Bean meditation

It is harvest time for beans. Bean picking is kind of like knitting, you start out a little intense but, in time, your breathing slows and your focus intensifies. It looked a little overwhelming at first, so my strategy was to focus on one plant at a time, starting at the base of the plant and working my way up to the top, pick all the beans...next plant. In about 30 minutes I had a basket of beans.

Amazing. Even the discards of the plants look beautiful to me.

As of today...

Only two weeks into July and already we have donated 201 pounds of produce to our food shelf friends. Christine, the food shelf coordinator at Neighborhood House commented,

"Both Francis Basket (Maynard location) and Wellstone Center (Robie location) Food Shelves have been receiving HOH produce donations! Thank you so much – the HOH representatives who drop off the veggies are always so kind and cheerful."

I want to thank all the volunteers who have worked in the sun, rain, and wind weeding and harvesting.

Visiting the garden

I rode up to the garden  this morning on my bike. The air was quiet and still cool.

Visiting the garden is a little like seeing old friends.  Even though the plants had grown and changed they were all there pretty much how I remembered them. I bent down to snip the outside leaves of the chard and kale. I don't think they minded one bit.

I spent this past weekend with some friends I hadn't seen for over twenty years. They were part of my Peace Corps group that worked in Ecuador from 1989-1991. We laughed and danced and ate together. We canoed and reminisced. We picked up right where we had left off. What a wonderful time.

Up and running

Leaves; beautiful, intricate, delicious. This week we've delivered the first forty pounds of fresh produce to Neighborhood House. Kale, spinach, collard greens, and Swiss chard make up the bulk of the food delivered, but the food shelf also received nearly twenty pounds of fresh strawberries.

This year we are delivering to Francis Basket -- the Highland branch of the food shelf near Sibley Plaza -- in addition to the main food shelf on Robbie Street.

 

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Biomass increasing

The garden is on its way. With the rain, and now a little sun, the plants appear to be doubling in size each day. We have already harvested some mustard greens (and weeds).

 

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Spring at last

We're hoping for an energetic group of volunteers to prepare the beds and spread 12 cubic yards of mulch this Saturday. Hot coffee at 8:00 AM. Bring gloves, hoes and rakes, and dress in layers.

It's April, ready to start planting?

Well, we decided to hold off on the garden clean-up on Earth Day yesterday. This is the view down my street early this morning.

 

 

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