We are seed-savers! (...and you can, too!)

Hi everyone,

So yesterday we had our second garden club meeting of the new (school) year. So far there are four new faces that might become committed members of our plant-growing, food-plucking enterprise: Mr. Heard, Ms. England, Mr. Savage and Mr. Noel. They are all freshman, and have been joining us twice weekly, wetting their feet in the world of homegrown food. At the first meeting, the kids went with me to the garden and plucked some ripe and overripe fruits, and then came back to the classroom to first taste them and then to harvest the seeds from them.

At the latest meeting, we were pulling the dried seeds off of napkins and out of bowls we had set aside, and packaging them up nicely inside special zip-lock bags:

These mylar bags are great for seed storage as they are 1) tough=very reusable, 2) waterproof, and 3) keep UV rays out. We are hauling in considerable seed to help start next year's garden, but I also want to encourage share members to try their hands at collecting seeds. The main rules of thumb are 1) to separate the seeds from the rest of the fruit, as best as possible and to 2) spread them out on a surface that is exposed to moving (but not too hot) air. Paper napkins work really well! Just make sure you label exactly what fruit it was (squash seeds as well as tomato seeds all look nearly alike) -- and then give them to me the next time you pick up your share.

Unfortunately, our core three club members from this past season -- Jasmine, Ousmane and Tina -- have not been regularly attending the club meetings and also have not been coming out for Sunday harvests. I believe each one of them is involved in a fall sport. Outside of the seniors that helped us get the garden started in the spring, they were the main students keeping the garden going through the summer! Thus, I am currently figuring out how to better advertise the club in the school. I also believe that, once my daytime gig at the school starts up, I will be in a better position to personally introduce the HOP! programs to other students.

Here's to one, two or maybe even three more veggie boxes! Oh and, keep an eye out for my email invite to a SPECIAL EVENT that we're combining with harvest this Sunday.

best,
Mr. Mikulski

Herbs, and the story on fruit!

Yesterday everyone got a bonus bundle of herbs (thanks to the alternating rainy days and sunny weather, our miserable little herb patch exploded a bit and needed a trim). You should have found five different herbs in your box: sage, summer savory, anise, oregano, and parsley. Fellow share member Todd also brought in some mint, which got put in some of the boxes later... in any case, it was a lot of herbs! My recommendations are to either 1) cook a lot of italian/mediterranean dishes this week, or 2) tie up your herbs in a place with warm/hot dry circulating air (like above the rear of your fridge!) and dehydrate them for later use.

Sorry share members, but, when there is only one ripe melon... this is definitely what happens =)

Also, people have given me feedback about the share asking for more salad greens and, if possible, more fruit next year. I wanted to give everyone the quick lowdown on both points. Re: salad, I totally understand... what good is a crispy, tangy and spicy 'French Breakfast Radish' without a salad to put it in? Or, "of course, cucumber salad is yummy... but how about letting me put my cucumbers IN a salad of greens?" :) One of the things we hope to better manage next year is all of our quick-to-harvest (ie, ~30-day cycle) crops. It didn't help that many of the greens we grew dried out and died while in the school, but we plan to build a mini-hoophouse-greenhouse thingy for next year. This will help us keep a constant supply of salad greens, cooking greens, radishes, and other root crops.

Josie 'helping'

Re: what about fruit? Well, we planted seven fruit trees this year (only four of which survived transplantation... I have been hassling the company about their replacement guarantee for months). And we also planted a strawberry patch (which we will be expanding in the next few weeks) as well as a small raspberry patch. What is important to know in the context of all of this is that fruiting plants, bushes and trees generally need a year or more to establish strong root infrastructure + branching before it is recommended to allow them to fruit. So... if the plants and trees return next year in much stronger form, there may well be the occasional strawberries, raspberries, apples, pears, peaches, etc. in your box.

Thanks for understanding, and please be on the lookout for a survey that I will send at the end of the season, to take full stock in your compliments, recommendations and opinions.

best,
Mr. Mikulski

p.s. -- Thank you to those of you that helped make my surprise birthday party happen. You brought an immense amount of joy into one Saturday evening for this 'old man.' :) Here is a pic of the lovely 'garden birthday cake' you all made:

Notice how the cake comes pre-configured in a share-based layout... savvy! 

Some new helping hands

This past Sunday, a few hours before harvest time, I put out my usual email to Wendell Phillips Veggie Farm share members. In it, I reminded people that, if anyone is interested, they can join the kids and I for harvest. Well, it turns out that we got a couple of sets of new helping hands:

Say "Well, hello!" to Hye and Todd (the new help) on the left in the snapshot. Say, "Eh, I've seen you before... no big deal!" (just kidding) to Ms. Ebright and her fella Andy, on the right.

This was the second week that we had melons... expect to have one or two more of such 'sweet' weeks. The fruit we took home was amazingly ripe and delicious; I hope yours tasted likewise. Also, I must admit that I was disappointed that no student members showed up on Sunday. Usually they come, help with the harvest, and take home a box of veggies for themselves. I even told them earlier in the week, "you should really come... we're going to have melons and possibly also peaches!" And the weather was nice too, so that was not an issue...

Not pictured are three other shares (two picked up by the on-site help, one divided into the 'extras' boxes. We'll miss you, Chris and Mindi!

Alas, school has started back and I find our operation in competition with the other interests of the kids. Two of our usual members have been busy with sports (soccer and cross country) pretty much since the school's doors reopened at the beginning of August. The third... well, I'm starting to think that she wasn't having as much fun taking care of the plants and hanging out as she let on. Maybe she was just in it for the summer internship money? I don't know.

What I DO know is that, if we hope to expand production to 20-25 shares next year, we'll need more than just three committed student members. And, we'll need them to see the garden through its fall production -- even after the paid summer internship is over. I'm working on that right now, trying to recruit new interest in the club... will let you all know how it turns out in a month or so...

Until then, try to STRONGLY consider coming out on Sunday, and helping with the harvest :)

best,
Mr. Mikulski