Call for Gardeners!

The 2012 Growing Season will be kicked off with a potluck meal and garden planning time at Grace Covenant Presbyterian Church Fellowship Hall, Friday, February 10^th at 6 PM. This will be time of sharing good food, telling stories of our gardening experiences and planning our 3rd year of gardening. The potluck and conversation is for returning and new gardeners and those interested in learning more about the GCPC gardening experience.  We are proud to say our gardening group of 35-40 members is about evenly balanced with members of GCPC and community members.  Along with harvesting fresh vegetables for our family tables, 75--80% of all the vegetables grown in the garden find their way to someone else’s table through food pantries and community kitchens.  In both 2010 and 2011 well over 5,000 pounds of fresh produce was harvested. In 2011 a robust herb garden added a touch of flavor and beauty to our garden.

Exciting Garden News - During the garden off-season we have acquired a new horse for the garden—that is, a Troybilt tiller.  Plans are being made for a garden storage shed and we are in the planning stage of adding a berry and fruit orchard. The community garden has received amazing support because of the work of the many that make it happen.  We all share the risks and rewards of growing fresh vegetables, the bending, stooping and crawling among the rows of vegetables.  Working in the garden provides opportunity to meet our neighbors, make new friends, get to know one another better and enjoy fresh vegetables.  The locally grown and Oh! So Tasty garden bounty makes such an important difference at our and our neighbors’ tables.

More Potluck Information - During the evening of our potluck we will complete our selection of spring and summer vegetables and begin to organize the gardening teams. We have already begun to grow some of the transplants for our spring garden—broccoli, Napa and Savoy cabbage, 3 types of kale, Swiss chard, collards and mustard and we have seeds on hand for directly seeded spring crops, such as lettuce, beets and turnips.

Please bring a potluck dish to share, stories to tell, your great ideas and questions.  If you would like to help set up or clean up the potluck event please let Buzz know.  For more information email Buzz Durham at Hobblein@hotmail.com or call 828-775-5593.

Future Dates - Mark March 17^th as a tentative date for our spring planting.