Reacp

Notes from Betsy:

Hi all,

Steve was a very informative speaker last night! With taking his advice we can extend our growing season well into October! He asked at the end if he could join us on Sundays, I took a poll of most of the core members and a majority is all for it. Frankly we need his expertise. I plan to call him this afternoon and let him know that we'd be honored to have him take part in our group.

I plan to order seeds today as well. We will need lettuce, radish, beets, carrots (I won't order the short stubby kind everyone was dissin' last night). I think I got all the seed packets he gave us but if some one has more please let me know. If you're yearning for a particular crop let me know. Lisa from Earthworks said she would get us a distribution of transplants including kolrabi, cabbage, kale, among other things.

Already I think we've had a great bounty. Be sure to go down and pick dill, parsley and Basil whenever you need it. Zuchinni and cukes are on the way. Get your zuchini recipes out! We should have more potatoes (the kids should definitely take part in this harvest!) this week but next year we can definitely plant more --- maybe we can use the garbage can method and it won't take up any garden space but will give us lots of yield. (not for fingerlings though from what I understand.)

A few weeks ago on Sunday we all went around the garden and figured out together what needed to be done, made a list, and then went right through the list. I think that is a good model. I plan to do that again this week and every week so please be ready to do this.

Both of our speakers mentioned books. Patrick had suggested an organic gardening book by Elliot Coleman. I have not read it but I did go to the workshop which was very interesting.

Steve mentioned Omnivore's Dilemma by Michael Polan. (I'll throw in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver). If you're interested in reading Omnivore's Dilemma, both Tish and I have copies we would be happy to lend to you. If you want the reader's digest version go see Food Inc. at the Main theatre.

Also it is time to cough up another $10. The group owes me $24.00 for rain barrel faucets and plants. plus I'll be buying seeds this week. Please drop an envelope in our mailbox. So far I'm very impressed with how cheaply we've done this whole thing. Impressed in general with how when we work together we pulled off this amazing bountiful beautiful garden.

Betsy Breckels
betsybreckels@gmail.com