Saturday, August 31, 2013

Making Progress, But Whimping Out

It's brutally humid out there.  After filling our new free little library last night, I had planned this morning to hoe, water, start planting fall crops, and then harvest.  I even turned down two offers of OSU football tickets to get this done.  However, it rained a quarter inch last night, which made it too messy to hoe or plant.  When I finally arrived at 9 a.m. this morning, it was already pretty humid.   By noon, I was ready to call it a day.  There was no watering, hoeing or planting this morning.  But, I was responsible enough to harvest.  I was also able to fill two bags of greens for a neighbor family.  None of the other gardeners stopped by.

I've attached some charts of where we are on our food pantry donations.  As you can see from the top chart, this year we are likely to exceed our record level of donations from last year.   We are also doing better this year on squash, but not so much on tomatoes or peppers as in prior years.  We still have some time.  And, the LSS Choice Food Pantry still gets most of our donated produce.

When I arrived this morning, I put some more -- adult-- books in the library.  I had also printed out some book markers from the free little library website and put in a sign telling neighbors to take a book; leave a book.   A neighbor fellow stopped by on his bike and took two books on gardening and landscaping.  He likes DIY books.  Duly noted.

Cathy came by after a volunteer meeting at Urban Connections.  She's getting ready for next week's Children's Parade.   She put some more of our children's books in the library.

I found the praying mantis in my plot (which was MIA last week while I focused on the garden spider).  It was hanging out on the ground near the tomatoes.    It was very, very pregnant.   I almost stepped on it.   I hope it lays its eggs -- or whatever praying mantises do -- near the fence and not my tomato trellises because I will be ripping out the trellises at the end of the season and the fence will be safer.   I had to remind myself to watch where I stepped after that.  It declined the assistance of my hand to boost it higher up.   For her part, the garden spider now has her web about two feet west of where she has been the last month.    She's bigger, too.

Before
One of our gardeners is about to get booted.  She hasn't weeded her plot in ages and the weeds are up to my chest.   She also hasn't harvested any of her food.  What can I say?  She's a college student with two jobs and probably lots of beaus.    I told the large group of new kids who moved into the neighborhood after we broke ground that they could share her plot if they helped to hoe it.    They've been pestering me all summer and I need some place to direct all of their energy.  We had a slew of new kids move in right across the street just this week.  I have no idea what their names are yet, but they watered up a storm on Friday night. 

After
Well, hopefully I will get to planting our fall crops next weekend.  I've already started some cabbage and bok choy seedlings.  I need to get them in the ground very soon.  Our collard greens are becoming infested with aphids, so I need to start another row of that, too.

Check out how much better the lot at the corner of Cherry and Morrison looks after the guys finished mowing it last week.

Finally, I included another picture of Tyrese's shirt from Friday because I liked it.

Making Progress, But Whimping Out

It's brutally humid out there.  After filling our new free little library last night, I had planned this morning to hoe, water, start planting fall crops, and then harvest.  I even turned down two offers of OSU football tickets to get this done.  However, it rained a quarter inch last night, which made it too messy to hoe or plant.  When I finally arrived at 9 a.m. this morning, it was already pretty humid.   By noon, I was ready to call it a day.  There was no watering, hoeing or planting this morning.  But, I was responsible enough to harvest.  I was also able to fill two bags of greens for a neighbor family.  None of the other gardeners stopped by.

I've attached some charts of where we are on our food pantry donations.  As you can see from the top chart, this year we are likely to exceed our record level of donations from last year.   We are also doing better this year on squash, but not so much on tomatoes or peppers as in prior years.  We still have some time.  And, the LSS Choice Food Pantry still gets most of our donated produce.

When I arrived this morning, I put some more -- adult-- books in the library.  I had also printed out some book markers from the free little library website and put in a sign telling neighbors to take a book; leave a book.   A neighbor fellow stopped by on his bike and took two books on gardening and landscaping.  He likes DIY books.  Duly noted.

Cathy came by after a volunteer meeting at Urban Connections.  She's getting ready for next week's Children's Parade.   She put some more of our children's books in the library.

