Gardening: A worthy endeavor!

Gardening is a wonderful & worthy endeavor. What other pastime can you participate in with such rich end results?!  Some of our gardeners are confident and bold in their participation and some are timid and amazed when their timid advances at pushing a seed into the soil produces a plant, that produces a fruit, that they can eat. It’s so much fun to watch their delight and then watch their enthusiasm for gardening grow.

I have a new garden assistant for the months of May, June, & July and his name is Chris Dye. He’s been a great asset to me at tilling and getting the gardens in order. We’ve stayed busy helping everyone till up their garden plots and handing out seeds and plants where needed. I’m thankful for his assistance and I’m looking forward to the coming harvest in the months ahead. Welcome, Chris!

Kathy Spears got her garden in a little earlier this year, with her sister and brother in law helping her till.  She excitedly planted it full and needed a bigger spot since her granddaughter has joined her in the gardening fever. She’s got twice as much planted this year as she did last year and it’s looking twice as healthy. Her granddaughter loves eating fresh veggies straight from the garden and is looking forward to tomatoes and sweet peppers next. I love to see little ones learning the love of gardening from their elders; it makes cherished memories and develops a lifelong love for gardening.

Prestonsburg Nursing Care Facility

got the boost it needed when we tilled up their garden spot and left them a ton of seeds in early April. We came back in early May to find that they had some of the soil smoothed, some of it hilled up, and corn, beans, onions, lettuce and hills of cucumber and zucchini planted. We supplied them with bean fencing to hold up their white half runners and black plastic to help keep the weeds down. Mike and Dewey were excited and in the full swing of gardening after the long winter months spent indoors.

Mike is an employee at the Nursing Care Facility doing maintenance year round and gardening in the summer months. He loves gardening so it doesn’t feel like work when you’re doing what you love. Dewey thoroughly enjoys getting out into the dirt, but has to be careful that he doesn’t get his scooter stuck when the soil is freshly turned. Most importantly, he carries a cell phone and can call for the staff to help push him out of the garden when that happens and everyone gets a chuckle out of it.

Highland Terrace

is another of our Community Gardens that has been hard at it since 2009 with beautiful raised beds and a small greenhouse this year. We had a good turnout for our first meeting with five men and women joining in on the garden planning. The rest of their raised beds are being rejuvenated with new board and additional soil put into them. They’ve already got peas on the vine, tomatoes and peppers bought and seeds in the ground for everything else. These Senior gardeners put the rest of us to shame when it comes to gardening and I’m loving the competitive spirit in them.

Creekside Townhomes

is doing container gardens this season at their patios and loving the idea of having tomatoes, peppers, and cabbage right outside their doors. It always amazes me when I go to visit these apartment gardeners and see how they’ve turned their flower beds and window boxes into beautiful gardens full of bright lettuces, onions, and peas so early in the season. Nothing stops them from planting fresh foods and it thrills my heart. Their little ones are getting involved and chasing what they want to plant and eat. Mom’s of teens are showing off their lettuce beds

 

 

Grigsby Heights

is one of our larger community gardens in Martin, Kentucky with 5 families tending a large communal garden and 3 families container gardening off of their porches. Last year, this garden was just 2 families (Dale and Jordan & Kaila) in the communal garden and 1 container gardener (Edith). Their enthusiasm must have been contagious because now we have a large community of gardeners joining them!  It’s exciting to see all that they can accomplish together and as individuals encouraging each other.

 

   

Warco Housing

got a second visit and I was thrilled to see their container gardens thriving!!  Some of the healthiest plants I’ve seen were raised by these folks!  Peas & Beans coming up bright green and strong looking; tomatoes, cucumbers, and peppers setting their roots deeper into their pots and into the ground around the apartments! These folks are proud of their green thumbs. RayBob, Kay, and Roy have some serious competition going on here!

  

Second Annual Foraging Walk with Rhonella Chaffin

This year we had a wonderful foraging walk with Rhonella Chaffin and she supplied us with some delicious treats to try! We found 13 different wild edibles and were able to sample some cooked delicacies such as Poke Burgers, Sautéed wild greens, and fried mushrooms (Dry land fish!). It was an amazing experience and just seems to get better each year! A wild storm chased us out of the park before we could fully enjoy the tasty treats and share our opinions on each, but we enjoyed on the run!

Bees!  Like nobodies ‘Bees’ness!

I’d like to give a shout out to our bees and their dedicated keepers, Erin & Mike!  These keepers have climbed trees to capture swarms, built new boxes to house their swarm and done lots of housekeeping to keep everyone happy in the hive. It’s a heart stopper looking into a hive full of bees while they buzz around you wondering what you want from them…. I see honey in our future!!  Shhhh!!!