Dinner & Produce Delivery

Thank you to everyone for the wonderful meal on Sunday. After we started a tomato sauce in the kitchen, all went out for a final garden clean up. Carol arrived with decorations and some of our kids helped set the table. Homemade pies arrived, tables were set, and food was served family style. We sang a little grace and enjoyed a delicious meal. Wonderful!

On Wednesday, Stacia went over to Milk N' Honey with Calvin and Johnny to deliver produce. Our first delivery, yeah! We delivered 5 large unusual greenish pumpkins from seeds of last season, 5 smaller pumpkins, several carnival squashes and about 30 gourds. Sharon Driscoll, the proprietor asked if we have a logo (great winter project), so I am going to come up with a temporary one. I am thrilled to have accomplished this; and I am looking forward to a great season next year!

Tomato madness!

Dear everyone,

This past Saturday Mika and I went ahead and rescued as many tomatoes and basil as possible from the boys and Carols garden as announced in our last posting.
Over 2 evenings we fumed our apartment with the scent of fresh tomato sauce with basil. We ended up with 13 pounds of sauce for the boys. The sauce and all the tomatoes seen in the picture were delivered tonight to the Plummer Home.
Saturday we gave the kitchen a huge bag of fresh basil to use for pesto, sauce etc. When we made our delivery tonight we saw the bag left untouched in the kitchen. After talking to the cook we took the basil home and intend to make pesto for the Harvest Dinner.
We still think the idea of the Harvest Dinner is really good. Why don't we try to come up with date? We will put up the first suggestion for date: Tuesday September 28th in the late afternoon
Please respond ASAP!
Mika and Jonas

September 14th

This afternoon Mika and I did another garden session at Plummer. Things are pretty much the same as last week. We did a lot of harvesting from the boys garden and delivered it to the kitchen. As this point we started to take the mini pumpkins and gords since some of them show signs of going rotten.
The calender does not show more garden sessions, but there is still a lot of tomatoes, cucumbers, beans etc. that needs to be harvested over the next couple of weeks.

We noticed that the garden next to Stacias ( Carol & Chris ? ) has a lot of over ripe veggies. Tomatoes, egg plants, basil etc. seem to have been untouched for some time now. A suggestion might be to donate what can be saved of the crops to the boys? Especially the tomatoes need to be taken now or all of them will go bad.
Mika and I will go this weekend to dig out the rest of our potatoes. If we have not heard otherwise we will rescue the tomatoes. Please respond to this ASAP !

The front circle looks okay and there are still some pumpkins coming.

Great idea with a final Harvest Dinner with the boys!

Hope everyone are doing fine - lets talk soon!

Mika & Jonas

LAST DAYS OF SUMMER

Well, Jonas and I were at the garden last Tuesday picking tomatoes. There is still much to be harvested.....and always pesto to be made! I am putting my many tomatoes in freezer bags for the winter. This is the first time and it couldn't be easier: wash, plop, zip! I think we should plan on a clean-up plan: how our gardens should get cleaned out; clean up the front gardens for winter; plan a harvest meal; what's the status on gourds and pumpkins; arrangements for Farmer's Market??? Looking forward to your ideas.

good results come from faithful watering

Tuesday the 17th saw some happy people harvesting in the garden.

Ian and Penny worked with Jeff to pick over 20 cucumbers, and quite a few yellow squash. The first tomatoes are coming in too. We had help from JR, whose recently planted pumpkin patch is growing quite nicely. At the end of the evening, Penny looked over the circle garden and the work needing to be done out front there, and she discovered.....

the pumpkins I had planted with Andrew in June have been quietly growing with no help or watering at all. They are about the size of basketballs. Farm stand, here we come!

August 10, 2010

Penny, Ian, Ruth, Nick, Matt, Eddie, Patrick, the new cook Brian, me and my son Oskar were all in the garden this evening. The boys picked veggies, while Penny, Ian and I explained the garden to the new cook. He had been receiving the veggies, but didn't know where they were coming from!? (Yesterday, I handed Diarra some very large okra from my garden) I planted some bumpy pumpkins in the third row....about five mounds; we all did the redundant weeding. Things are looking pretty good considering the dry summer we are having.

