decay. They are slowly dismantled by the small organisms living in the soil. Eventually these plant parts disappear into the brown crumbly forest floor. This humus keeps the soil light and fluffy." -compostguide.com

What a wonderful addition the composter is to our garden! We can all become familiar with what items to add to the compost and what not to add and reduce our trash in the process!

Week Two

Monday, June 2 marked the end of our second week with the Community Garden. We have baby shoots of squash, cucumber and beets coming up, and the tomatoes seem to be growing. So, we must be doing something right. I suspect it is all the tender loving care of each small group...thus the whole group as a collective unit!

I've attached some new pictures of the baby veggies sprouting. Andrew and I also spotted a jumpy friend. We have a garden frog; shall we call him Kermit?

Things to do at the garden:

• Obtain limb clippers and trim back the trees; we need to let in more light for our plants.
• Get some trellis material for the tomato plants...and maybe for the peppers?
• Bring your "compostable" materials to the garden when you visit the garden each week!

This is a test...

This is a test...not from the Emergency Broadcast system, but from me (Shannon) to see if I actually figured out this blog thing.  No, I haven't blogged before.  This is only a test.  In the event of a real 'blog posting' I'll actually say something worth while.  BEEEEEEEEEEP!

Two Friendly Reminders!

Reminder 1: Shop locally!!! As we begin to enter the summer season, this is a great time to visit your local farmer's market. I visited a great one on Memorial Day near Lexington, Mass. Everything was so beautiful and inspiring. Such amazing colors in all shapes and sizes...and even onions as big as my head! Dream big, 20/30's! This could be our garden in a few short months.

Reminder 2: When composting, keep in mind this easy list...

Compost Kitchen Greens: Fruit scraps, vegetable scaps, houseplant cuttings, coffee grounds, rice, pasta, egg shells, and tea bags.

Compost Kitchen Browns: Coffee filters, stale bread, paper napkins and towels, dryer lint, and hair.

Compost Yard Greens: Flowers, vegetables, plant trimmings, hedge clippings, grass (small amounts).

Compost Yard Browns: Leaves, straw, hay, small twigs/chips, dried grass, and weeds.

DO NOT Compost: Meat, fish/bones, dairy product, oils/fats, sauces, ashes, pet waste, diseased plants, or mature weeks with seeds.

Week 1

Monday, May 19th: We tilled, weeded, and planted the garden.

Tuesday, May 20th: We did not have a small group visit the garden, but Pat went out and water the plants that look liked they need it. Thanks, Pat!

Wednesday, May 21st: We got a hose! I went by and watered all of the plants.

Thursday, May 22nd: Brighton got some rain, so when Yana and Kate went to the garden it was wet enough that the garden did not need watering. They noticed that some of the lettuce is not doing so well. Hmm...

Friday, May 23rd: The garden was unattended this day.

Saturday, May 24th: I went back to the garden and gave everything a thorough watering. It's official; we lost three out of our six heads of lettuce! What a bummer! But the good news...drum roll...our compost bin arrived!! So, I set up the compost bin (Pat and Sky, the dog, supervised!)...now if we can just learn how to use it. :)
This is the website for the Earth Machine Compost Bin:
http://www.earthmachine.com/

I've attached a few new pictures. The unfortunate loss of our lettuce has been documented, as well as the possible sign of a visitor. I'm wondering if we might have a "wascally wabbit!" And, in an effort to start the compost (still have a lot to learn), I threw in some dried leaves and the old daffodil bulbs that I initially thought were wild onions.

Another "Shout-Out" of Thanks:
Many thanks to Cathy Scoff! Cathy took the initiative to contact the City of Brookline to get the compost bins for both the 20/30 Vision Community Garden, and another compost bin for United Parish. Apparently, the City of Brookline will distribute the compost bins to residents for FREE!
Many, many thanks Cathy for your thoughtfulness and support!

Garden Prep Day!

Yesterday, six of the twelve 20/30 Vision Community Gardeners were able to get together for our Garden Prep Day. With the use of our borrowed roto-tiller, we were able to till, weed, and plant in less then 3 hours. We are quickly learning that there are many aspects of gardening that are foreign to us, so this whole endeavor is a bit of an experiment (and certainly and new experience) for all of us, but there is also something very exciting about learning how to grow food that we will eat...at least that is the goal!

A few "shout-outs" of thanks:

• Thank you to the Wong Family for the donation of their gas-powered roto-tiller. The use of this man-made marvel made our work much easier!
• Thanks to Stacy Whitley for ordering and picking up our seeds and seedlings from the local, organic farm in Natick, MA.
  
• Thanks to Yana Forney for making the run to Home Depot for our organic top soil and mulch.
• And, of course, many, many thanks to Reverend Pat and her family for allowing us to use the backyard of the parsonage for our garden. Without your generosity, this project would not be possible!
  

20/30 Vision's Community Garden Takes Shape and the Organization Continues...