I found the praying mantis in my plot (which was MIA last week while I focused on the garden spider).  It was hanging out on the ground near the tomatoes.    It was very, very pregnant.   I almost stepped on it.   I hope it lays its eggs -- or whatever praying mantises do -- near the fence and not my tomato trellises because I will be ripping out the trellises at the end of the season and the fence will be safer.   I had to remind myself to watch where I stepped after that.  It declined the assistance of my hand to boost it higher up.   For her part, the garden spider now has her web about two feet west of where she has been the last month.    She's bigger, too.

Before
One of our gardeners is about to get booted.  She hasn't weeded her plot in ages and the weeds are up to my chest.   She also hasn't harvested any of her food.  What can I say?  She's a college student with two jobs and probably lots of beaus.    I told the large group of new kids who moved into the neighborhood after we broke ground that they could share her plot if they helped to hoe it.    They've been pestering me all summer and I need some place to direct all of their energy.  We had a slew of new kids move in right across the street just this week.  I have no idea what their names are yet, but they watered up a storm on Friday night. 

After
Well, hopefully I will get to planting our fall crops next weekend.  I've already started some cabbage and bok choy seedlings.  I need to get them in the ground very soon.  Our collard greens are becoming infested with aphids, so I need to start another row of that, too.

Check out how much better the lot at the corner of Cherry and Morrison looks after the guys finished mowing it last week.

Finally, I included another picture of Tyrese's shirt from Friday because I liked it.

Friday, August 30, 2013

The SACG Welcomes the Cutest Free Little Library for the Cutest Kids in Columbus


In addition to spreading the joy of gardening to the next generation, the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden has also attempted this year to educate and entertain the neighborhood kids when the Garden is not open.  Throughout the month of July, the SACG held a book drive among current and former gardeners, the Garden Manager’s niece and nephew, and others.  When we quickly ran out of books we were delighted to receive three boxes of free books from Half Price Books (which also donated books to Urban Connections).   After all, there is not a library within easy walking distance for the kids.

You may have noticed the kids hanging out in the trunk of the Garden Manager’s car from time to time.   That’s where the books are.  Or were.

Bexley accountant and wood worker extraordinaire Jim Zeier was persuaded with very little effort to build the SACG a Free Little Library to benefit the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood.  I was walking from Joe and Betty's to Doug & Suzy's and there was Jim working on building a closet organizer for his daughter.  I decided to grab the opportunity to ask him.  He asked for some dimensions or a picture to work from.  Little did he know that I had already printed plans from the Free Little Library website, printed a copy of our article about our book drive and threw in a copy of the Dispatch editorial for good measure.  Poor guy never stood a chance. 


Kossuth Street CG's Library
You may have seen these cute little homemade neighborhood libraries mentioned on the national news from time to time.  There are similar libraries in German Village and Clintonville.   We’ve included a picture of one from the Kossuth Street Community Garden that they installed last Fall.  (Michael Doody was pushing me to do likewise and you can see he succeeded).   And I've added a picture of the Clintonville library celebrating Switzerland's birthday.

Clintonville' Swiss Model #178
 I knew Jim had a great wood shop, but I had no idea how talented he was.  Since even before we broke ground in 2009, Jim has cut down our donated lumber into tomato and fence stakes.  However, I’ve recently learned that he also turns wood stumps into beautiful bowls and vases.  He has really been slumming it by helping the SACG out over the years.    



St. Jim
Jim donated most of the materials for our little library, but the cedar on the roof was donated by Trudeau Lumber (from wood left over after building raised beds for the kids at the SACG and at the Ohio Avenue Elementary School).  SACG Gardener Frank Carter supplied the post, dug the hole and installed the library today at the corner of Stoddart and Cherry.    I tried to fill it with children’s and gardening books, but I ran out!  We could really use some children’s dictionaries.

Take a book that interests you, then return the book when you’re finished so that someone else can read it, too.   Or leave a book that you’ve already read.  (Please do not add anything too racy that would make the Garden Manager’s grandmother blush in her grave). 

Wouldn’t it be great for Stoddart Avenue to be known for all of the brainy kids who live and play here?    Be a good example, and read a book while you’re sitting on your front porch.  You might enjoy it yourself.

PICK IT UP!  I also picked up the supplies today from Keep Columbus Beautiful for the next week’s litter pick up.  Remember, starting at 9:30 on Saturday, September 7, 2013 and for a little over an hour, we will be picking up litter in the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood.  I will bring some refreshments and hope that you will contribute to keeping the blood sugar up of our hardworking volunteers.

