June 2009

So fun, in fact, that our all-star volunteers got through the whole work list and we were finished an hour early! Here are some pics from this past weekend:

We’ll be at it again this coming Saturday from 10am-1pm, weeding, watering, and harvesting. We see gardening as a practice of self-sufficience–what better way to celebrate our country’s independence?

….I’d bring it to London Ferrell Community Garden on Thursday July 2nd, beginning at 1pm.

Why you ask?

For the INAUGURAL event for the new BEEHIVES to be installed in the garden!

The bees will help to pollinate all the plants in the plots, along with the wonderful orchard trees in the neighborhood that we planted this spring. Plus, they’ll also add a decidedly sweet flair to the garden, particularly come harvest time in the fall!

But to get ready for our new friends, we’ll need to give them a home!

We’ve got all the wooden pieces, and the nails, but we need your help. Bring your hammer and learn the simple yet useful skill of assembling a beehive. Along the way, you’re also bound to pick up some beekeeping know how including a host of new vocabulary words (and for those of you who know me….I love my big words!)

Some come discover the meaning of hive bodies, supers, foundation, frames, bottom bars, and see the awe inspiring smoker!

Oh and we’ll be sure to have some honey sweetened motivation on hand too!

Hope to see you and your (small-headed) hammers there.

Sometimes we have a chance to venture out and share with a group what we are doing and why. These pictures are from an ESL camp put on at Morton Middle School. We talked about worms, compost, we started some seeds, and (confessionally) played some tag games.

Many thanks to Laura Gallaher for inviting us to be a part of their program. Thanks too to all-star volunteers Dejon and Wendy.

Forgive me–you have seen this scene before: the truck; the soil; the children; a garden. What the pictures don’t show is how hot it was on this lovely summer day, and how hard these young people worked anyway. It is such a joy to see this buy-in, these children handling these tools, showing us (and themselves!) that they can do this important work. So fun too to see how far the tomatoes and carrots have come in the adjacent bed. Do stay tuned to see more fruit from this labor.

Each Tuesday afternoon from 5pm to 6:30, Seedleaf is hosting a Carnegie Class called Family Gardening. Children and their parents have signed up to come and see what we are growing at the London Ferrell Community Garden, and how they can do some of these same things at home. We are very glad to see some familiar faces, participants from last year’s class, and happy to fold new students in as we go. Sign up for this free class at the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning.