Maria here in Williamson, WV. As many of you know, the rain has continued to beat down on gardens here in Southern WV.  It has been a struggle for most tomato gardeners, except those that are in high tunnels.

This year at the garden we have three people that are growing food in the three high tunnels at the community garden. Lonnie Bowens (Veteran) rents one, who specializes in tomato production, Josh Rhodes (Veteran) that grows both cucumbers and tomatoes and Steven Casey, who is focusing primarily on half runner bean production.

Look at the beautiful tomatoes Lonnie is growing—while everyone else is suffering from blight, his are producing like crazy. He also is a perfectionist when it comes to suckering, which definitely helps as well!

high tunnel tomatoes lonnies tomatoes high tunnels tomatoes 3 high tunnel tomatoes 2 high tunnel tomatoe production

They were just too beautiful not to share/

In July, we started our first CSA box delivery program to low-income families, which is supported by CSX and the Conservation Fund. Families signed up for a very low cost (most used food stamps!!) and receive 10 weeks of produce. We hit almost each town in Mingo County: Delbarton, Matewan, Lenore. Dingess and Williamson by dropping off produce to a select location. Here, the families pick up their produce. We work with a number of different growers to fill TWENTY SEVEN boxes each week! This include produce, recipes and flyers for upcoming events. packing boxes 2 produce boxes in trucks packing boxes CSA

We finally got a work truck, which CSX/ Conservation Fund also helped pay for, which has allowed us to be more flexible with our mobile market dates, and allows us to transport food for the CSA.