Brian, the cook, was excited about the herb patch that we have, so we need to get a list from him for next season.

I am reminded that it is always good to yell in to ask if anyone wants to join the gardening. The boys are a little shy, but love to come out with us if asked !

Yesterday, the weather was perfect for gardening. A strong sea breeze kept it nice and cool along the coast. When I arrived, Mika was sprinklering and weeding. The weeds NEVER had a chance against Mika. The final score was something like Mika 200/Weeds 0. I couldn't tell if JR and Alex planted the pumpkins that they had talked about. We picked a bunch of beautiful cucumbers, a yellow squash, two gourds, and the first ripe tomato from the garden. I took them inside and some of the boys were there and they got excited about seeing the freshly picked veggies. One of the boys asked if we could make pickles. What do you think? I did a little weeding in the front circle, but it's so overrun I wasn't sure what needed to be done. There are a few pumpkins coming-up. I was also at the garden in the morning and talked with Jeff. He mentioned that they have hired a cook with experience and they're also looking forward to the farm stand. By the way....don't forget to check the calendar and write down your gardening dates.

Tuesday July 27th - no more weeds !

5 gardeners met at 5.30. Jonas, Carol, Chris, Penny and Ian joined forces and let all the weeds in the boys gaden have it. Water got sprinkled, edges got trimmed, sunset was adored - perfect evening.
Unfortunately no boys joined us, but we got a lot done anyway.
I am not sure exactly who the new cook is, but both cucumbers and yellow pumpkins are ready to be harvested.
Since Mika and I have had little luck this season we could plant pumpkins if needed at our plot.

Best
Jonas

Weeding Buddies

Tuesday evening in the garden was a cool respite after a long heat spell. You can see the effects of the boys' helping out with watering though. The tomatoes are holding their own, and the summer squash was pushing out little baby squashes in a most encouraging display. We had the company of Alex, who had come out to re-wed an area that will be planted in pumpkins. J.R. was to bring pumpkin seeds later in the week. They are hoping for a cash crop!
Jeff, Chris and Tim and I (Ruth) were encouraged to have Alex really need our help for a specific goal, and between all of us, the pumpkin plot is ready. It is on each end of the second third and fourth rows, between the peas and the tomatoes. The Hubbard squash on the seaside end of the garden is rearin' to go. It is trying to obliterate what few green bean bush plants that have survived the heat. I marked them with some little bamboo stakes.
I planted some chard in the very first row, where the lettuce crop continues to be assaulted by the woodchucks. I covered the new chard seed area with a little row of rocks since I didn't have a garden marking stick.
Jeff was ebullient at the harvest of his first cucumbers- victory!

It's the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown

Tuesday was a beautiful day at the garden. Ruth and I arrived at 5:30 followed shortly thereafter by Chris and then Tim. A special "high five" goes to Alex. Alex is a tremendous help and he's been watering the garden daily. Yesterday, Alex showed us what we needed to weed so that he could plant pumpkin seeds. We weeded an entire row and made a square bed for the pumpkins. JR is bringing seeds so they can be planted today. We also tied the tomato plants to the stakes. Chris is going to check and see if she has other seeds which we can plant for the boys. Has anyone seen or heard from Jonas? He was scheduled on the calendar for 7/13 and 7/20, but he was m.i.a. He's also on the calendar with Penny for next Tuesday, 7/27. Hope everyone is having a great summer! -- Jeff

Rain Rain Rain...Please

Hi All -- I was solo at the garden today. I spent about an hour mostly weeding around the tomatoes and pulling-up weeds throughout the garden. I was afraid to do too much in some of the rows because I'm not sure what are weeds and what are veggies. The garden is very dry. I also pulled a few weeds from the circle in front of the Home. As I was leaving, Alec was walking out to water the garden...he's been a great help.

I'm scheduled for next Tuesday, also. Hope to see some people then. Take Care.