THEFTS.  Remember the picture of this beautiful cabbage from last week?  Well.  Someone broke down the fence down next to our front gate and stole this cabbage.  AND this miscreant also stole five bags of ripe tomatoes from Charlie’s plot.  AND stole a bunch of kale from my plot.  And who knows what else.  The nerve. 

Well, when I went over tonight to finish distributing neighborhood newsletters and to fill the new little library with books, a bunch of neighborhood kids descended upon me.   A few girls helped me distribute newsletters on Wednesday, but we have so many new neighbors that I ran out.  When I returned tonight to finish the street, more girls helped me.  Then about 10 kids helped water various plots and our yellowing peach trees.   Tyrese – who’s in the picture – donated all of his broccoli and many of his tomatoes to LSS’s food pantry.  Good kid.

Well, off to water my own house plants.

The SACG Welcomes the Cutest Free Little Library for the Cutest Kids in Columbus


In addition to spreading the joy of gardening to the next generation, the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden has also attempted this year to educate and entertain the neighborhood kids when the Garden is not open.  Throughout the month of July, the SACG held a book drive among current and former gardeners, the Garden Manager’s niece and nephew, and others.  When we quickly ran out of books we were delighted to receive three boxes of free books from Half Price Books (which also donated books to Urban Connections).   After all, there is not a library within easy walking distance for the kids.

You may have noticed the kids hanging out in the trunk of the Garden Manager’s car from time to time.   That’s where the books are.  Or were.

Bexley accountant and wood worker extraordinaire Jim Zeier was persuaded with very little effort to build the SACG a Free Little Library to benefit the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood.  I was walking from Joe and Betty's to Doug & Suzy's and there was Jim working on building a closet organizer for his daughter.  I decided to grab the opportunity to ask him.  He asked for some dimensions or a picture to work from.  Little did he know that I had already printed plans from the Free Little Library website, printed a copy of our article about our book drive and threw in a copy of the Dispatch editorial for good measure.  Poor guy never stood a chance. 


Kossuth Street CG's Library
You may have seen these cute little homemade neighborhood libraries mentioned on the national news from time to time.  There are similar libraries in German Village and Clintonville.   We’ve included a picture of one from the Kossuth Street Community Garden that they installed last Fall.  (Michael Doody was pushing me to do likewise and you can see he succeeded).   And I've added a picture of the Clintonville library celebrating Switzerland's birthday.

Clintonville' Swiss Model #178
 I knew Jim had a great wood shop, but I had no idea how talented he was.  Since even before we broke ground in 2009, Jim has cut down our donated lumber into tomato and fence stakes.  However, I’ve recently learned that he also turns wood stumps into beautiful bowls and vases.  He has really been slumming it by helping the SACG out over the years.    



St. Jim
Jim donated most of the materials for our little library, but the cedar on the roof was donated by Trudeau Lumber (from wood left over after building raised beds for the kids at the SACG and at the Ohio Avenue Elementary School).  SACG Gardener Frank Carter supplied the post, dug the hole and installed the library today at the corner of Stoddart and Cherry.    I tried to fill it with children’s and gardening books, but I ran out!  We could really use some children’s dictionaries.

Take a book that interests you, then return the book when you’re finished so that someone else can read it, too.   Or leave a book that you’ve already read.  (Please do not add anything too racy that would make the Garden Manager’s grandmother blush in her grave). 

Wouldn’t it be great for Stoddart Avenue to be known for all of the brainy kids who live and play here?    Be a good example, and read a book while you’re sitting on your front porch.  You might enjoy it yourself.

PICK IT UP!  I also picked up the supplies today from Keep Columbus Beautiful for the next week’s litter pick up.  Remember, starting at 9:30 on Saturday, September 7, 2013 and for a little over an hour, we will be picking up litter in the Stoddart Avenue neighborhood.  I will bring some refreshments and hope that you will contribute to keeping the blood sugar up of our hardworking volunteers.

THEFTS.  Remember the picture of this beautiful cabbage from last week?  Well.  Someone broke down the fence down next to our front gate and stole this cabbage.  AND this miscreant also stole five bags of ripe tomatoes from Charlie’s plot.  AND stole a bunch of kale from my plot.  And who knows what else.  The nerve. 

