Hello Grow Appalachia followers!

Cincinnati, Ohio– Summer is heating up and the garden is producing so much food!  I am cooking with produce from the garden for breakfast, lunch and dinner–it’s amazing! For breakfast, try adding greens to a fresh smoothie, potato hash, or your scrambled eggs, or all three! Lunch these days is usually paired with tasty kale chips and lettuce on every sandwich.  Dinner includes fresh salads, and zucchini roasted in the the oven with a little crispy parmesan cheese and herbs. In our Cincinnati Grow Appalachia partner site, we are currently only able to garden for half of the year, which means we have to rely on the grocery store for produce for the other half. I tell ya, it has been so lovely to walk out into the urban kitchen garden and snip, versus purchasing it at the grocery store. It feels so good to fill my body up with fuel that I’ve grown. Cheers to everyone out there enjoying the gifts of the garden like we have been in Over-the-Rhine People’s Garden.

For the past few weeks Over-the-Rhine People’s Garden (OTRPG) has been hosting an array of free garden classes to encourage more friends and neighbors to come out and be a part of the community garden. Most Fridays, I lead a youth garden club with a summer camp located close to the garden. So far, we have created a communal watermelon and pumpkin patch, built a rock retaining wall around out Three Sisters garden, and of course, given the garden lots of much-needed watering.

Through the HUB program, OTRPG also offers free cooking and gardening classes every month. For the cooking course we host Lisa Andrews, creator of Sound Bites Nutrition. Lisa always creates a unique dish using items that are harvested from the garden. She harvests, prepares, and cooks everything with us in the garden while answering our questions and showing us how to replicate the dish at home. I really enjoyed eating her delicious garden vegetable chili with some of my close friends that joined us for the class. Thanks for coming out Monique and family! 🙂  Join us for our next free cooking class and tasting on August 14, 2019 4:30-5:30pm.

For more about Lisa check out her website here:  https://soundbitesnutrition.com/  

 

 

The flower market garden section of the garden is thriving too! More and more people are finding out about our OTR grown flowers and my list of The Flower Lady clientele is growing by the day! Growing a small business in a community garden has been so much fun. I love showing individuals that you can feed yourself and  grow a successful business in such a small urban space.  Not only has the garden provided me with opportunities to engage the community, it has also supplied me with enough flowers, herbs and vegetables for several bouquet subscriptions, a June wedding, several  flower crowns, a fashion show and even a specialty doll head planter for a salon here in the city!

Looking for a great way to give back to your community? Volunteer in Over-the-Rhine People’s Garden. Every bit of help is appreciated, whether its once a month or twice a week! Volunteers hours can be shaped around your schedule. To arrange an upcoming volunteer date, schedule a tour of the garden, or to set up a private garden class in OTR People’s Garden. Inquire via email. Peace!

Email: theflowerladyotr@gmail.com

 

Until next month!

Peace, Love, Flowers & Happiness

Partner Site Garden Coordinator- Christina