Community understanding and principles - This is a community garden. Participating in this garden means that the volunteers will attempt to visit the garden once a week with the members of their small team to water plants, pull weeds, and pick the harvest when necessary. As a community, we recognize that some weeks people are sick, people are out of town, and "life" happens. When volunteers are unable to visit the garden during their assigned time they are responsible for letting someone on their small-team know. As a community we will work together; this is not supposed to be something that makes one feel stressed, but rather is our opportunity to do something together that builds our bonds within 20/30 Vision, makes a statement to the larger community, and enables us to live healthy lives while caring for our earth.

Organization of the Garden and Work as a Community-
a) A request was made to members of UP to donate new or used tools for us to use over the summer.
b) Members of the garden will equally split the costs of seeds, soil, and set-up materials. The cost will be kept as low as possible, but also the ultimate goal will be lower grocery bills when we start having a harvest.
c) We had one "Garden Prep" day in May to plant seedlings and get things going. As many people who could attend were encouraged to come on this day.
d) Once the garden is established, we will divide into small teams. Every individual will be responsible for going to the garden sight (at the UP Parsonage) once a week to help in the maintenance and upkeep of the garden.
e) During harvest season(s), each Garden member will have a crate/paper bag with their name on it in the garage. Harvests will be divided equally among the crates/bags. When Garden members go to the site each week, they will be encouraged to check there bag for fresh veggies that they can take home!!! :) NOTE: We will have a crate/bag for Rev. Pat as a thank you for letting us use her yard!

The Garden Consists of:
Tomatoes (12 seedling)
Red Onion (6 seedlings)
Romaine Lettuce (6 seedling)
Beets (1 pack of seeds)
Summer Squash (1 pack of seeds)
Sweet Bell Peppers (6 seedlings)
Cucumber (1 pack of seeds)
Chives (1 pack of seeds)
And one mystery plant! (6 seedlings)

20/30 Vision's Initial Community Garden Proposal

April 13, 2008
Memo: Proposal for a Vegetable Garden
Prepared by Megan Hornbeek on behalf of United Parish’s 20/30 Vision

“Americans put almost as much fossil fuel into our refrigerators as our cars. We’re consuming about 400 gallons of oil a year per citizen—about 17 percent of our nation’s energy use—for agriculture, a close second to our vehicular use…If every U.S. citizen ate just one meal a week (any meal) composed of locally and organically raised meats and produce, we would reduce our country’s oil consumption by over 1.1 million barrels of oil every week.”

Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life, by Barbara Kingsolver with Steven L. Hopp and Camille Kingsolver, page 5.

Go green! Eat organic! Reduce, Reuse, Recycle! Think globally, act locally! All of these slogans are used in current popular culture, politics, academia, and religion to spur conversation about humanity’s behavior and treatment of our one Earth. United Parish’s 20/30 Vision recognizes that if the current course of human action is not altered, then the plant we all call home is due for an irrevocable change, a change that will drastically alter current civilization. With a massive environmental crisis looming, the members of 20/30 Vision would like to begin taking the small steps toward reforming the way we live on this planet, Earth.

20/30 Vision would formal like to propose and request the opportunity to start a small garden in United Parish’s backyard. Many of the members of 20/30 Vision have participated in general and informal conversation regarding our desire to garden and produce fresh vegetables in the summer months. However, since the majority of the members of 20/30 Vision live in urban apartments and condominiums, the land to start such a garden does not exist for us. Therefore, we are requesting the church loan us a plot of land (minimum size of 10 feet by 10 feet) which the members of 20/30 Vision will take responsibility of during the spring/summer of 2008.

In conjunction with the activity of gardening, 20/30 Vision will read and discuss Barbara Kingsolver’s best selling book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver’s book is based on her family’s real-life attempts, successes, and failures to eat only what could either be grown locally or bought within a 50 mile radius of their home over the course of one year.

If this proposal and request is accepted, 20/30 Vision would like to publicize the progress of their endeavor to the United Parish and Brookline community. We believe this would be one small way to raise community awareness, and, if we are lucky, inspire others to start their own gardens and/or shop at local and farmer’s markets. It is also worth mentioning that since many of us have never “officially” gardened before, we welcome learning from those in our community who have experiences in gardening. Also, we would like to accept donations of old, hand-me-down tools from members in the community; these gardening tools would be used to get us started!

Many thanks, in advance, for reading and considering our proposal. We look forward to hearing from you; we sincerely hope that you are as excited about this idea and proposal as we are. It is our sincere hope that bringing this proposal to action would both benefit our immediate group and the larger community as well.

Respectfully,
20/30 Vision

Welcome to the United Parish blog for the 20's and 30's adults. The point of this blog is to give the cool and hip demographic of our church a place to chat, vent or just stay in touch. Sadly, I am too old to participate (:0( but will do what I can to keep you youngsters in line. Everyone is welcome to view and comment on this blog. If you feel that you positively, absolutely must have posting priveleges, then feel free to contact either myself (up2030@gmail.com) or any of the other admin's and we do what we can.

-UP Webmaster