Greetings! I’m Lindsey Harper, a new intern here at Grow Appalachia. I’ll be working with Mark Walden this summer with various projects and sites. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to go out to Mujeres Unidas and meet all of the lovely folks working on garden plots there.
The gardens are thriving at Mujeres Unidas – bursting with lovely green heads of lettuce, the prettiest, plumpest fuchsia colored radishes, and plenty of garlic to eat all year. Once you meet all of the gardeners tending all of these plots, it’s immediately apparent why the garden is doing so well! Everyone is eager to get their hands in the dirt. As dark storm clouds rolled in over us yesterday and the wind began to pick up, we stared at the sky, expecting hard rains and lightening. A little rain fell for a steady thirty minutes or so, but that didn’t keep anyone out of the garden. Weeds were pulled, compost was spread, and food was harvested. The only thing pestering garden plots here are beetles that are eating holes in bean plants, and a few hungry rabbits, apparently. Hopefully with the help of spinosad, an organic insecticide derived from a type of fungi, these pests will be eliminated and everyone’s harvests will continue to be abundant.
The thriving garden!
Shredded paper has been used around several plants in the garden in order to hold in moisture. The paper used at Mujeres Unidas has been shredded so finely that it resembles confetti, making the garden even more colorful and bright.
Storm clouds rolling in over the church.
The storm was really quite unimpressive – but it didn’t hold anyone back. I was very excited to see how eager everyone else was to work.
Stephanie’s harvest!
Like several others, Stephanie is maintaining a plot both at her own home and at Mujeres Unidas. Yesterday she harvested so many goodies to take home and make dinner: romaine, onions, and radishes. She says she’s been loving gardening, and is excited to try new things. She says she’s been grilling onions – green tops and all – and it’s delicious. I can’t wait to try that for myself, and I can’t wait for Stephanie to finally try beets once hers come up. Everyone at Mujeres Unidas was excited to work, harvest, and eat. So many creative, delicious ideas for vegetables were thrown around yesterday. After so much talk of food, I know I was getting hungry. I can tell that there will be lots of sharing, cooking, and laughing among everyone in this garden in the weeks to come.
That’s all for now!
-Lindsey
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