Dry Dry Dry

Jeff Krieger and I enjoyed the company of Diarro during our Tuesday work time. He helped tremendously by watering the parched garden. We weeded through a row that may have been planted but did not survive heat or possibly woodchuck attack- the row needs to be replanted with something. The row next to the tomatoes. The row of beans may succeed. The lettuce is all nibbled down except where a bitter plant grew up amongst it, and I was able to harvest some salad from that area. I do not think the peas will amount to anything. They are all nibbled off.
Jeff and I noticed that the crops not so popular with rodents are chard and radishes. These could still be planted and harvested for a cash crop. Zucchini or summer squash plants might be still available for purchase and would succeed. But on the whole, it is really necessary to keep watering!
The front circle garden is not finished. What I planted with Andrew in June has grown, despite not being watered, and weeds have sprung up where the strips of black barrier cloth did not overlap. The end nearest the driveway entrance was never finished, weeded out or planted. There is not nearly enough mulch to cover the barrier cloth. Much needs to be done in this garden, as well as to replant the empty rows in the boys garden.
Despite he heat wave, Jeff and I enjoyed a delightful cool breeze off the ocean at 5 PM on Tuesday. Give it a try!

Happy Fourth of July

Stacia and I were at the garden this morning. The boys' garden is really starting to come together. If you haven't signed-up for Tuesday gardening slots, please do so. Everyone who has a plot on the community side needs to commit to six Tuesday sessions. Send me an e-mail with your selected dates, and I'll put them on the Google Calendar. We're moving forward with some good energy and we want to make sure that we have at least two or more gardeners at each Tuesday session. By the way, the boys are camping during the week of July 5th. I hope everyone has a fantastic Fourth.

Carol, Justin, Alec, and I were in the garden tonight. It was beautiful. We planted a couple of varieties of pumpkins in the first two squares. Carol will plant the last two tommorrow. We also weeded and watered.

If you are looking for work:

The front drive needs to be weeded.
Beds need to be weeded.

Stacia

Tuesday in the Garden

When I arrived tonight, Matt was watering my garden.....! Everything is looking pretty good. Justin worked on laying cardboard and cleaning up another row. Justin, Jeff, Mika, Jonas and I dug square beds for pumpkins, gourds, and squashes (that were volunteers from previous seasons). These are not yet planted, but I can either give JR seeds or plant myself. I will label the beds if I get around to planting before next Tuesday. Ruth and JR put in stakes for the tomatoes. Also, I have some catmint drying in my garage that could go to Farm Stand. What is the plan for contributing to the stand, JR? Justin was inquiring about the blog and may need a tutorial (along with Chris and JR). Bring along your bug repellent!

I just had a good talk with JR and the excitement with the possibilities of growing good food is in his voice. There is a new cook at Plummer who is eager to use what we grow. JR says that the plants put in last night were some tomatoes and butternut squash, and several types of peppers.

He said the boys are interested in planting carrots and radishes, and cucumbers. They need seeds for these plants. He is also interested in planting herbs.

I have some stakes available to help with the tomatoes.

Tuesday June 16th Session

Hi all,

This afternoon session with JR and Justin (Matt is out sick, but we hope to see him back soon) went great. We did weed pretty much the whole boys section, Justin watered the whole bed ( and some gardeners ) and the strawberry section was weeded too.
JR and the boys have already put some seeds in 3 rows, and we now need some input from JR and the boys for the remaining rows and people to sign up for some seed or plant donation.

JR was kind enough to let us know that there are wild blackberry bushes spread all over the back area of the garden. Take a closer look and you will find some with small berries on them.
An idea could be to move a couple closer to the boys garden ?

JR, could you post what went into which rows ?

There still needs to be made the remaining 2-3 rows in the boys section and maybe some checkup at the circle.

There are sure signs of our little rodent friend the ground hog; taken a lot of lettuce in the boys section and also a good deal cabbage in Stacias garden.
A warrent should be out for the furry vegan - rather dead than alive ( sorry ! ).

Thanks again and maybe we'll meet this coming weekend if the World Cup soccer schedule permits it :)

Best
Mika and Jonas

PS: JR ! There are 2 different ways to log on to the blog. You need to go through the blue top to make a blog entry !

Calendar Updated

The calendar has been updated with Tuesday gardening dates for Jeff, Ruth, Stacia, and Jonas & Mika. Great News!!! We have at least one gardener scheduled for every Tuesday from now until the Tuesday after Labor Day. To access the calendar, click on the link at the top of blog. By the way...in case you're wondering how much more time is left in the school year...here you go: 32.5 hours, 1,950 minutes, or 117,000 seconds. But who's counting? Hope everyone is doing well.