Well, when I went over tonight to finish distributing neighborhood newsletters and to fill the new little library with books, a bunch of neighborhood kids descended upon me.   A few girls helped me distribute newsletters on Wednesday, but we have so many new neighbors that I ran out.  When I returned tonight to finish the street, more girls helped me.  Then about 10 kids helped water various plots and our yellowing peach trees.   Tyrese – who’s in the picture – donated all of his broccoli and many of his tomatoes to LSS’s food pantry.  Good kid.

Well, off to water my own house plants.

Saturday, August 24, 2013

Well Done is Better Than Well Said

At least that’s what old Ben Franklin used to say.  Although I almost entitled this, Beware Where You Put Your Hands.  As you can, see, I have a very large garden spider – called an argiope – in my tomato patch.  The female weaves a circular web, which she eats every night and re-spins every morning.  The smaller male lives on the outer edges and weaves the zig-zag pattern you see.     This spider has gotten larger every week and has been there over a month.  I haven’t seen the praying mantis – which used to live nearby -- in a few weeks.  I hope he didn’t fall prey to her.   She apparently eats anything that might nibble on my vegetables (including aphids), so I try to be very accommodating.  These spiders are quite common. They tend to live in the same place all summer.  They lay their eggs and the babies live in the cocoon over the winter.  They are supposed to be harmless to humans, but I do not intend to test that.   I give her a very wide birth.
 

I haven’t written in a few weeks (and it hasn’t rained in my absence either.  So, every trip to the Garden involves building my biceps as I lug hundreds of pounds of water from the tank to the Garden to water everything).  Last week was my grandfather’s 98thbirthday, so I went home for the large family annual birthday celebration.  He has been many things in his life, including a veteran and a farmer.  Since shortly after this last Father’s Day, however, he is being unwillingly confined to an assisted living facility since he sometimesgets confused and forgets where he is or who anyone else is, etc.   It was very depressing dropping him off because he did not want to stay.    We’re trying to figure out a way that his cat can live with him without him having to keep his door shut all the time (to keep her in).  She’s going crazy without him. This annual reunion  is also my chance to touch base with the other gardeners from my younger life.  Last year, while we were suffering from the drought, my Uncle Marshall’s garden was kicking butt.  It’s located right over an underground stream and could not have been more productive.  This year, however, with our overabundance of rain, it’s basically a flooded mess and he’s had to buy produce from the Amish.   He’s so distraught.  It’s so unfair.  Well, now he knows. He’s trying to find a good recipe for seriously spicy mustard pickles.  I cannot imagine.

After my last post, the kids came by on Monday and we settled that since DeShaun had been tending the boys’ plot, he got to decide who got what.  The kids enjoyed the leftover chocolate zucchini cupcakes, but then a brother stole his sister’s cupcake and I had to kick him out and then they pretty much all left.  But not before they all received a cucumber, dill heads and instructions on how to make their own dill pickles when they got home.  And, DeShaun and Shae picked and shucked as many black beans from their plots as they could so that they could go home and make black bean soup.  They looked at me like I was from outer space when I suggested that they dry the beans to use later (like I do).    I thought planting black beans had been a mistake, but they have been more excited about them than anything else (except watermelon).  DeShaun came back this morning, rejected his tomatoes and took home another handful of bean pods and (what I believe to be) an under-ripe cantaloupe from this plot.  He didn’t want it to get any bigger, he said.  His ripe cantaloupe exploded last week from neglect.

Sabrina has been an absolute god-send this summer.  She’s worked very hard to help me keep the Garden looking spiffy and the time she has spent watering and weeding the food pantry plot has freed me up to take care of other maintenance issues.  She is, however, very excited that this will be her last week of chores and she can focus more on her own plot and her senior year in college.  Her husband Tom cleaned out their second plot of their sad corn crop and planted their Fall crops.  This afternoon, they were off to Utica to get peaches, apples and tomatoes (and probably ice cream). When I was gone last week, she gave all of the produce she harvested for herself to a passerby who stopped by and asked for food.   

