Category Archives: Community Garden

January 8, 2023 · 7:21 pm

AND SO IT BEGINS

While our gardens are taking their

Long winter’s nap

Most gardeners are dreaming of spring.

The volume of seed catalogs we receive

Only makes us yearn all the more

For those first few days

When we know winter is fading.

Over the last few years

I’ve been filling this void

With indoor seed starting.

Each year I get a bit better at it

But I still have much to learn.

This year I’m improving the light

Available for seed germination and growing.

Thanks to a generous gift of LED lighting

From my friend Jenny

And a Christmas gift of a seed starting station

From John

I have a new found hope

Of even better results.

The first thing up is always cabbage.

Here in zone 7a cabbage plants need to be out

Between February 15 and March 10.

So last week their tiny seeds

Hit the dirt – so to speak!

It felt good to have my hands in soil again

Even if it came from a bag.

I’ll start Italian Parsley and Basil this week for Faith Farm

And a winter lettuce crop for myself

Since the pre-Christmas -20 wind chill

Took out all that was planted in the ground.

I think of gardening as one grand experiment.

Often pushing the limits

Or defying the “rules”.

I’ve accidentally done that this year

With the fact that the last of the spring flowering bulbs

Are just now going into the ground

Taking full advantage

That is the grace of God’s great earth.

Gail

1 Comment

Filed under Basil, Cabbage, Community Garden, Gardening, Herbs, Lettuce, Oklahoma Gardening, Seed Catalogs, Seeds, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Winter Garden

November 7, 2021 · 8:34 pm

A JOB WELL DONE

Last week’s predicted freeze

Did not materialize.

But we didn’t know that

Last Monday

When a full crew of Master Gardeners

And friends

Gathered at Faith Farm

To pick everthing on the vine.

And pick we did.

341 pounds of peppers and green tomatoes

And eggplant and turnips and radishes

And green beans and cucumbers.

Bringing us to an all time record

Of 4,027 pounds of fresh organic produce.

That’s a ton…well 2 tons actually

All going to provide our hungry neighbors

With the freshest possible produce.

It’s a mission that is easy to wrap our hands

And hearts around.

Over time it has become more than a mission

To those of us who come.

We have become a sort of gardening family.

Moving through the garden twice a week

Catching up on family news

Sharing stories of our own gardens

And ideas of how to grow even more

At Faith Farm.

Spending a few hours each week

In a garden

With fellow gardeners

On glorious spring days

And the dog days of summer

Growing vegetables

For hungry neighbors

Is a joy.

Thanks everyone.

Gail

“The people who give you their food give you their heart.”

Cesar Chavez

4 Comments

Filed under Community Garden, Cucumbers, Eggplant, Turnips, Radishes, Green Beans, Cucumbers, End of Season Rituals, Fall, Fall Vegetables, Garden Planning, Gardening, Green Tomatoes, Hunger, Master Gardeners, Peppers, Radishes, Uncategorized

Tagged as Cucumbers, Eggplant, Green Beans, Turnips

September 19, 2021 · 8:18 pm

It’s Buggy Time

Late summer is buggy

In my garden.

I don’t really know why

But there are always good bugs.

Last year the Orb spiders

Were everywhere

Spinning their zig zaggy webs

To my amazement.

This year I’ve only had a few visit.

Though this guy did claim

The inside of my garden house

As his new home.

But Praying Mantis are

Everywhere.

One day I rescued seven

From the clippings

Headed to the compost bin.

Lately, my garden has taken flight.

I spent hours

Over two days

Watching this Swallowtail

Feast on tall garden phlox.

Thankfully, I hadn’t gotten around

To deadheading it.

An now I wouldn’t dream of it

Even though it’s really ragged.

Last Wednesday at Faith Farm we counted

THIRTEEN swallowtail caterpillars

On one bronze Fennel plant.

The Monarch butterflies

Are flitting everywhere

And then there is this new friend.

Actually they brought the whole tribe

Right to my garden.