To Do List

If you are looking for things to do in the garden:

Move the pile of little rocks from around the big rock and toss over the edge. The mowers have not been doing that side and I don't want to ask them until that is cleaned up. (Generally, keep the perimeters of the beds clear for them)

Carol and her son, Jason were cleaning up the front drive this morning, but that might need more work.

It would be nice if the crops were labeled somehow, don't you think?

I am not sure why the hoses are out on the lawn, but they should be wound up and put back out of the way of the rider mowers.

Stacia

CHANGE IN GARDEN TIME

GARDEN TIME WILL BE TUESDAYS 5:30-7:00PM.

THIS IS A CHANGE TO THE POST BELOW.

Ready to Go

I emailed all of you about the change of day, but since we are on the blog and email, I just want to let you know that our gardening session will be on Wednesdays 5:30-7:00pm. JR is now on here and will be able to communicate what Matt and Justin need from us. JR, I know that Ruth has been asking about seeds, and others have been asking about mulch etc: Do you want our extra seeds? For those of you with garden beds, would you like to put our $30 toward mulch for the front two beds? Chris and Carol, have you had a chance to work on the front drive and are we ready to order mulch?

I am on vacation for a week starting Friday, so hopefully we can get ourselves organized by the end of the week.

Please look at your summer schedules and sign up on the calender this week, so we can see which days are not covered.

Circle Flower Bed news

I have been working on the front garden bed, trying to apprehend the hasty grownth of grass and weeds. Over several days time I've gotten a lot of it weeded, but not all. I have laid down barrier cloth over most of it, and spread out 7 bags of mulch. There are mounds with dahlia bulbs, pumpkin seeds, and Zinnias. We need a lot more mulch to really cover the garden. The cheapest kind at Kane's is Pine mulch for 4.99 a bag, which is 3 cubic feet in volume.

Andrew helped with the planting, but there is room for more- gardeners and seeds.

I hope this year we can provide a lot of pretty flowers for cutting and selling.

I spent a little time at the garden on Sunday. Ruth, Rob and Curley were working hard with some great help from Patrick. Ruth and Patrick planted some more peas and Ruth weeded like a champion.

The water is still not turned on, but it will hopefully be on in the next or two. The manure is nowhere to be found. I'll follow-up this week.

As Stacia noted in the previous post, we'll use the calendar to select/assign gardening dates. Stacia gave me 6 dates through September and you'll see them on the calendar. To view the calendar, just click the link at the top of the blog. When you are ready to sign-up for dates, just shoot me an e-mail and I'll add you to the calendar.

Memorial Day Weekend Update

I emailed Jeff again about the water yesterday, so hopefully they can figure out how to get the water on. I also emailed JR about how to coordinate us volunteers with the boys and how best they would like to use us. Next Thursday would be our first scheduled gardening session 6-7:30pm.

I think that if we each sign-up for 6 gardening times, this would put 3 gardeners on each session. With the new commitment from Plummer, I think that would be a fine arrangement. As soon as Jeff explains how to sign up for time on the blog, we should go ahead and sign on the calender. If there are three names on a date, please choose another available time slot.

Thursday evening

We were there this evening - did some weeding around the lettuce area on the boys garden. Weeds are getting quite aggressive!
No manure, no water yet.

I was in the garden from 10:30 to 11:15 today. I put a string along the row of peas to give them something to climb uo on, I weeded the peas a bit.

There was no manure.

Jeff Rajchel asked me when we were going to plant, since he is eager for the boys to have something to sell at a farm stand.

It is quite dry out there, and I hope we will be able to turn water on very soon- that or rain.

I have one bale of salt hay that I bought. Maybe Thursday more planting could be done and mulching?

Looking forward to tomorrow's meeting.

Well, I just dismounted my bike after taking a ride out to Plummer to check on the manure situation.....not yet.....AND no water.....not yet. BUT I have a feeling that the water will be on by tommorrow and perhaps, the manure will be delivered.

Meeting is tommorrow at my house at 7pm.

To Do List

If you are planning to give some time this week to the boys' plot, this is the work in priority:

Finish digging three more rows.

