Saturday, November 28, 2009

Gardener's Poem by Karel Capek

O Lord, grant that in some way
it may rain every day,
Say from about midnight until three o'clock
in the morning,
But, You see, it must be gentle and warm
so that it can soak in;
Grant that at the same time it would not rain on
campion, alyssum, helianthus, lavendar, and others which
You in Your infinite wisdom know
are drought-loving plants-
I will write their names on a bit of paper
if you like-
And grant that the sun may shine
the whole day long,
But not everywhere (not, for instance, on the
gentian, plantain lily, and rhododendron)
and not too much;
That there may be plenty of dew and little wind,
enough worms, no lice and snails, or mildew,
and that once a week thin liquid manure and guano
may fall from heaven.

Amen.

Thursday, October 29, 2009

Wednesday Night Help

Donna lends a hand taking okra stalks to the woods. We're so glad to have her on board. We didn't compost these because they'd take too long to break down.  
Brotherly love helps us clear the garden of okra stalks.
 
It takes a village to take down the spent okra.
 
Pam's grandaughter was a big help. It was their first time in the garden and they score a TEN for work effort.
 
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I Can't Believe It's Fall

We're proud to say we're one of the very few gardens that are still full of produce with Halloween less than two days away. Behind the first bed of savoy cabbage is one of our beds that's already been put into cover crop. We sowed winter rye and hairy vetch together in the field crop area and in all beds as they come out of production. This puts nitrogen ito the soil (the vetch is a legume), prevents errosion over the winter, breaks up the soil via root action and gives us lots of biomass in the spring with which to make compost.
 
Kids made their own garden tags for their own raised bed gardens. Notice the new cultivar - "Rabish".
 
Franklin mulches the main pathway with hay that was brought over by The Chapel Door's hayride.
 
Another lush overview.
 
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The Lord's Acre is Still Beautiful

It's fall and the garden is still beautiful and still producing. We still have cabbage, kale, lettuce, beets, carrots and peas yet to harvest and it's October 29th 2009.
 
The kids' garden really produced this year. Last week alone we took a milk-box full of carrots, another of turnips and almost another of beets. Before that it was lettuce and chard.
 
Savoy cabbage -one of the most beautiful fall vegetables and one of the hardiest.
 
A bed of romaine ready to harvest at dawn tomorrow.
 
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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Growing Volunteers

The Lord's Acre is in the business of growing volunteers and here's one of our finest crops. Jessica Tripp organized this group from Central Methodist Church to come out and give the garden a hand today. Photo by Ben Dement
 
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Garden Color

Photos by Ben Dement:
 
 
 
 
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Kids in the Garden

The Lord's Acre is for all ages. While digging weeds today, the kids from Central Methodist Church found all manner of treasures: forgotten potatoes, caterpillars, maypops that really pop, a few beautiful rocks and our first toad. One thing they looked for but didn't find was a spear point. So far, two have been found in the garden. Come on out and try your luck. Photos by Ben Dement
 
 
 
 
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Saturday in the Garden

The following photos were taken early morning by regular volunteer, Ben Dement with his Canon Rebel and keen eye.
 
 
 
 
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Thursday, September 3, 2009

Tons of Food

Thank you to everyone: To Date we've donated aprox. 2 1/3 TONS of produce to Food For Fairview. Thank you for your donations of time, money, talent and equipment.

beans 5 bushels 150 lbs
beets 10 bushels 400 lbs
cabbage
carrots 4 bushels 120 lbs
corn 240 ears 400 lbs
cucumbers 4 bushels 220 lbs
kale
lettuce 510 heads 733 lbs
okra 1.25 bushels 19 lbs
peppers 10 bushels 290 lbs
potatoes 17 bushels 870 lbs
radishes 1.5 bushels 30 lbs
squash/ zucch. 11 bushels 460 lbs
Swiss Chard 6 bushels 120 lbs
tomatoes 2 bushels 96 lbs
turnips 9 bushels 450 lbs

A Few of The Lord's Acre Board Members

April (on our board) and Larry talk over a bed of beets.
 
Pat (also on the board) thins lettuce seedlings and transplants them to another bed.
 
Steve (also on the board) harvests beans - plants and all.
 
Mike points out the wild passion flower growing in the kid's garden. They seem an appropriate symbol for this garden - a community's passion for feeding the hungry.
 
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Volunteer Faces

Kevin & Stephanie's first day in the garden. We put them right to work harvesting peppers. Lots and lots of peppers.
 
April thins beets and thinks through our Fundraiser's details in her head as she does.
 
David is game for any task and last night he tackled cutting down the spent cornstalks and bundling them into shocks for the fundraiser (Sept. 19th - 5:30 - 10:30 potuck, square dance, awesome raffle, pony rides and more)
 
Becky's contribution was digging the last of the potatoes and looking for any that others may have missed.
 
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Wyeth & Dress Code

If you're familiar with Andrew Wyeth's painting - Christina's World - you'll recognize our immitation here with "Salem's World". Volunteer, Salem Johnson, thins carrots and I couldn't resist capturing her unintentional immitation of Wyeth's painting.
 
Paul, Steve, and Larry swear they didn't coordinate ahead of time but they showed up with what they're touting as: The Johnny Cash Look OR the new dress code for The Lord's Acre.
 
That was until Mike Dale showed up with his awesome hat. For now, come as you are. All volunteers are welcome, even if you can't keep up with these style setters.
 
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Saturday, August 29, 2009

The Reason for the Deer Fence

Last Wednesday morning, Thomas and Paul spotted a doe and her nursing fawn in the field surrounding the garden. That night, volunteers were treated to two older fawns eating and cavorting in the same pasture. So far so good as far as the deer fencing goes. It's holding.
 
 
 
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