Today we had a special guest, Nancy, all the way from Pittsburg. I hope she doesn’t mind me referring to her as our oldest volunteer to date. At ninety-one, she may also hold the record on who has traveled the farthest. Here she is with her two daughters, Sharry and Diana, essential members of our Growing to Give team.
We also hosted a group of eleven from the Brunswick Rotary. Their broadfork skills were impeccable! They really helped us accomplish a lot. With their help we planted more onions, leeks, radishes, lettuce and alyssum. Adding in our regular Saturday crew, we had 22 volunteers with over 50 hours of labor! This is how we can accomplish so much! Thanks everyone for all this help.
The plants for the seedling sale are looking healthy and happy. Please remember to bring a box or container, if you purchase plants from our sale, and we will take back any plastic pots. We would much rather reuse/recycle.
Rebecca came to help us pot up the dahlia tubers. Each pot has numerous tubers, and are sprouting and beginning to grow. This year we actually know what color they are! 🙂
Large, colorful, delicious heads of lettuce were delivered to MCHPP on Wednesday with the Merrymeeting Gleaners. We also sent some to our friends in Lisbon Falls. Almost 30 pounds of spinach was picked and delivered as well.
We have a new beneficial hedgerow in the planning stages. It will border our newest planting area. Carrie is planning it out and this week we received a shipment from Prairie Nursery in Wisconsin. The plants have been planted in a holding bed as we wait for the final bed to be finished. There are lots of interesting grasses and other plants I am not familiar with. It will be fun to see how much they will grow in one year. Carrie hopes to have a wave of color throughout the season.
We had three ladies from the Wayfair team who spent a big part of their morning in the greenhouse transplanting seedlings. Again another example of how people from our community come together to make our project happen.
Donations to Growing to Give come in all sorts of ways. Our friend and volunteer, Diane, donated all kinds of garden tools. She is downsizing and donated all these tools for us to use. She says when she needs a garden””fix” she will just come help us. Thanks Diane.
Finally; it’s rhubarb season and these plants are super happy. I think we will let them grow another week or two then send them out for all those classic spring rhubarb recipes. Crisp, chutney, BBQ sauce and a new one I have never heard of ,rhubarb quinoa soup!
This was really two weeks of reporting. Just couldn’t get everything accomplished last week. Hopefully with all this help I am back on track for a weekly update; this time of year there is always so much to share.
A heartfelt thanks to all of you!
– Theda