Last June, I transplanted some thinned cabbage seedlings from my plot to the second food pantry plot.  They have done just beautifully.  They’re so gorgeous, I’ve almost hated to pick them.  I picked a few of them this morning, as well as some melons.  The kids, as usual, have not been very good about harvesting their produce and so this morning I picked a bunch of it for Faith Mission. 
Since DeShaun’s sister, Tamara, has pretty much abandoned her plot and refused to weed or water it, I’ve pretty much given it to one of the new girls who comes to the Garden regularly and volunteers to help.  She and another little boy have been pestering me all summer about getting a plot.  She’s very responsible, so last week, we pulled the spent plants and planted some lettuce, beets, carrots, spinach and turnips.  We’ll add collard greens pretty soon.  She’s already watered it three times. 

Today, I finally sucked it up and harvested the rest of the turnips, beets and carrots from the food pantry plot so that I can plant fall crops over the long weekend next week.  I probably waited too long for the turnips, but their greens are still good.  The beets were very cute. The carrots were a mixed bag.   I pulled out most of the spent squash plants from the second food pantry plot, harvested the onions and weeded it to make room for planting next weekend, too.  I put some extra basil plants in there on Wednesday.  And -- wait for it -- I am still harvesting zucchini.  I pulled a sloppy plant last week, but still have four plants left producing zucchini every week.    It's a miracle.

I’ve been cooking putting up food like a fiend.  Thursday it was taco sauce, last night it was rancheros sauce and tomorrow it will be smoked tomato and jalapeno coyote sauce.  I also made some kimchi and  very spicy asian pickles and have three more cucumbers to motivate me.  

I ran really late again today and so took our 61 pound harvest to Faith Mission around 3:30.  I had forgotten where it moved and had to drive around a bit until I found the downtown Hill’s Market.  Then, I remembered.    As I was packing up from the Garden, a truck pulled over and the driver asked me to sell him tomatoes.  I demurred because they were going to Faith Mission, but then I started to reconsider.  However, he said he didn’t just want to buy a just a few and I didn’t want to divert so many tomatoes to a fundraising activity.  I might have to re-think my idealism if the opportunity presents itself again.
Finally, the abandoned duplex at the corner of Morrison and Cherry has looked awful all summer. Cathy has pestered the City's 311 line repeatedly to no avail.  This is where the murderers hid before the first shooting at the Garden in August 2010.  At that point, the City  came in and cleaned up the lot.  This summer, it has gotten so bad that you could not drive on Cherry without the weeds scratching your car.  You couldn’t walk in the alley at the same time as a car. Cathy had enough and trimmed the alley weeds back for self-preservation (since she travels that way repeatedly every day on her way to Urban Connections and has to look at this overgrown lot as it is pretty much across from her own home).  FINALLY, this morning, a truck and crew stopped by to start cleaning up the lot.  They didn’t finish, but anything is an improvement.  I thanked them and they stopped by for some tomatoes.

Well Done is Better Than Well Said

At least that’s what old Ben Franklin used to say.  Although I almost entitled this, Beware Where You Put Your Hands.  As you can, see, I have a very large garden spider – called an argiope – in my tomato patch.  The female weaves a circular web, which she eats every night and re-spins every morning.  The smaller male lives on the outer edges and weaves the zig-zag pattern you see.     This spider has gotten larger every week and has been there over a month.  I haven’t seen the praying mantis – which used to live nearby -- in a few weeks.  I hope he didn’t fall prey to her.   She apparently eats anything that might nibble on my vegetables (including aphids), so I try to be very accommodating.  These spiders are quite common. They tend to live in the same place all summer.  They lay their eggs and the babies live in the cocoon over the winter.  They are supposed to be harmless to humans, but I do not intend to test that.   I give her a very wide birth.
 

I haven’t written in a few weeks (and it hasn’t rained in my absence either.  So, every trip to the Garden involves building my biceps as I lug hundreds of pounds of water from the tank to the Garden to water everything).  Last week was my grandfather’s 98th birthday, so I went home for the large family annual birthday celebration.  He has been many things in his life, including a veteran and a farmer.  Since shortly after this last Father’s Day, however, he is being unwillingly confined to an assisted living facility since he sometimes gets confused and forgets where he is or who anyone else is, etc.   It was very depressing dropping him off because he did not want to stay.    We’re trying to figure out a way that his cat can live with him without him having to keep his door shut all the time (to keep her in).  She’s going crazy without him. This annual reunion  is also my chance to touch base with the other gardeners from my younger life.  Last year, while we were suffering from the drought, my Uncle Marshall’s garden was kicking butt.  It’s located right over an underground stream and could not have been more productive.  This year, however, with our overabundance of rain, it’s basically a flooded mess and he’s had to buy produce from the Amish.   He’s so distraught.  It’s so unfair.  Well, now he knows. He’s trying to find a good recipe for seriously spicy mustard pickles.  I cannot imagine.

