Every year, I write a letter to those who provide material support to the SACG for helping to make our efforts possible. Community gardening is often exhausting, frustrating and relentless because it always involves a lot of work and challenges. We could not accomplish all that we do without the community's generous support. Gifts to the SACG are tax-deductible because the Garden is a 501(c)(3) tax exempt public charity. With the advent of winter, we wanted to share some of our great memories over last summer.
We broke ground for our 9th growing season in early April with the help of a large group of OSU and Capital University students. In addition to our typical opening day activities (i.e., spreading wood chips and picking up neighborhood litter), we also added a plum tree to our “orchard” of peach and cherry trees and reconstructed a compost bin. It was great to have so much help on Opening Day because we had very few volunteers show up for a very, very cold celebration of Earth Day when we planted two grape vines along our new trellis gate, mulched the flower beds and turned compost. Our cherry trees - which we planted in 2012 and 2013 - looked particularly spectacular this year and fed lots of bees.
In May, we had help from neighborhood teenagers courtesy of Urban Connections. They weeded our food pantry plots and along the alley even though it was extremely wet. In June, we benefitted from a national gathering of Alliance Church leaders, who picked up 20 bags of neighborhood litter, helped us plant, weed along the alley, turn compost and mow. We also held our first black raspberry festival (when there were still lots of tart (pie) cherries and a few strawberries available to pick). Although it’s always free to pick berries and cherries outside our fence, we also requested donations from berry and cherry pickers and for items from our bake and plant sale. We raised $135. (We bought some tools to replace ones that had broken or been stolen). If we had more funds, we would plant more fruit trees and possibly be able to pay some of the passerby, unemployed potential volunteers to help us out from time to time. 
Sadly, June was not without its problems. After we had planted all of our extra tomato seedlings next door at Kimball Farms, someone dug up and stole all of the tomato plants that we had planted in our neighbor plot along the alley (where anyone can help themselves to fresh produce for free). We had to search and transplant “volunteer” tomato plants from the Garden, which – not surprisingly – mostly turned out to be cherry tomatoes instead of the wide variety that had been planted in the neighbor bed. We also had some malcontented new gardeners ditch their mandatory chores (i.e., mowing the lawn each week), creating more work for me. 
In July, we had a bumper peach crop, although we still cannot keep pickers from waiting until the peaches are truly ripe. I have yet to pick a ripe peach yet even though we planted the trees in 2012 and 2015. We also had a bumper corn and squash crop this year with all of the rain. We also had a ludicrous amount of poison ivy along the alley growing up with the bind weed, despite our best efforts. (My scars have healed nicely, thank you).
In August, the OSU Pay-It-Forward program returned to help us construct a picket fence to compliment the trellis gate that we installed last year and we weeded two beds next door at Kimball Farms. This was supposed to be a relaxed year after our capital improvement projects last year, but the picket fence project turned into a major undertaking and ended up costing us about $400. Students volunteering with the Capital University Crusader Day of Service in September helped to finish the fence. In November, we had our coldest closing dayever.
Just two days ago, a downtown attorney friend of mine emailed that she had collected three boxes of young adult books, cookbooks and magazines for our Free Little Library. It just keeps coming. 
We had the fewest number of gardeners this year in our history. However, we also apparently had lots of new neighbors move in who have expressed interest in joining us next year. But, with so few gardeners and plots taken, most of the Garden was devoted to growing food for area food pantries. We set a new personal best in terms of the number of pounds of fresh produce which was grown and donated. 
I am also particularly grateful that I am still vertical. That has not always been a given this year and two other community gardens are suffering from the loss of their leaders: quite suddenly and unexpectedly last week of one of Marie Moreland at American Addition/Tray Lee Center and another, much younger leader learned last month that he has brain cancer. We should keep all of them in our prayers.
We are only able to overcome our various challenges because of the generosity, well wishes and material support from generous folks like you. Thanks again and feel free to stop by and mock us while we work.
