Garden Creation in 2008

Grow An Extra Row

As hard-core gardeners began perusing seed catalogs during the nearly record-breaking snowfall of the 2007-2008 winter, an article by the Gift/Thrift/Pantry group in the church's Parish Notes newsletter encouraged gardeners to plan to "grow an extra row" -- depending on garden scale, that might be an extra patio tomato plant, or a sizeable chunk of tilled soil.

"In mid to late August, we'll organize a back-to-school clothing & fresh produce program. Participants will take home fresh food (think garden) and children's clothing. This would be a small but do-able start to the fresh food pantry idea. Anything that was left over we'd distribute to local pantries and the Friendly Kitchen. Since now is the time that organized gardeners begin their garden planning for the summer, we encourage folks to grown an extra row, or plan for an extra patio plant, or whatever works for you, to contribute to the fresh food pantry idea. The focus would be on the late August event, but for garden items ready for earlier harvest we'll develop on a plan for earlier distribution. So as you plan your garden, whether it is acres or a corner of your patio, plan to plant extra for the UU fresh food pantry program."

Community Plate Collections

During the spring, two community plate collections (the offering collected during Sunday services) went toward the fresh food pantry initiative -- one plate for blueberry bushes, another for vegetable garden seeds, seedlings, and supplies.

Blueberry Bushes
On May 13th, Cheryl planted four new blueberry bushes along the edge of the lawn by the exit driveway. A church member who was moving donated another three well-established high bush blueberry bushes.

Front Lawn Gardens
In May Ken plowed the rocky front lawn soil, and created two sizeable service auction garden plots, another large plot paralleling Pleasant Street for the pantry garden, and a narrower but long plot for flowers paralleling the entry drive.