After three weekends of rain/cold weather on Saturday necessitating cancellations, everyone was ready for another Saturday workday. Even Pam’s recently broken foot didn’t keep her away. My arm has ached for a week from over exertion at work, but Pam and I feel that pain shouldn’t be listened to. Joe, in his 80s, must feel likewise. He recently said that it hurt from his shoulders to his knees. But then he also said that if something bothered you then you should fix it. He was there Saturday building new raised beds and fixing a birdhouse.
All of the rainy weather has encouraged most of the seedlings to sprout under reemay – covered beds.
Pam led a crew mulching the last bit of the north point of the property. Tammy, Alex, Jeremy and Sarah (a new couple) cleared brush close to the campfire site in between loading trucks full of mulch. Maggie, Bhavana (another new addition) and Danielle worked on filling the two raised beds. Jay, Micheal, Donna, John and George all pitched in. Also John’s grandson, Parker helped by seeding one of those new beds with lettuce. Manny, Alex’s dog, supervised me bucketing up at the compost pile from Compost Now. We also picked up the second portion of a generous donation of plants from someone local who was moving to an apartment with no sun.
We have a growing contingent of vegetarians: Bhavana, Micheal, William, Jeremy, +?. My doctor and my wife are pushing me more in that direction, too. Higher triglycerides and blood sugar are forcing me to eat more healthy.
Working together has greatly improved the church property. Check out the before and after pix from Google Maps! William showed us and Tammy attached them for your appreciation. The after appears to have been shot last spring – there have been more improvements since then.
We had a team from Duke University Superfund Research Center who came in last year and educated us on soil contamination as part of an ongoing research and education project. They are coming back soon to do soil testing for metals and other things and do a short follow up presentation, if anyone would like to attend. The results from last year’s workshops, surveys and research are available here: http://sites.nicholas.duke.edu/superfund/gardens/ specific results for our garden here: https://arcg.is/SO0yu
Stay tuned for the next meeting as we are going to try to have another cookout near the fire, weather permitting. Dates pending. Bring friends and family! Share the work, share the harvest!
Garner Grows
Pete