After my last post, the kids came by on Monday and we settled that since DeShaun had been tending the boys’ plot, he got to decide who got what.  The kids enjoyed the leftover chocolate zucchini cupcakes, but then a brother stole his sister’s cupcake and I had to kick him out and then they pretty much all left.  But not before they all received a cucumber, dill heads and instructions on how to make their own dill pickles when they got home.  And, DeShaun and Shae picked and shucked as many black beans from their plots as they could so that they could go home and make black bean soup.  They looked at me like I was from outer space when I suggested that they dry the beans to use later (like I do).    I thought planting black beans had been a mistake, but they have been more excited about them than anything else (except watermelon).  DeShaun came back this morning, rejected his tomatoes and took home another handful of bean pods and (what I believe to be) an under-ripe cantaloupe from this plot.  He didn’t want it to get any bigger, he said.  His ripe cantaloupe exploded last week from neglect.

Sabrina has been an absolute god-send this summer.  She’s worked very hard to help me keep the Garden looking spiffy and the time she has spent watering and weeding the food pantry plot has freed me up to take care of other maintenance issues.  She is, however, very excited that this will be her last week of chores and she can focus more on her own plot and her senior year in college.  Her husband Tom cleaned out their second plot of their sad corn crop and planted their Fall crops.  This afternoon, they were off to Utica to get peaches, apples and tomatoes (and probably ice cream). When I was gone last week, she gave all of the produce she harvested for herself to a passerby who stopped by and asked for food.   

Last June, I transplanted some thinned cabbage seedlings from my plot to the second food pantry plot.  They have done just beautifully.  They’re so gorgeous, I’ve almost hated to pick them.  I picked a few of them this morning, as well as some melons.  The kids, as usual, have not been very good about harvesting their produce and so this morning I picked a bunch of it for Faith Mission. 
Since DeShaun’s sister, Tamara, has pretty much abandoned her plot and refused to weed or water it, I’ve pretty much given it to one of the new girls who comes to the Garden regularly and volunteers to help.  She and another little boy have been pestering me all summer about getting a plot.  She’s very responsible, so last week, we pulled the spent plants and planted some lettuce, beets, carrots, spinach and turnips.  We’ll add collard greens pretty soon.  She’s already watered it three times. 

Today, I finally sucked it up and harvested the rest of the turnips, beets and carrots from the food pantry plot so that I can plant fall crops over the long weekend next week.  I probably waited too long for the turnips, but their greens are still good.  The beets were very cute. The carrots were a mixed bag.   I pulled out most of the spent squash plants from the second food pantry plot, harvested the onions and weeded it to make room for planting next weekend, too.  I put some extra basil plants in there on Wednesday.  And -- wait for it -- I am still harvesting zucchini.  I pulled a sloppy plant last week, but still have four plants left producing zucchini every week.    It's a miracle.

I’ve been cooking putting up food like a fiend.  Thursday it was taco sauce, last night it was rancheros sauce and tomorrow it will be smoked tomato and jalapeno coyote sauce.  I also made some kimchi and  very spicy asian pickles and have three more cucumbers to motivate me.  

I ran really late again today and so took our 61 pound harvest to Faith Mission around 3:30.  I had forgotten where it moved and had to drive around a bit until I found the downtown Hill’s Market.  Then, I remembered.    As I was packing up from the Garden, a truck pulled over and the driver asked me to sell him tomatoes.  I demurred because they were going to Faith Mission, but then I started to reconsider.  However, he said he didn’t just want to buy a just a few and I didn’t want to divert so many tomatoes to a fundraising activity.  I might have to re-think my idealism if the opportunity presents itself again.
Finally, the abandoned duplex at the corner of Morrison and Cherry has looked awful all summer. Cathy has pestered the City's 311 line repeatedly to no avail.  This is where the murderers hid before the first shooting at the Garden in August 2010.  At that point, the City  came in and cleaned up the lot.  This summer, it has gotten so bad that you could not drive on Cherry without the weeds scratching your car.  You couldn’t walk in the alley at the same time as a car. Cathy had enough and trimmed the alley weeds back for self-preservation (since she travels that way repeatedly every day on her way to Urban Connections and has to look at this overgrown lot as it is pretty much across from her own home).  FINALLY, this morning, a truck and crew stopped by to start cleaning up the lot.  They didn’t finish, but anything is an improvement.  I thanked them and they stopped by for some tomatoes.