I have hundreds on what else

But Cockscomb.

And we all know you can’t have just

One Cockscomb.

My research tells me

They are harmless Goldenrod Soldier Beetles.

Actually a bit beneficial

Dining on aphids and “other plant pests”.

All of this fluttering and flying and buzzing

Makes a sunny afternoon

Stroll through the garden

A joy.

But then

When isn’t a garden

A joy?

Gail

“If nothing ever changed, there’d be no butterflies.” ~Author unknown

1 Comment

Filed under Bugs, Butterflies, cockscomb, Community Garden, Dead Heading, Garden House, Gardening, Goldenrod Soldier Beetle, late summer garden, Nature, Orb Spider, Praying Mantis, Spider Web, Swallowtail Butterfly, Tall Garden Phlox, Uncategorized

November 25, 2019 · 6:33 pm

THANKS FOR GIVING

Gardeners are known

To be generous people.

We like to share plants

And seeds

And plans

And tomatoes.

It’s just in our nature

To spread our joy around.

I have to admit though

That I do covet

My time in my garden

Time is something

We just can’t grow

No matter what zone we live in.

That’s why I’m so grateful

For the generous gardeners

Who help at Faith Farm.

Every Monday and Wednesday

Throughout the growing season

This crew shows up

And works hard.

We start in February

Planting onions

And carrot seeds

And ended just a week ago

Prepping the the beds

For their winter’s nap.

They have planted

Harvested

IMG_2640(2)

Washed

And loaded

IMG_2055(1)

Thousands of pounds

Of fresh organic vegetables

That we grow

For our hungry neighbors

Who come to Loaves & Fishes

For help in feeding their families.

All of them are either Master Gardeners

Or related to a Master Gardener.

They come on the crisp mornings of spring

The glorious days of fall

And all that heat and humidity

In between.

We’ve had a great season

Getting to know each other better

As we’ve spent hours

Picking and weeding

And trying to figure out

Why all that spring rain

Made the cucumbers

So unhappy.

We learn a little

Share a little

And give a lot.

Thank you Martha, Dennis, Kay, Janelle,

Clayton, Diane, Jenny, Linda & Michael.

You have made a difference

To so many.

Gail

P.S. This is where I planned to place a great picture I took of all the crew. Unfortunately, I can’t find it AYWHERE. So just imagine these generous souls, or better still imagine yourself in this group or others around the country…gardening and giving.

3 Comments

Filed under Carrots, Community Garden, End of Season Rituals, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Hunger, late summer garden, Master Gardeners, Onion, Uncategorized, Vegetables

June 4, 2017 · 3:00 pm

FAITH FARM UPDATE

I’m not a vegetable gardener.

Sure I’ve dropped a few in the middle of my flower beds

But I’ve never committed a block of space

Totally to vegetables.

So a few years ago

When my favorite non-profit Loaves & Fishes

Took over a vegetable garden called Faith Farm

I knew I was in over my head.

This year we were determined to get an early start.

So around the third week of February

We began.

Hundreds of onion starts were planted

Along with carrot seeds.

We’re working with Michael’s new theory

On growing these cool season veggies.

Last year he noticed that when we planted carrots

Along the edges of the beds

They did much better.

So we planted one end and one edge of

Of each raised bed to onions.

FullSizeRender (13)

The remaining end and edge was planted to carrots.

Our suspicion is that the soil along the edge

Warms more quickly than the soil in the middle of the bed.

And results in glorious onions and carrots.

Now, after a few months of growing

We are being rewarded.

The onions have started maturing

Last Wednesday we pulled 64 lbs.

Thinking it would last through 2 days of pantry.

But within 2 hours of Wednesday’s pantry

They were gone.

Onions are popular.

Carrots will take a little more time.

But if this year’s crop is anything like last year

We’ll have many happy clients

We call this

Gardening for good.

And it is.

Gail

GARDENING FOR GOOD

This summer I’ve been dividing my gardening days

Between two gardens.

