Last week, we solidified two Summer AmeriCorps VISTAs for Appalachian Sustainable Development – Devan and Austin will begin their ten week venture on June 16thGrow Your Own will be much more efficient and helpful with two extra sets of hands helping with daily maintenance in our demonstration garden and future workshops.  Devan helped me last week with some weeding, compost turning, and our first harvest of the season!  We brought in 3 pecks of kale and a peck of broccoli – with much more on the way!  It was a real wonder to see the veggies I had planted two months ago flourish into an eatable source of nutrition.  The fruits of our labor are now truly abundant!

Brassicas ready for harvest!

We recently created a chalkboard for the side of our shed, so that we can now have a to-do list for volunteers who show up arbitrarily, as well as an area to mark harvest records; this will also be a great canvas for our workshops for visual reference!  Our shed also got a pretty paint job, and is now outlined in lime green.  I have been working on a logo for Grow Your Own and it will hopefully be up and ready for signage by the end of the week (will post when finished and have approval)!

Please check out and “Like” our new Facebook page – we will be posting pictures often, as well as tips, events, and workshop schedules!