First Harvest Day!!

Yesterday was Father's day and it was also harvest day for all the members of the Wendell Phillips Veggie Farm. We didnt do much at the garden club but harvested, we did a little hoeing and watering. For those of you who dont know what harvesting mean it means the process of gathering mature crops from the fields. Reaping is the cutting of grain or pulse for harvest, typically using a scythe, sickle, or reaper. Here at wendell phillips we harvest every sunday between the hours of 1-3 p.m. We give it away to the community, people who is in need, and also our very own members of the garden club. We set up 10 boxes and put vegetables that were grown and ready to be eaten inside the boxes. Each box contained Kohlrabi, broccoli, radishes, beets, baby onions, serrano peppers, anise, ans savory. With the exception of the radish greens, all the other greens can be eaten. In fact, you could make a batch of mixed greens with all of them (broccoli, kohlrabi, beets)

 The best way to use the peppers is about half a pepper at a time; slice them very thinly, and then fry them in a tiny bit of high-smoke point oil (like peanut or canola). Once you smell the pepper smell, that's enough to know the capsaicin has been released. Now you can turn the heat off the stove, let it cool for a minute, and then add a bit of a tastier, low-smoke point oil (like a cold-pressed olive oil). The liquid you've just made is a potent spice-sauce, enough to hotten up the whole pot of whatever you're making (pasta sauce, etc.).

First harvest... this Sunday!

Hi everyone... its time for some good news! Our first harvest is this weekend, and I thought I'd give you a preview of what will be in your boxes:

Kohlrabi...

   ...radishes...

      ...baby onions...

         ...and broccoli!

There might also be a few other additions, like beets/beet greens (the beets are small, though!), milkweed flowers (picked wild) and garlic mustard seeds (picked wild). I make no promises on those, though!

If you want to meet us in the field for harvest, we'll be there from 1-3 PM on Sunday, 3733 S Giles. Those of you receiving a box, I'll first bring it to Frisbee at Arrigo and then later it will be at our place.

Hooray for fresh, local organic food! Hooray for the start of the WP veggie tasting goodness!!!

What lived... and what did not

This past holiday weekend, I was unable to get in our school to water the baby plants that our kids have been rearing. These are the second succession of plants, the ones that are supposed to be bringing us in food later in the season (like, Sept./Oct.-ish). I am very disappointed, mostly in myself (since I should have anticipated difficulties on a holiday weekend) but also a bit in the people that I rely on to access the building after 'normal' weekday hours. Normally I have access to the building Saturday morning, but this was not the case. Nor was I able to coordinate with building admin (the people who have the 'keys') to get in on Sunday or Monday. Sigh...

So, I came in early this AM, which was as soon as possible (with our building, that is ~6 AM). I watered plants that looked hopelessly parched. I will estimate that we lost ~75% of what we had been growing. Here are some (admittedly depressing) pictures:

I will be coming back to the school later today, to see if anything that looked completely gone is actually coming back. The kids and I can try regrowing some of this stuff, but its definitely setting us back 3-4 weeks time. Will report back to you all later...

On a POSITIVE note, are you all looking forward to the first pickin's from the garden? =) I know I am. Keep in mind that the kids and I are not planning to have a box ready for you June 3rd (its not technically the 'first week in June' !). June 10th you should be getting your first box of produce. Remember that you can either pick up the box at the site (3733 S. Giles) on Sunday morning, from 11-2 PM, or you can pick it up at Arrigo Park at 3:30 PM.

The day of rest... (sort of)

While I got a few small things done at the garden this past Sunday, a nice gentleman by the name of Morris King walked up and introduced himself. He had a camera in his hand and was taking pictures of our rain catcher... which initially had me worried. Turns out he is responsible for keeping the brambles on the north edge of the lot down, as someone actually owns that parcel (it was news to me!). Fortunately, he said it was OK with his boss that we had located some of our stuff there (including our rain tanks). Whew...

