Thursday, July 22, 2010

Growing Food... Growing Together

It's hard to believe that we are already into our tenth week of the program. Only five left to go : (

We have planted some crops for our fall garden, but most recently have just been harvesting like crazy. Each family takes home a large bag of veggies every week, oftentimes with unfamiliar vegetables to experiment with, like kohlrabi. Beans, greens, beets, carrots, okra, and peppers have been staples for a few weeks now. Hopefully this weekend we'll also be filling our bags with tomatoes and eggplants.

We've also had many great guest presenters visit us. Kim Rush Lynch has been out twice to talk to us about nutrition and prepare a healthy dish from the garden. Allstar volunteer Jennifer Jefferson gave a presentation on home container gardening. Local master composter Kaitlin Rienzo-Stack gave a presentation on composting. John Murphy, a chef from Miriam's Kitchen, cooked us a delicious vegetable stir fry. And the Capital Area Food Bank's Operation Frontline program gave a presentation on nutrition and prepared some outstanding okra. We'll be going to the farmer's market, getting information on growing and using herbs, and also getting a how-to on canning and preserving before the summer is over. And of course, we'll keep on eating lots of vegetables!

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

Green Summer in full swing

This year is our first season participating in the Mayor's Green Summer Job Corp program, which is administered by the District Department of the Environment. We serve as a host site to employ twelve local fourteen and fifteen year olds to work in our garden.


In addition to the much needed help weeding, mulching, and harvesting, it's been great fun having a consistent group of youth out in the garden everyday. We've had lessons on compost, plant science, nutrition, and insects. We've also gotten to harvest, cook, and best of all, eat together!


To get out in the community, we've been going to our Garden Science school sites to maintain those gardens we installed in the spring once a week. We've also taken trips to the USDA People's Garden and the Franciscan Monastery for a presentation on beehives. Check back for blog posts and recipes from our youth workers and more photos.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Growing Food Growing Together. Photographic Evidence...Backwards

Thanks to the Capital Area Food Bank's Operation Frontline program's chefs and nutritionists who came out this week!

























Thursday, July 1, 2010

Join us on July 24 for family fun day


Live music, healthy food, garden tours, and gardening activities for kids. Ring in our new Nature Explore Classroom and meet our new honey beehives.