Lexington Interfaith Garden

Volunteers 9/28th: Follen, Hancock, Islamic Center, Lexington Catholic Community, First Parish and First Baptist

Volunteers 10/5th: Redeemer, Lex Catholic Community, Lex Methodist, Hancock and Temple Isaiah

Crops harvested: Swiss chard, eggplant, tomatoes, green beans, cabbage, kale, broccoli, parsley, dill, mint, zucchini, pumpkins, butternut squash, cabbage, peppers

It’s now easier to see that the season is winding down. Lots of different crops are still getting harvested each week, but there are less of them. But between the pictures of the loaded carts and list of what is being picked and delivered, you can still see the diversity and abundance…just not as much. Nothing like those July and August Saturdays of 100+ pound harvests to set unsustainable expectations!

As there is time after the Saturday harvesting, we are starting to slowly put the garden to bed—poles have been taken down in the blueberry patch and pine needles readied for spreading there; nutrient-rich soil has been dug out of the compost bins and added to the strawberry beds; and winter rye seed has been spread where the squashes and bok choy had recently grown (the winter rye will be plowed over come early next spring to add nutrients back to the soil).

Other news from the garden:

• Saturday hours have shifted later so volunteers now work 8:30am to 10am

• Last volunteer day at the garden will be Tues, Oct 29th

• Unfortunately the bee hive visiting behind the barn was lost sometime in the last few weeks. The bees had gotten less active and then just died off. Could it be the wax moth? We hope the hive owner will try again next spring. We’ve always thought that the bees were one of the reasons that the garden’s productivity took off in the past 2 years!

Digging rich soil from the compost bin

Would you believe strawberries in October?

Clearing out the tomato patch

Hearty Kale

What’s in the big potted plant by the barn?

It’s a fig tree!

Volunteers from: Cub Scout Pack 160, Hancock, First Parish and United Methodist

Weather: 60s and sunny, with a lot of dew on the ground.

Today’s harvest of 147 pounds included: lettuce, tomatoes, cabbage, parsley, beets, broccoli, leeks, kale, zucchini, tomatoes (3 varieties), butternut squash, eggplant, basil, onions, chard (2 varieties), and pumpkins.

Today we had 10 folks volunteer from Cub Scout Pack 160. It was wonderful to have so many young hands so willing to help. The scouts enthusiastically pitched in and were also quite fascinated with Carla’s chickens and bees. They loved eating the stems of the Swiss Chard like the stems were pieces of celery.

It was a good thing we had a few extra hands as there was a lot to harvest, with today being our 2^nd largest harvest day of the season. We have now delivered 1,380 pounds of produce to the food pantry and only need another 256 pounds to break last year’s record harvest.

There were so many zinnias harvested we couldn’t bring them all to the food pantry and each of the Cub Scouts brought a small bouquet home to their Moms.

On the way to the pantry

Where is the rest of the Pack?

A small portion of the zinnia harvest

Washing radishes

Cub Scouts in the small garden

Cabbage and Swiss Chard`

Swiss Chard

Volunteers on the way to the Pantry

Volunteers from: Redeemer, Follen, Lex Catholic Community, Trinity Covenant and others community volunteers

Weather: High 60s and sunny. We could use some rain!

Today’s harvest of about 140 pounds included: lettuce, spinach, parsley, beets, leeks, blueberries, carrots, kale, green beans, zucchini, tomatoes (3 varieties), winter squash, eggplant, basil, onions, chard (2 varieties) , and cucumbers.

My job today was to start picking tomatoes. With the pantry being closed next Saturday, the garden will be closed as well. So the strategy today was to pick all tomatoes that were showing signs of ripening and deliver them to the food pantry. Better to have the clients get the benefit of extra tomatoes today that they can have ripen on their counter, then to return 2 weeks from now and find overly ripe or rotten tomatoes on the vine!

I wasn’t around when the tomatoes were planted but what I picked today looked to be 3 varieties: a smaller oval Italian roma style, the traditional round red tomato and lastly a yellow tomato. Had Carla not warned me about the yellow tomatoes at the end of the bed, I would have thought they were just not quite ripe.

Ripe Yellow Tomatoes

Plum Tomatoes

Unripe Red Tomatoes

Unripe Red & Ripe Yellow Tomatoes

Weather: Perfect – Sunny, Crisp, No humidity
Harvest: 170 pounds of tomatoes, potatoes, cucumbers, eggplant, beans, swiss chard, kale, blueberries, carrots, parsley, basil, mint, yellow squash and zucchini. So much produce we had to convert one of the carts into a double decker.

Tomatoes and Beans

Potatoes, Beans and Chard

Carrots, Blueberries, Mint, Chard & Kale

Double Decker Cart

Eggplant with a nose