How fast time goes by! It feels like yesterday we were almost unable to keep up with harvesting and now it’s freezing cold and the garden has been put to bed for the winter. This year we were much more effective with our cleanup, in part because the community garden was in really great shape when it came time to get everything out of it. Steve and I spent 2 days plowing and picking up rocks. If this were a rock growing contest we would definitely be in first place!
We have a few exciting things going on, even though mostly we are on break. We were able to get the Pocahontas County school system to issue a blanket purchase order to buy produce from us as available and as needed, so that’s awesome. Also, one of our participants started teaching kids’ healthy cooking classes in the community where we are aiming to build 8 gardens next year and they have been an immense success! There were 12 kids in the first class and 15 in the second, and Tracey has received requests to make this a weekly series (which everyone is working on figuring out how to do). Tracey and the WVU Extension have been just tremendous in their commitment and willingness to work with us. It’s both surprising and very hopeful, and we very much hope that it’s an indicator of good things to come for that community. Kind of unrelated but not really, my car broke down today and I am going to take it there to get it fixed so that I can tell the mechanic about Grow Appalachia and put up a flyer and see if we can’t get the word out to every single person there!
Overall, this was a very successful year for us. Nature cooperated, we worked hard and truly reaped the rewards of our labor, and we learned more than we thought we would. I am so excited to see what next year brings and what kind of difference we can make for more and more people.
That’s all for now…here’s a picture of our sleeping garden.
Peace,
Kelley
Kelley, this is a wonderful post. I am happy to hear that your season was successful. I am most interested in this blanket purchase order that you speak of and would love to learn more of how you were able to accomplish this. I work for Appalachian Sustainable Development in Abingdon, VA, so you can reach out to me through our website under “Food Access Programs”.
Best,
Michelle
Hi Michelle,
I already replied by email but wanted to post something here in case it helps others. We built relationships with key decision makers by attending the same conferences and by being persistent. The conferences helped because it put us right in front of them, and persistence always pays off. Thanks for reading!
Kelley