Lexington Interfaith Garden

On Saturday, June 6th, a Girl Scout Brownie troop and some of their parents came to help. One brownie had worked another Saturday and she reported that she liked coming back and knowing where things were and what to do. The girls were curious, worked hard and enthusiastically went from one task to the next. We are early in the season but there was over 20 pounds of produce that was picked, cleaned and delivered to the Lexington Food Pantry. They harvested bok choy, lettuce, arugula, green onions, radishes, Italian parsley, dill, mint and rhubarb.
Brownies and parents not only picked and readied the fresh produce for delivery, but they escorted the cart down the street to the new temporary location of the Lexington Food Pantry at St. Brigid’s. The pantry relocated this summer due to renovations of their permanent space at Church of Our Redeemer.  Our fresh delivery got added to the other produce bought for the benefit of the clients. Thankfully, the Pantry has to buy less through the summer as giving gardens, like ours, supply more and more of the fresh nutritious bounty that they seek to offer.

Since we had gotten a lot of rain recently, there was more dirt than usual clinging to the lettuce and bok choy so they needed a stop at the “rinse station”. Usually all that is needed is a little brushing off of dirt at the base.

Parents worked alongside

What a beautiful radish!

I got to chat with Carolyn Wortman yesterday at the Lexington Food Pantry.  As you likely know, she is the longtime volunteer that coordinates the Pantry.  Since all the work we do at the Interfaith Garden ends up at the Pantry, I thought you would be interested in what’s happening there. Included in this post is a photo from our delivery on June 6 from the Interfaith Garden to the Food Pantry.

Yesterday, the Pantry served 74 clients, representing households of one to seven people.  Another recent Saturday 80 clients shopped at the Pantry.  Last week, 3 new families from Lexington came for the first time.  The numbers keep creeping up.

As you may recall, they have temporarily relocated to the basement of St. Brigid’s during the period that their regular space is under renovation.  The space is smaller but they have adjusted well to the new digs. One benefit is that the Pantry is borrowing basement space that wasn’t being otherwise used, so all the tables, chairs and extra food set up doesn’t have to be taken down every Sat to be set up again the following Friday.  This is a huge time and energy saving.

But due to the move and space constraints Carolyn had to pass on being the recipient of the annual Lexington US Postal Service Food drive that is co-coordinated by the postal carriers in May.  Instead, the Lexington Post Office arranged for the food to be donated to another Food bank.  Usually this event is the Pantry’s largest food drive and contributes significantly to the Pantry’s stock of staples.  In its absence this year, Carolyn’s supplemental buying has increased a lot in order to keep ahead of demand and have supplies on hand.

Having the fresh produce start arriving from Giving Gardens, like ours, is very much appreciated. With the numbers I cited above, you can see again the scope of the need.   I was talking to another volunteer who said how she noticed that they have already started adding extra tables to accommodate the increase in produce arriving…and part of that is due to the fresh food we have been dropping off for the last few weeks ( the last few Saturdays over  20 pounds of produce was delivered.)  As the summer progresses,  there will be more and more tables needed!  Thanks to your efforts, you can take some credit for that.

Amy Swanson

Harriet hoe-ing.	Shelley transplanting the bok choy. Carla thought these would be ready for harvest in 2 weeks, if not earlier.
The bottoms of the potato plants have been re-buried.	Carla assessing the crowded bed. Looks like some bok choy needs transplanting.

Lots got done.

On Tuesday, volunteers from Temple Isaiah and Hancock showed up after the rain. Besides doing lots of weeding, we transplanted bok choy and lettuce, best to do after rain, which was Tuesday! We also “hilled” the potatoes. While the potatoes grow in the soil, the plants keeping pushing upward so regularly they need to be reburied. By the time the potatoes are ready to be dug up, they look like they have been planted in hills, since so much soil has been moved over to keep covering up the base of the plants.

Volunteers: Hancock and Temple Isaiah

Weather: The good news was the storms held off, the bad news was the storm held off. We need the rain.

Can you name this plant with the interesting flower? 

(answer below)

Carla was away but she left clear and easy instructions:

Weed, Water, Watch

Weed carefully around the young plants, water the seedlings and watch for the emergence of young plants from the seeds recently planted.

The plant with the interesting flower is Rhubarb!

Kathy watering	Harriet weeding
Basket getting full!	Mark weeding

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.