It’s the first summer that Faith Farm

Has been an all volunteer effort.

It was a leap of faith.

What a fun

And rewarding leap.

We started the season with a plan

Put together by my fellow gardeners

Jim & Michael.

It’s an ambitious three season plan

Since we have a 9 month growing season.

We started harvesting lettuce

In March.

And we haven’t stopped.

200 lbs of lettuce

120 lbs of gorgeous carrots

img_0006-1

More basil than all of Italy

and almost 900 lbs of cucumbers.

Wow what a year.

We have literally grown well over a ton of vegetables.

All of this done by a dedicated group

Of volunteers.

Including a few Master Gardeners.

Twice a week they harvest this bounty

And take it to Loaves & Fishes

Where it is then given

To our hungry neighbors.

Several times a year

Jim offers gardening classes

To the L & F clients.

And every so often

We have a Saturday work day

To catch up on the big jobs.

Yesterday was one of those work days.

We had an ambitious list

OK…we had an impossible list.

Thanks to a few new volunteers

We got most of the big jobs done.

Morning glories pulled off the fence

Before they set seed.

Bolted basil pulled, dried and ground into mulch.

Ground pecan hulls put on the paths.

And soil added to beds.

Then there was the shed.

Michael spent the morning organizing it.

Thank goodness.

These are not glamorous gardening jobs

But they are essential.

And feel good to have done.

Along the way we made a few new friends

Loaves & Fishes board member Randi

Brought her family.

Including her son

Who got to meet Charlotte

Our resident Orb Spinner Spider

She’s been “hanging” around

Since July.

He also found caterpillars and praying mantis.

It’s always a good day when you can introduce

A child to the wonders of nature.

And do a little

Gardening for Good.

Gail

4 Comments

Filed under Basil, Bugs, Carrots, Children in the Garden, Community Garden, Compost, Cucumbers, Fall Vegetables, Garden Planning, Gardening Friends, Herbs, late summer garden, Lettuce, Morning Glories, Nature, Orb Spider, Uncategorized, Vegetables

October 12, 2014 · 12:28 pm

FAMILY VOLUNTEERING DAY V.2

Yesterday was time for fall clean up

At Faith Farm.

It’s been an astounding first year of

“Gardening for Good”.

We will soon surpass 3,000 pounds of fresh organic produce

Grown for Loaves & Fishes

And given to our hungry clients each week.

Freshly picked, organic produce

Given to people who otherwise might not have food on the table.

Week after week, Charity and a small group of volunteers

Have harvested literal 1 1/2 tons of food.

And it’s a good thing

Since July was the busiest month ever at L & F

Serving 954 households…YIKES!

But we want to do more

With the space we have.

So yesterday we began a simple transition

From less ornamentals

To more raised beds.

We moved some from L & F

Over to Faith Farm

And set them in place

With the help of Jim

Our perennial volunteer

And a couple of friends from the Air Force base.

We were also joined by a group of young women

From the 2020 club at Chisholm Middle School

They’ll graduate in the year 2020

Which gives us lots of time to train them

As gardeners.

They have great potential

Because even a big ole tomato horn worm

Didn’t scare them.

Instead they were fascinated.

Gotta love girls who likes bugs!

They were all great help

So I hope they’ll be back

Another day

For another installment

Of this great adventure.

Feeding the hungry

Fresh, organic vegetables

And lots of love.

Gail

PASSIONS COLLIDING

Yesterday began with a long list

And a few hardy souls.

It was the first spring clean up day

At Faith Farm.

Over the winter two of my passions collided.

Feeding hungry people and gardening.

Hope Outreach, another local non-profit

Had built a wonderful garden about 8 years ago.

Recently they decided that they needed to find someone else to operate it.

Fortunately, that word got to Loaves & Fishes

And as of the 1st of the year

Faith Farm became a production and teaching garden of Loaves & Fishes.