Put down cardboard & rocks (cardboard is near old compost pile)

After the rows are finished, the manure should be dug into the rows.

Manure should be dug into pumpkin patch.

You may transplant the squash seedlings that you find in that area to a row.

Note: We can come up with a garden plan on Tuesday night.

Sunday in the Garden of Good and Green

Jonas, Penny, Ian, Stacia and I spent a little more than 2 hours this afternoon at the garden. The weather was perfect...a mixture of sunshine and fog. We dug several rows and laid down cardboard in between the rows. To measure the width of the rows, we combined science, technology, and anatomical measurements. We will only need to dig out three more rows. Also, a huge amount of weeds were pulled and some of the newly planted thirsty veggies got watered.

The manure should be delivered on Monday.

Don't forget the meeting at Stacia's on Tuesday night at 7.

Work & Meeting Scheduled

Hello everyone!


We are planning to work on Sunday from 1-3:30pm in the garden.


Also, if you can make it, Jeff Rajchel will be meeting with us at my house on Tuesday night at 7pm.

I was working at the garden Thursday afternoon. I wish I could say that I got the whole front circle weeded, because I was there an hour, but there is still about a third that has not been turned over. I hauled away a wheelbarrow full of weeds. It seems to me that we might be nice to ourselves and put plastic and mulch down on this location right at the front of the house. Dahlia tubers and or large marigolds and zinnias would make it colorful. There will be pumpkins here too- yes? The Home should have something there that they can be proud of, but won't kill us to keep up with. It got awfully shaggy last year.

Plummer This Morning

It was beautiful in the garden today and I realized we can't really wait any longer to plant. So, it is good news to know the manure is coming. I'll swing by again later today to check.

Are people available to work on Thursday 4:30pm-6:30 or Sunday 1:00-3:30pm?

Work list in the meantime: piling rows in the boys' bed, weeding that bed (already!), turning the pumpkin patch. I know that Plummer also would like us to clean the front: raking and weeding and arranging rocks.

We need to be collecting cardboard to use immediately after planting.

Rocks and Manure

I did a little work today at the garden throwing some rocks over the edge. I also talked with Ted Dunajski this afternoon. He was planning to either deliver the manure today or tomorrow. He went to the Plummer Home this morning and looked at the area. He said he could get his truck right up to the edge of the garden.

I have a commitment to the Rockport EMS day on Sunday afternoon- I can not be in the garden. Is the manure there yet?
Watering the planted peas and transplanted strawberries would be a job, besides picking rocks, if there is still no manure to distribute around the garden plots....

Sunday, May 16 at the Garden

Hi All - Looks like perfect weather for Sunday. I'm planning to be there by 3 and work until about 4:30. Anyone else going to be at the garden? What specifically should I/we do? Remember...I don't have a green thumb....yet. So, just let me know what needs to be done.

ownerless shovel

I picked up a square ended shovel in the garden on Sunday. I thought it belonged to Paul, but it is not his. I have it in my truck, if anyone is missing their shovel. I suppose I could leave it there again on Thursday if no one claims it.

The Tilling is Done!

I have heard from Paul Meadowcroft (perfect name for a tiller!) that both sides of the garden are now completely tilled. He tried his best to go around the stakes for the garden allotments but some did come down. I will try and head out tomorrow morning (Saturday) and put them back in. Anyway, we are making progress! I can almost taste those fresh veggies already!

BBQ and Curley Pictures

How could I forget pictures from the bbq and Curley????

Welcome Gardeners and Fans of the Plummer Home Garden

With a perfect sunny day and a light breeze off the ocean, a few of the gardeners worked on Sunday afternoon followed by a barbecue with some of the boys. The manure man couldn't come on Sunday, but we should have some nice "fresh" manure by the end of the day Monday. Happy spreading!!

Here are some pictures. We'll keep sharing images of the progress as we move through the coming months. On Sunday, we planted a row of peas alongside some varieties of lettuce. Also, with Paul's brute strength, a bunch of huge weeds and rocks were moved out of the gardening bed. After a few hours of work, we feasted on hot dogs, chips, salad, imported Utica baked beans, soda, and dessert. What a glorious day!!

Feel free to comment and don't forget to click on the above calendar link.

Jeff