Weather: Sunny, high 40s
A large crew answered the call for help and showed up with the expectation of shoveling lots of composted manure onto the garden. However, the truck with the manure arrived later than usual and we didn’t make much of a dent in the pile. But there was enough time to get an initial 4-inch layer of manure on the asparagus.
The first transplanting happened…a row of parsley plants. They were planted about 1 to 1 ½ ft apart. In between Carla will plant seeds. This will allow ingrowing to replace the more mature parsley as it is cut.
Here the garden markers are being cleaned for reuse this year. Janet and Kathy were looking to see if there was already a “Parsley” marker to use in the new bed.
Note the new compost bins…all ready to get newly filled with garden waste.
The parsley was part of a contribution of herbs (basil, parsley, rosemary, lavender) from a volunteer who used them as luncheon table centerpieces at her son’s bar mitzvah. She wanted to have a tie-in to the Interfaith Garden. And who knows, perhaps some of her son’s guests will end up working with us because of what they learned that day.
Other notes:
Update on the woodchuck: He has not made an appearance since Tuesday when the trap was set. And there has been no more tunneling in the garden. Interestingly, while the cabbage leaves remained, the peanut butter was all gone. Carla wonders if sneaky squirrels found a way to pull out the bait without triggering the trap.
Carla reports that new hives were installed. The beekeeper expects that the bees did not survive our harsh winter so new bees will be arriving before too long. The good news was that the bees left behind some very tasty honey.
We were joined by 4 volunteers from South Church in Andover. After hearing of our Interfaith Garden from their recently called new minister, Rev. Dana Allen Walsh, they are looking into starting an interfaith Garden up North to provide outreach to nearby Lawrence. So they came to get first hand experience at the garden and to better understand what would be entailed. It reminded me of 6 years ago when a few of us went and met with Gaining Ground in Concord to pick the brains of that group. With a few acres, a full-time farmer and LOTS of volunteers, they raise and annually give away for free over 20,000 pounds of fresh produce to local food banks. Just as Gaining Ground inspired and provided insights on how we might get our project off the ground, we hope that what was shared this morning with South Church proves helpful.