He then proceeded to be so kind as to help knock down the weeds that had grown up along the road on the west side of the lots (I thought the city was responsible for this sort of thing! Well, we can't wait for the city to do everything, can we???). Here is how overrun it looked before we got to work:

Overall, he was very positive about it all, saying that we had to 'work together' to make the community better. He gave me a trash bag and I helped by picking up the trash that accumulated on that side, too.

I ended up with a lot of interesting rubbish, including a tire iron, a bottom of a boot, and an old phone book:

[ Now that's what I call the 'Real Yellow Pages.' Heh ;) ]     And here's what we made that area look like in the end:

Before he left, I told him about our garden's web blog, and he agreed to let me take a photo of him. He told me to plan to see him again on Friday, and that he'd help a little with keeping up the area surrounding our plot every time he came around. Thanks again, Mr. King!!!

growing tomatoes

Today we planted new tomatoes and we had to plant them deep because they have a speciel stem.We had to move the pumpkin plants that were growing in composted soil we put by the strawberries....we moved them into their own patch. We had to move the pea and bean plants that sprouted into an area where they are together. We watered everything that looked wilted or watered. Here are some pictures we took today. In the pictures you will see my 2 sisters. They wanted to help out so i let them, and at the end i asked them how was it and they said it was fun. They wanted to come back again.

See You next time when i blog again...

how it works!!!!

Today, was a short day because of course we had a short school day. We were able to plant for like 2 hours but it was still fun. I still had fun. We planted things like peppers and other things, i really didnt know what we planted. But, first we had to get the big rocks and the roots from out of the soil. One of our members pulled out the biggest rock ever!!!! I was surprised because it was so big. It seems like everything was funny because i was just laughing at everything and everyone. It seems that all the plants are growing well and they are getting taller by the minute. We enjoyed the little time we had today. We got a chance to see Mr. mulkulski's baby and his mother again. I also brought along my two little sisters, and they helped us as well. I taught them how to put the plants inside of the soil, and after they watered it.

Until, next time i will see you then....

[Mr. Mikulski adds: "I thought that these last two photos needed some explanation, so I'll add to Jasmine's post. The below picture is of the newly reinforced rain catchment. I think it will stand up to a heavy wind now, and we look forward to the next heavy rain..."]

["As for this last photo... alas, the rototiller is again under the knife. It needs one or more of the main shaft oil seals replaced. As you can see in the pic, it loses significant amounts of oil over the course of just 1-2 days of being parked inside."]

["Keeping it refilled is an expensive habit, and its making an awful mess in the nook we store it in. When we bought the machine, there was almost NO oil in this reservoir -- suggesting that the seals were leaking long before we purchased the machine. Wish us luck with the repair!"]

jasmine's wonderful adventure

Hi, my name is jasmine fields and i am a 16 year old sophomore attending wendell phillips and this is my first time ever growing anything in a garden. This is my very first adventure. It was very fun and i enjoyed it. I had a chance to see my friends from school and i got a chance to meet new people. We socialized and cracked jokes about each other but in a funny way. Planting is a fun thing to  do now especially when you have a reason. I am the new mediator and i enjoy taking pictures and showing them to people. I am a fun loving person that is very social and like to get to meet people.I am also quiet. My career choice is to become a forensic scientist and i want to be very successful.

Today, we planted new food. We planted lettuce, cucumbers,etc. Neighborhood kids came out to help us, it was like a very big community helping us out. I always wanted to try out different things and i finally got a chance. We had a lot of food to plant and it was fun. We played in the soil for a little bit and then we went around and watered the food that we already grew. Even though i couldnt earn my service learning hours by joining the club, but i did want to be apart of the club just to help out the garden club. I was recommended by a student that i should join the club because its very fun. We had to get the old plants form the soil and big rocks so that the new plants will grow in a good environment. I felt like i was the baby girl today because i was the only sophomore girl in the club!!!!! WoW!!!!!