Gleaning Time - Garden Update

Autumn beauty in the Pacific NW

With this stretch of moist weather and cooler temperatures it seems that Autumn is upon us here in the Alpine/Monroe area. The Sharing Gardens are producing over 200 pounds of fresh produce a week and our core group of volunteers is doing a fantastic job of helping us bring in the harvest in time for Food Bank hours in Monroe. It's canning and food-preservation time and many of us are as busy as squirrels storing food for the lean months ahead.

Seasonal Bounty!

Please help us locate fruit and nut trees that are in need of gleaning. We are interested in apples and pears, walnuts and hazel nuts or...? With our team of volunteers we can gather the bounty and share with the trees' owners, the volunteers and the Monroe Food bank.

Apple's gleaned in Monroe

We could still use 12-24 hay bales at the Alpine garden (moldy or spoiled is fine--125 pounds or less). We'd like to build a couple of hay-bale compost-bins and mulch a few more places. If you live near Alpine/Monroe, we can come pick them up, or you could drop them at Alpine Park.

Thanks for your moldy hay bales!

Does anyone have canning jars that need to be put to good use? Our supply is nearing its end and we still have a lot of food to preserve before winter. You can bring them to the Food Bank and we'll distribute them amongst those who have need.

Got canning jars?

Monroe Food Bank Hours:

Thursday mornings: 10:00 to noon (most customers come in the first half-hour)
Third Thursdays of each month: 5:00 - 7:00 (Free Community Dinner at the Methodist Church - 6:00 pm)
The Food Bank is located behind the United Methodist Church in Monroe (the big, white one with a steeple) at 648 Orchard St.)

Monroe's Sharing Garden is located between the church and the Grade School on Chester Crowson's land. It's not too late to come and help in the gardens and share in the bounty of the harvest. Email us if you'd like to find out when the volunteers are meeting at the two gardens.

Gallery of Givers:

Larry and "My" transplant lettuce

Sharing Garden and Food Bank volunteers celebrate the bounty

Judy Peabody weighs the squash before we take it to the Food Bank

Chris shows Ricardo where to apply the manure tea

Bruce on a break

Cindy shows off some of our fantastic onion harvest

Doreen raking mulch

Justin and Stephanie harvest basil

Rann enjoys the pleasures of "just picked" beans

Llyn, transplanting the fall garden

Tom Sawyer and the Sharing Gardens

A sweet story: We were at the Monroe garden site, earlier in the season, painting the tool-shed doors when an 11 year-old boy named Dustin came walking by on his way home from school (remember our garden site is sandwiched between the food bank and elementary school.)

"What are you guys doing?" he said.
"Just putting some paint on these old doors," was our reply,
"Oh cool! Can I help?"
"Well, we're just about to call it quits for the day and besides, aren't your parents expecting you?"
"Not for another half hour. Please?"
"Well, we don't want you to get any paint on your school clothes."
"I promise I won't. I'll be very careful!"

So, Chris squatted down and gave him a lesson in dipping the brush, wiping off the excess and painting with the grain of the wood. You can't imagine a happier kid. We kept thinking of Tom Sawyer and his fence-painting escapades. Here are some pictures. This is exactly the kind of interactions we've imagined were possible when we conceived of expanding the program to include our towns' young people.

 The Lesson

The Application

"You guys are cool!" was his casual, over-the-shoulder remark as he sauntered home from the gardens when the painting lesson was done.

We like to think so!

It's Harvest Time!

Autumn is in the air and the gardens have really started to produce a fine harvest! Today was Food Bank day and here is a list of what was shared amongst volunteers and distributed at the Food Bank.

Alpine - most of a week's harvest - August 25, 2010

Tomatoes: 49 pounds
Cucumbers: 125 pounds
Zucchini/Summer Squash: 55 pounds
Basil: 4 pounds
Beets: 20 pounds
Cabbage: 15 pounds
Green peppers: 3 pounds
Green beans: 20 pounds

That's over 240 pounds of fresh produce in one week!

We are focused almost entirely on harvesting now. Our volunteer team (people who show up on a weekly, or bi-weekly basis) is nine-strong and we have another half-dozen folks who have helped us out on a more occasional basis. Our volunteers include "My" (13- short for "Ismael") and Ricardo (8), two Latino brothers who are helping feed their family with the food they bring home. We have people who found out about us because they have needed food from the Food Bank due to job-losses in their families. We have married couples and single people and several members of the team are in their 60's. Everyone shares a love for gardening and a desire to contribute to creating local food-self sufficiency.

