I was going to use this header next week since we still had Sophia to help us and next week we will be empty (intern) nesters. I shifted the call for help because the need for help has also shifted. Harvesting has jumped from 500 pounds a week to almost 500 pounds per gleaning. We are currently gleaning 3X a week and have 15 different vegetables that are ready for picking. Among those vegetables many have 3-6 different varieties. Thanks to our gleaning partnerships, they keep up with doing almost all the actual harvesting. This process takes a couple of hours each gleaning day, and there are usually 4 or 5 gleaners with the G2G crew as backup.
We are still continuing to plant crops for Fall harvest. Our Saturday volunteers planted an entire plot of Hakurei turnips, and Amanda and Caleb started another 400 lettuce seedlings after being coached by our Master soil blocker, Genevieve. 🙂
The mowing team is still mowing.
The Fix-It Team is still fixing.
The flower team is continuing to make bouquets for donations.
We are weeding, mulching, spreading wood chips, watering, suckering and stringing up tomatoes and cucumbers, taking care of the blueberries and elderberries, bug patrolling for Japanese beetles, and more!
Okay, so you get the idea–we could use some extra help! Remember, we have volunteers ages 3 to 93 and all sorts of jobs that can include anyone with physical limitations.
Now for a glimpse of what was happening at the farm this past week.
Monday’s gleaning total was 449.39. Weston helped his grandmother, Judy, find a tomato as big as his head. Robert went searching for African eggplants and asked me about the broom corn we are growing. He makes brooms and will make us a couple from our plants! How cool is that!
Alyson brought two of her best buds on Tuesday, and they finished mulching our last cucumber tunnel. It was brutally hot and humid. Thanks for hanging in there you guys! It looks great, and I am sure the plants appreciate it. Hope you still have those friends after that torture, Alyson!
Wednesday’s gleaning total was an amazing 469.50. Here are Terry and Deirdra loading boxes into Terry’s car. Thanks, ladies, for picking 230 pounds of squash Wednesday morning! While that was going on, the volunteers tackled the main line that holds up all the cucumbers in the Rimol. It was badly deteriorating, and the lines started to let go. It took 3 women on ladders to fix that mess. Thank you Lee, Tina and BJ. The three of you are my MacGyver Team!
Friday’s gleaning total was 453.09. Here is our gleaning team armed and ready to go harvest tomatoes. They brought in over 160 pounds. 🙂
Christine and Mary were arranging bouquets, adding dahlias to the mix. Diana and Scott were helping harvest, while waiting to be needed on the Fix-It Team project.
The ongoing fix-it project is twofold–first is attaching hardware to hold the scissor doors open on the 3 newer tunnels–not an easy task 🙁 Second–which is doubly difficult 🙁 🙁 –is getting earth screws in the ground to hold down those same tunnels in our crazy high Spring winds. (I won’t even mention the winds in that other season that starts with W–can’t go there yet!)
Rebecca came to volunteer on Friday and tackled suckering cucumbers with Cathy’s help. Now we just have to keep up! I see baby cukes coming–will be very exciting to add this to our mix.
Saturday brought Amy, Mary, and Robin to help plant out our last crop of Hakurei turnips. Hopefully those will be ready by the end of September. Amanda and Caleb were helping make soil blocks for lettuces, and Denise and David gave each blueberry bush a couple of gallons of water and a weed free bed. Andrew and Wendy came and mulched and weeded for us, too. Thanks, everyone, for giving up part of your Saturday to help us with all these tasks.
Two more happenings at the farm–if all that’s not enough 😉
The farm is FULL of flowers. Here is a photo of Katie and her son who walked over to pick from our donation garden. If you want to treat yourself or someone else to a gorgeous colorful bouquet, the gardens are open Monday-Saturday 8 until 2.
And our Elderberries are getting close to being ready to harvest. I think this will be over the course of a few weeks, but there are some beginning to turn purple black. This will be another PICK-YOUR-OWN. We are asking for a $10 a pound donation to G2G.
One last request–cardboard. Medium to large pieces from flattened boxes. No colored ink printing. Black is ok. Nothing glossy, and please help us by removing all that tape. We want to build up some beds with the “lasagna method”. We have found that worms love cardboard, and we love worms.
Thanks for all the help this past week. From some of the feedback we have been receiving, I think we are making a real difference in helping to feed our neighbors.
It’s August in Maine, enjoy!
Theda
