This week we had the first of two fall planting events at the Williamson community garden. As summer sadly and rapidly has come to a close, most of their plants were pretty much done producing; save for a few tomatoes and eggplants which they kept int heir boxes.
After consulting the farmers almanac and having some conversations with local farmers, we concluded that this would be the best time to plant. Me and two of my other faithful volunteers got out there and during the work day and helped those plots owners who were interested in planting for the fall.
We had a good turnout of people for the first day, and I will be meeting the rest of them at the end of this week.
We were able to distribute some seeds that we had left over form the spring, and Doug Dudley was there to provide some other fall seed options that we had not purchased ahead of time, and sold them for an affordable price to the residents.
For three hours we worked to clean out the boxes, turn the dirt, and plant a variety of greens including mustard, lettuce, turn ups, beets, spinach, kale and more.
This really is my favorite part of my job. Being able to witness the changes that these individuals has undergone has been so moving and inspiring. I know I have said it before, but when I first started working as the Grow Appalachia site coordinator for Williamson, many of these individuals took little care of there boxes and showed minimal interest. Now, they come out on a regular basis and ask questions, and consistently water their plots and weed and actually care and see the value in growing their own food!
As for the produce in our high tunnel—we had our best spread yet this weekend, and are excited to have the benefit of growing in the high tunnel, as some of our stuff will continue to do very well until the market is over—stuff that other farmers are already running low on. It has been a wonderful summer and I look forward to the full!
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