Saturday, August 10, 2013

SACG Celebrates Local Foods Week with Local Matters and Yay Bikes!

Bikers turning onto Stoddart Avenue
As faithful readers know, today the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden hosted visitors who participated in a bicycle tour of community gardens on the near south and east side of Columbus organized by Local Matters and Yay Bikes! Local Matters sponsors local foods week every year to promote the idea that we should all be eating as much food as we can from local farmers and our backyards.  Today’s bicycle tour was a kick-off event for Local Foods Week (for those of you who missed Tom’s gardening segment on NBC4 this morning).  

Yay Bikes! is a non-profit that promotes bicycling for alternative transportation in Central Ohio.  (I probably should have mentioned while they were here that I bike quite a bit in Bexley, which is an extremely bike-friendly community.  I’m the old lady with a basket on her bike that rides to the Library and Kroger’s and am a regular fixture on the Alum Creek Trail.  SACG Gardener Charlie is also an avid biker and volunteers at the Bike Co-Op on 5th Avenue). 

Cathy and I were busy baking yesterday.  She was much busier than me because she was baking hundreds of cupcakes for a wedding near Canton today.  She used the strawberries we picked in June at Hann’s Farm and makes her own frosting from scratch.  She also has all the proper tools and the neatest looking cupcake storage containers you’ve ever seen.  You’d think she was a professional baker, or something.  My cupcakes and muffins definitely look homemade.  I made the beet red velvet chocolate cupcakes I’ve blogged about before and Martha Stewart’s chocolate zucchini muffins (which taste better than they sound).  I used less butter than Martha, but I don’t think I baked them long enough because they all fell flat after being removed from the oven.    One of these days . . .

Before coming to the Garden I had to stop by the bank to get change for the bake sale.  When I arrived, Sabrina was already at the SACG weeding her own plot and she helped me to unload my car and get set up.  She harvested quite a few cucumbers, which she plans to pickle.  I then turned to weeding and weeding and weeding and pruning the back rose bushes. By 10:30, the bikers still had not arrived, so Sabrina bid me adieu and I started harvesting green beans.   
While I was picking my pole beans, I came across a praying mantis.  I had seen him in a different part of my plot a few days ago.  Then, I initially focused on his eyes and almost killed him in mistaking him for a grasshopper.  When I realized what he was, I sent him on his way.  Today, he was in my pole beans and he stayed put while I found my camera and took some pictures.   We love mantises because they eat pesky bugs that eat our vegetables before we do.  This is the first mantis I have seen at the SACG and I hope that s/he lays lots and lots of eggs.

The bikers were due around 11:15 and I kept looking down Main Street wondering where they were.  They finally showed up around 11:45.  I thought that the organizers might be offended by our bake sale, but they were thrilled.  The beets and zucchini used in our baked goods had been raised at the SACG.  The strawberries were from a local farm that we visited as a SACG field trip.   
 
Everyone (who had been biking since 9 am) was hungry and glad to have free water to refill their bottles.   I had been told to expect about 30 riders, but I think there were more than that.  They had been allocated 15 minutes at each garden, so I let them wonder around, answered questions and sold cupcakes.  I could have told stories all morning, but I knew that Richard (at the next garden, Growing Hearts and Hands on Oak Street) had to be wondering where they were.  So, I waved farewell as their peloton biked down Stoddart Avenue’s brick pavement.



Bikers leaving down Stoddart Ave
Neal had arrived during the hubbabaloo.  We discussed a few of his questions about next steps with his plot and then turned to harvesting and pulling dead squash plants out of the Garden. Seeing that no one dropped dead from eating our cupcakes, some neighbors also stopped by to buy some.  I sold them to the kids at half-price (because I have no backbone).   I picked almost 30 pounds of food for the food pantry.  By now, it was getting late and I had to kick the kids out so that I could work.  As it was, I didn’t leave the Garden until after 2 and made it to the food pantry about 20 minutes before it closed for the weekend.  They kept commenting on all the tomatoes – particularly the beefstakes.