Imagine a place where we can grow vegetables

Pick them in the morning

And give them to pantry clients in the afternoon.

Fresh organic produce in the hands and tummies

Of those least likely to get have access to fresh organic produce.

You gotta love a deal like that!

But remember we run Loaves & Fishes on a shoestring

With 99% volunteers.

Faith Farm will be the same

One paid employee

A passionate, knowledgable gardener named Charity

And lots of volunteers.

But where will they come from

We had maybe four people who worked the beds at L & F last year

But we need legions of volunteers to pull this one off.

So it was yesterday morning that we planned our first volunteer work day.

We spread the word and hoped for 10 maybe 12 people.

Bit by bit we stumbled into the crisp morning air.

And began to attack Charity’s very ambitious list.

People kept showing up.

Mostly middle school kids.

4 – H boys

honor society members & cheerleaders

grandchildren

kids

21 in all

We chatted and worked and experienced new things.

A few early spears of asparagus right out of the ground

Made a first time fun mid morning snack.

The sun and the sight of it all warmed my heart.

We are meeting our mission from the beginning.

Growing healthy vegetables and showing others how to do the same.

Then there’s the added joy of community.

Bringing all kinds of people to a new place

Having fun, learning

And helping others.

Saturdays don’t get much better than that!

Gail

Your next chance to help at Faith Farm and Loaves & Fishes is Saturday April 12 during Family Volunteer Day.

Sign up by April 2nd and you’ll get a free t-shirt and lunch courtesy of the sponsor 1st Presbyterian Church.

Call 580-540-9830 to join in the fun. Or message Jennifer on our Facebook page Loaves & Fishes – NW Oklahoma

COMMUNITY GARDENING

I have long been interested in community gardens.

They come in several different configurations.

It can be a large area divided into plots.

Each plot tended by a different gardener.

Or it can be a place where a community comes together

To grow things.

For themselves

Or for others.

This spring I finally get to participate in a community garden.

You may recall I wrote about planting it a few months ago.

It’s located at our new local client choice food pantry

And food resource center named Loaves & Fishes.

At the moment this garden consists of 10 raised beds.

Built as an Eagle Scout project.

Then our volunteer extraordinaire David

Added 3 – 250 gallon rain barrels that are catching the rain water

From the roof of the building.

After a 2 inch rain

They are full.

We’ve been cutting greens each week

To share with the clients who come to us for food.

Imagine going to a food pantry and getting a bag of freshly cut spinach

Or lettuce.

Or Swiss chard.

It’s just heavenly!

But we’ve had a few challenges along the way.

As it turns out our garden sits at the bottom of a slight bowl.

And it’s been

Well a bit of a pond.

So Saturday was Family Volunteering Day

At Loaves & Fishes.

75 volunteers from the community,

A Cub Scout Troop

As well as the corporate sponsors for the day

Triangle Insurance

And Central National Bank

Came to help.

They made quick work of spreading

A truck load of fill sand.

Then moving gravel into the paths between the beds.

Within a few hours we went from pond

To problem solved.

It was an amazing transformation.

Now this is really more hardscape work

Than actual gardening.

And we may have completely worn out this group of volunteers.

But the thing is

We are community.

Cheerfully helping

To solve a problem.

Growing great food

For people who really need it

And appreciate the care

We take to help them.

For years my passion has been feeding people in need.

Now at Loaves & Fishes I get to watch others find their passion.

If you haven’t found a way to help others.

I hope you find a passion

And a home for it

That is as much fun as this wonderful community.

Or better still

Come and join us

Gardening for good and helping feed others.

Gail

P.S. If you have extra produce or eggs from your own garden we would appreciate

Your bring them to Loaves & Fishes. We’ll find them a grateful home!

2 Comments

Filed under Community Garden, Gardening, Gardening Friends, Hunger, Lettuce, Rain Barrels, Raised Beds, Spinach, Swiss Chard, Uncategorized, Vegetables

Category Archives: Community Garden

Archives

Email Subscription