sb country n news-share the harvest

SB COUNTRY N NEWS-SHARE THE HARVEST

one morning a week i volunteer in the community garden
where i have my 2 garden plots

any food grown in the center part of the garden is donated
to food kitchens

each week i do different things
last week i made a structure for growing loofahs
if you dont know what loofahs are
then google it

the kids when they come through in the fall
love the loofahs
they grow up the structure and look like cucumbers
early on before they dry out
they look like a large straight 8 cucumber
they are soft though
then
as they dry up
you can shake them and hear the seeds inside
then
you can peel the outer layer off
whats left is a sponge

kids love it

this week my job was to plant a row of lettuce that was
grown from seed in the greenhouse
yes you can grow lettuce here this time of year
its the tale end of the season though

then
a plot holder had given up their plot since they werent
able to garden on it anymore
so
we a few weeks ago planted leeks and cabbage and broccoli
the cabbage and broccoli have been harvested already
and sent off to the food kitchens
the broccoli plant was left in place and allowed to go to seed
the flowers were enjoyed by the bees and butterflies

so now this plot will be cleaned up so a new plot owner
can start gardening there

so i removed the cabbage and broccoli plants
dumping several into the chicken coop for our 4
hens to enjoy
toto itchy scratchy and chocolate ms b calls her
ice cream

the rest were dumped to be chopped up and put in
the composter
in a few weeks it will be compost for use in the garden

the circle of life in the garden

the leeks were all harvested
they are large enough to be transplanted into new beds
so that later this spring or early summer
they will be harvested for the food kitchens

the plot was then deweeded and raked so its ready
for a new gardener

there are several community gardens in this area
most do some type of donations to food kitchens
its amazing the amount of produce that our community
garden donates each week

its a win win for all
i get to volunteer doing what i love to do
just a few feet from my garden plot
it allows ms b to come visit
and
garden their also

this has become my main area of volunteering that im doing
now

volunteering is more fun when you do so in an area you are
passionate about for me its gardening and alzheimers disease

the organicgreen doctor