Next week, we’ll be focusing on harvesting potatoes and planting our Fall season crops.  Be there or be square.

SACG Celebrates Local Foods Week with Local Matters and Yay Bikes!

Bikers turning onto Stoddart Avenue
As faithful readers know, today the Stoddart Avenue Community Garden hosted visitors who participated in a bicycle tour of community gardens on the near south and east side of Columbus organized by Local Matters and Yay Bikes! Local Matters sponsors local foods week every year to promote the idea that we should all be eating as much food as we can from local farmers and our backyards.  Today’s bicycle tour was a kick-off event for Local Foods Week (for those of you who missed Tom’s gardening segment on NBC4 this morning).  

Yay Bikes! is a non-profit that promotes bicycling for alternative transportation in Central Ohio.  (I probably should have mentioned while they were here that I bike quite a bit in Bexley, which is an extremely bike-friendly community.  I’m the old lady with a basket on her bike that rides to the Library and Kroger’s and am a regular fixture on the Alum Creek Trail.  SACG Gardener Charlie is also an avid biker and volunteers at the Bike Co-Op on 5th Avenue). 

Cathy and I were busy baking yesterday.  She was much busier than me because she was baking hundreds of cupcakes for a wedding near Canton today.  She used the strawberries we picked in June at Hann’s Farm and makes her own frosting from scratch.  She also has all the proper tools and the neatest looking cupcake storage containers you’ve ever seen.  You’d think she was a professional baker, or something.  My cupcakes and muffins definitely look homemade.  I made the beet red velvet chocolate cupcakes I’ve blogged about before and Martha Stewart’s chocolate zucchini muffins (which taste better than they sound).  I used less butter than Martha, but I don’t think I baked them long enough because they all fell flat after being removed from the oven.    One of these days . . .

Before coming to the Garden I had to stop by the bank to get change for the bake sale.  When I arrived, Sabrina was already at the SACG weeding her own plot and she helped me to unload my car and get set up.  She harvested quite a few cucumbers, which she plans to pickle.  I then turned to weeding and weeding and weeding and pruning the back rose bushes. By 10:30, the bikers still had not arrived, so Sabrina bid me adieu and I started harvesting green beans.   
While I was picking my pole beans, I came across a praying mantis.  I had seen him in a different part of my plot a few days ago.  Then, I initially focused on his eyes and almost killed him in mistaking him for a grasshopper.  When I realized what he was, I sent him on his way.  Today, he was in my pole beans and he stayed put while I found my camera and took some pictures.   We love mantises because they eat pesky bugs that eat our vegetables before we do.  This is the first mantis I have seen at the SACG and I hope that s/he lays lots and lots of eggs.

The bikers were due around 11:15 and I kept looking down Main Street wondering where they were.  They finally showed up around 11:45.  I thought that the organizers might be offended by our bake sale, but they were thrilled.  The beets and zucchini used in our baked goods had been raised at the SACG.  The strawberries were from a local farm that we visited as a SACG field trip.   
 
Everyone (who had been biking since 9 am) was hungry and glad to have free water to refill their bottles.   I had been told to expect about 30 riders, but I think there were more than that.  They had been allocated 15 minutes at each garden, so I let them wonder around, answered questions and sold cupcakes.  I could have told stories all morning, but I knew that Richard (at the next garden, Growing Hearts and Hands on Oak Street) had to be wondering where they were.  So, I waved farewell as their peloton biked down Stoddart Avenue’s brick pavement.



Bikers leaving down Stoddart Ave
Neal had arrived during the hubbabaloo.  We discussed a few of his questions about next steps with his plot and then turned to harvesting and pulling dead squash plants out of the Garden. Seeing that no one dropped dead from eating our cupcakes, some neighbors also stopped by to buy some.  I sold them to the kids at half-price (because I have no backbone).   I picked almost 30 pounds of food for the food pantry.  By now, it was getting late and I had to kick the kids out so that I could work.  As it was, I didn’t leave the Garden until after 2 and made it to the food pantry about 20 minutes before it closed for the weekend.  They kept commenting on all the tomatoes – particularly the beefstakes.

Next week, we’ll be focusing on harvesting potatoes and planting our Fall season crops.  Be there or be square.