Sunday, June 30, 2013

The Big Day


Free breakfast of omelets and fruit salad

First honey harvest from the garden at Skanks!



First sunflower to open!


Okra

Peas

White clover ground cover

Red clover

Speaches & such

Our first event in the garden was monumental for us. Everyone who donated resources, followed our project, volunteered, or just heard about it around the neighborhood came out and saw what we started. Real Cuisine was there serving up free breakfast, someone brought a guitar, and the weather couldn't have been more gorgeous. A soil scientist and urban gardener from Chicago and named Donald Johnson and his lovely fiance' came as guest speakers. Everyone got a much-deserved pat on the back.






After that, we took some chard and kale from the garden over to a Destination Dinner Table event at Brandon Court school, where we prepared and served them up free for kids and parents. Mr Johnson gave a presentation on local food. It was an all-around triumphant day on the DIY food front. Looking forward, we have a lot of new gardens that all need a lot of TLC (mulch, mulch, and more mulch). Anyone interested in getting involved, signing up for a garden plot (free garden mentoring included), or volunteering for other gen H kids programs like Destination Dinner Table can email me (Roxanne) at swampwaterstomp@gmail.com, George at george@genhkids.org, or anyone else on the team at gen H (genhkids.org). Thanks so much to everyone who has helped or supported us, and it's been a pleasure to work with such bright, motivated, and passionate people! Cheers!

Press confrence prep

Sign painting - big thank you to Sid & Emily <3

Friends of Sangamon Valley river clean-up flier, awesome work by Wendell

tidying up


Emerging fruits



robust greens galore
An untold number of hours have gone into situating the community garden of E. Cook St. to get it ready for the press conference there on June 27th. It's totally satisfying to see all the plants not only surviving, but thriving at this point. While much work remains to properly sheet mulch the currently unplanted plots, get them planted, and continue to fine-tune the work flow of the space, we're ready for anyone who wants to get involved. We've finally graduated from words and plans to living gardens dotted all across town. The ball is rolling, now who wants to help push?

Tuesday, June 11, 2013

Ball Charter pea harvest





yum!


George and I visited the Ball Charter garden for the first time since the planting, and things seem to be coming along smoothly. Ball Charter was built with gardens in mind, and totes the best outdoor infrastructure we've had the pleasure of working in so far! Not only that, but the kids are quite good company and show a wonderful amount of enthusiasm and familiarity with gardening. Besides the vegetable plots, there are also some young apple trees and grape vines. Parents have already organized the care-taking of the garden over the summer. Easy-peasy.