Year 3 Wrap Up

This year 45 varieties of vegetables and herbs were grown.  This included: Acorn Squash, Asparagus, Basil, Beans, Beets, Bok Choy, Broccoli, Butternut Squash, Cabbage, Carrots, Celery, Cherry Tomatoes, Cilantro, Corn, Cucumbers, Dill, Eggplant, Garlic, Kale, Leeks, Lettuce, Mint, Onions, Oriental Peas, Parsley, Peppers, Potatoes, Pumpkins, Raspberries, Radishes, Reg. Peas, Rhubarb, Romano Beans, Scallions, Shallots, Spaghetti Squash, Spinach, Strawberries, Squash, Snap Peas, Swiss Chard, Tarragon, Tomatoes, Thyme, Zucchini

The 10 top crops by weight were:

Cucumbers                217.5  lbs.

Tomatoes                  178.5

Zucchini                     117.0

Spaghetti Squash     112.5

Eggplant                    112.0

Potatoes                    104.0

Onions                          99.5

Bok Choy                     93.8

Kale                               87.5

Butternut Squash          66.8

Another wonderful discovery was how many different people worked at the garden.  This year we worked on 58 days and had 154 different people sign in to work at the garden, filling 463 work slots.  Some came once and others came very regularly.  Since inception, the garden has drawn 327 different volunteers.  Isn’t this a grand demonstration of how the community embraces the idea of growing good food for our neighbors in need!

Lastly, I’d like to draw your attention to an article that Janet Lane, of Follen, submitted to the Lexington Minuteman.  It reminded me of another objective of this garden–namely offering us the opportunity to reconnect with the miracle of how food is grown.  Here is a link to the article – Lexington Interfaith Garden grows food for families in need.  Janet interviewed a mother and young son who worked at the garden 11 times this year.  Janet told me that when she interviewed Isaiah, he was quite animated as he described how potatoes grew.  Who hasn’t shared in some of that excitement as we’ve worked at the garden?  I still remember the first time I saw asparagus spears growing and laugh at how the plant didn’t look at all what I’d imagined.  And it was fun to share that first-time experience with my college-age son.  We were both “newbies”.

So the garden was put to bed today.  But soon planning will start again for Year 4 with Carla.