Community Garden

Wednesday, October 31, 2007

10/15/07 Folk School

Community gardeners were joined by some new participants as well as Char Madigan, CSJ and founder of Homes on Portland Enterprises (HOPE) community, on October 15th for Waking Up, Spirit and Action Folk School.
We gathered for a delicious supper of soup and bread from St. Martin's Table, then began our discussion about community. Char shared her story and the story of HOPE, including a video that allowed us a glimpse of the community she created.
The group discussed the importance of community in many different areas of our lives, and we shared ways that each of us struggle with and seek to build community.
It was an evening of encouragement and wisdom as we came together to celebrate and discuss the ways that we all can nurture and contribute to our own communities.
Special thanks to Char Madigan, whose work with the HOPE community is especially inspiring.

The End of a Great Season!

After two long evenings cleaning out, cultivating, and putting compost on the soil, we are finally ready to call an end to the season and put the garden to bed. The tomato plants were especially reluctant to come out, and we had to work hard, often showering other gardeners with soil or tomatoes as we struggled to wrangle the big plants out of the ground!
This season, we donated over 200 pounds of food to charities:
Five pounds of fingerling potatoes
Five pounds of peppers
Ten pounds of basil
15 pounds of eggplant
20 pounds of beans, both green and purple pole
20 pounds of cucumbers
50 bunches of Swiss chard
80 heads of lettuce
80 pounds of tomatoes
These veggies, combined with about 200 pounds that we took home to enjoy in our own kitchens amounted to about 400 pounds of good organic food! What a bountiful harvest!

Tuesday, October 30, 2007

10/8/07 "Final" Harvest

As the weather turns chilly, we turned our attention to the last few veggies to be harvested from the garden, and on October 8th we gathered in what would be one of our last harvests of the season. This included gathering carrots, beets, eggplant, beans, peppers, and the last of the tomatoes, including the green ones! We also took home some fingerling potatoes which Jennifer brought to share from the Tacheny farm. Scarves and hats on gardeners, as well as the quickly darkening sky, reminded us of winter's approach, and we appreciated the time together and the vegetables we harvested.

Pesto Parties!


In celebration of successful harvests and taking advantage of an abundance of basil, we enjoyed ourselves at two pesto parties this fall.
After our usual Tuesday night harvest, we walked over to the Celeste's Dream offices, various and sundry pesto fixings and accessories in hand. Gardeners tried their hands at blending the basil, olive oil, and garlic. We quickly turned out a big, warm, fragrant bowl of fresh pesto, which we enjoyed over pasta and french bread, as well as over shredded raw zucchini, all of which were delicious. After our meal, which included not only pesto but tomato and mozzarella salad and some really wonderful cookies, we discussed this season's garden, what keeps us coming back, what works, and what could be improved upon. It was a tasty way to enjoy one of the last harvests of the season!
We enjoyed chatting as we prepared the basil, and when we were done, our hands smelled wonderful!
Everyone helped to make a delicious meal!

10/06/07 Trip to Tacheny Farm

Celeste's Dream community gardeners enjoyed a trip to the Tacheny farm on October 6th, where we kept busy harvesting and cleaning up the garden. Much of the work was in harvesting potatoes, including tiny but delicious fingerlings. We also harvested carrots, brussel sprouts, broccoli, basil, dill, parsley, squash, and we gleaned the last of the yellow pear tomatoes and hot Thai peppers. We appreciated a delicious fresh garden lunch after our hard work!

9/28/07 Farmer's Market

On Spetember 28, Celeste's Dream community garden collaborated with MULCH, the Macalester student community garden, to sell vegetables and raise funds to aid southeast Minnesota farmers whose crops were damaged by floods this summer. We sold tat soy, parsley, eggplant, Swiss chard, and a few peppers, along with some yellow pear tomatoes from the Tacheny farm. As well as vegetables, Jennifer offered useful advice to customers who were curious about cooking new foods such as tat soy and Swiss chard. Our table was graced by the presence of several ladybugs and a very resilient caterpillar who managed to hang on to a parsley stalk even as the other veggies blew away in the strong wind! After all the veggies were gone and the bugs were returned to their homes, we counted over $150 in sales and donations. It was a blustery, succesful, and fun afternoon!