Garden Update – August 20, 2022

Janet Lane offers this summary of the work at the garden on Saturday, August 20.

By 8:30 the garden was in motion with harvesting thanks to volunteers from Chinese Bible Church, Follen, Hancock and Lexington Catholic Community. We are again weighing the produce delivered to the food pantry in our notebook.

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At the Garden – July 30, 2022

Lili washes beets

Sometimes a little quick rinse is called for. Lili dunks the beets.

It’s been a while since I last helped and wow, it has filled in a lot! Fortunately, it wasn’t as hot as last Saturday. I worked along with other members of Hancock Church, First Baptist, the Chinese Bible Church of Boston and other friends of the Garden.

First tomatoes of the season!

Like most Saturdays, the focus was on harvesting early and fast so we could deliver to the Pantry in time for them to organize the fresh produce donations and distribute that morning. My quick total was ~ 115 lbs.–including potatoes, onions, cucumbers, zucchini, peppers, green beans, roman beans, pole beans, eggplant, bok choy, parsley, basil, beets, radishes, cherry tomatoes and chard.

– Amy Swanson

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At the Garden – June 7

Theresa and Carla at the GardenI found myself in Lexington Center around 5:30 pm last Tuesday, so I thought I’d stop by the garden, since I hadn’t been over in a while, and I had a question for Carla anyway. It was a beautiful evening, and I arrived just as work was finishing up. Carla was excited to show me some of the transitions in gardening practices that she’s been making over the last few years. For example, carrot seeds are now “broadcast” (spread loosely) on a raised row, rather than meticulous planting the seeds in a straight line.  This is a much faster way to plant a large number of the small seeds. She’s also growing the strawberries in the critter-protected area with the blueberry bushes (which have LOTS of berries ripening!). My understanding is that the strawberries provide a nice groundcover and keep weeds down for the blueberries.

Anyway, it was wonderful to see Carla, and also long-time garden volunteer, Theresa. I snapped this picture of them both before I left. (Carla loves her birthday hat!) – Janet Kern

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Happy Birthday, Carla!

From the Garden – May 24, 2022

Someone let it slip that a birthday was coming up so we surprised our friend, Carla, with a short and sweet birthday celebration at the end of the gardening session on Tuesday. Janet Lane, the liaison from Follen, made a special cap and cape to honor Carla’s alter ego as a Gardening Super Hero. Alix, the beekeeper, made a honey cake shaped like a beehive and Lisa brought cup cakes with edible flowers.

And we also got some gardening done!

The garden looks wonderful! For all of you who have helped already, the work you’ve put in shows. The potatoes, lettuces, chard, beets, peas and everything — are all green and thriving. Continue reading

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First Fresh Produce of the Season delivered to Food Pantry

4/30/22

The Lexington Food Pantry got its first fresh garden donation today and it was from the Interfaith Garden! The Pantry was very excited to see this first delivery because it signals the beginning of donated fresh produce to augment their supply chain. Our first harvest didn’t fill up the garden cart but we had several trays to drop off containing asparagus, rhubarb, mint, and garlic chives—all of which totaled 7+ lbs. (Notice we are back to weighing—something we gave up earlier in the pandemic due to manpower limitations.)

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