Elizabeth
Our July was packed with new activities, volunteers, and harvests! Various community volunteers have been coming in to help with weeding and harvesting, accomplishing tons of work that helped greatly contribute to the appearance of the garden. This July, we also had a new group, the ‘Backyard Camp’, visiting the garden each week. Our interns organized various interactive and educational activities to complete with the young campers, including a huge ladybug population being released to help naturally fight off some aphids invading our pepper plants, recycled wooden flowerpot painting, and a tour of the food pantry as they helped us harvest many fruits and vegetables each week. This month, we also had one of the largest harvests the garden has ever had: bell peppers, beets, basil, spring onions, poblano peppers, cucumbers, cayenne peppers, eggplant, a variety of lettuce, and tons of cherry tomato, allowing recipients of the food pantry to enjoy tons of fresh produce!
The ‘Diller Teen Fellowship’ also came in July, marking one of our most productive days. The group of teenagers worked alongside our interns to complete a significant amount of work in the garden including re-organizing our hose shed, restoring our picnic area, weeding the entire front of the garden, and harvesting. They were a lovely group to work with, and our interns cannot emphasize enough how wonderful they were. The final harvest of the month included beets, carrots, bell peppers, cucumbers, Redleaf & Oakleaf lettuce, eggplant, basil, cherry tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers.