Monroe's squash and cuke harvest - August 26, 2010

Our weekly volunteer times at the Monroe site have become quite a social hub. Many people come to help with the gardening and others stop by just because it feels good to be in the atmosphere of service and giving that the garden provides. Volunteers usually spend two to three hours weeding, mulching, planting or harvesting and then we take a break in the shade, eat cookies someone has brought, sip iced tea or fresh, delicious well-water (Thanks again Chester for getting the well hooked up again!). Today people were munching on fresh picked beans and last week, My sampled his first fresh beet (peeled and stuck on a shish-kabob stick to keep his hands clean.) With a big, red grin he said, "These are great! And my mom says they'll give me a healthy body." Yes they will, My. We're so happy to see you developing a taste for healthy fresh produce!

Cathy, Danielle and Llyn with kale for the Food bank

There's going to be a lot more harvesting and fun to be had before we put the garden to sleep later this fall. If you're local, remember that you can bring your own garden surplus to the Food Bank (just do a search on our site for the hours). If you'd like to join the other volunteers, send us an email and we'll add you to the list.

Potluck in the Park

 Potluck in the Park

This is a friendly reminder to all of you that there will be a potluck gathering at the Alpine Chapel Park on the evening of August 8, 2010 from 6:00 p.m. till dusk. We are hoping that many of you will attend. Bring your  favorite dish, salad, snacks, desserts and/or non-alcoholic beverages to share while listening to some old-time fiddle music, chatting with old friends and meeting some new ones. The occasion for this gathering is to welcome Janaia and Robyn, hosts of Peak Moment TV who will be interviewing Chris and Llyn about the "Sharing Gardens" earlier in the weekend. The Peak Moment TV series is dedicated to exploring solutions to the environmental and economic challenges facing so many of us today. Lets make this a family-friendly gathering. Children are welcome but please leave pets and alcoholic beverages at home. We anticipate some lively discussions and the sharing of ideas and perspectives that relate to strengthening our local communities. It should be a lot of fun - sure hope to see you there!

Any questions, give us a call or email us.

What: Potluck in the Park

When: Sunday, August 8 -- 6:00 p.m. till dusk

Where: Alpine Chapel Park - 

            across from Alpine's old Elementary School

            25114 Alpine Rd, Alpine Oregon 97456

Please bring: Food and/or drink to share as well as flatware, cups and dishes for your family.
                 

Gallery of Givers

Below is a picture gallery of volunteers who have been helping us grow the gardens this season and a list of others who have contributed time or materials in the last month. We do our best to acknowledge everyone who helps. Please forgive us if we forgot to mention you. Everyone's contribution makes a difference. Llyn and Chris

Gratitude goes out to:

• Sheri who brings us grass clippings every few weeks to the Monroe site
• Renee Duncan who has adopted the perennial garden beds at Alpine and will be filling them with flowers from her own nursery
• Gary Weems and his heavy equipment for assistance in maintaining the Alpine Park and all the ways he helps fill in around the edges to keep the park looking great.
• Gene Boshart brought us seven tons of spoiled hay, helped us unload it and wouldn't even accept gas money
• Guy Urbach brings us home-picked cherries and other treats when we're working in the gardens and we're still grateful to him for covering the cost of the porta-potty at Alpine
• Gary Watts and Jack Jones (from Alpine Pump) for fixing the broken pipes at the Alpine bathroom (so we won't need the porta-potty anymore!) Also, Gary did another full-park mowing job this month.
• Steve Rose for pepper plants and onion starts
• Cathy Rose brought us onion starts
• Evelyn Lee for forwarding all these emails out to the local community through the list-serve
• Rae brought us a big load of primo oat-sraw to mulch the Alpine garden. It was truly the champagne of hays! Flaked evenly, fluffed up nice...mmm...mmm.
• Loren Bowman donated brand new hoses and three stands for rain-bird sprinklers 
• Mylrea Estell and Ray Kreth for providing us with a safe, comfortable and affordable place to live that enables us to be able to do this project
• Well, we thought we'd had just about everything that we needed donated...and now we know its true because Larry and Germaine Hammon recently gave us (that's right folks) their kitchen sink! (We'll use it to wash produce etc at the Alpine site.) 

What follows is a "gallery of givers". A short pictorial tribute to the many helpers who have been giving of their time to grow food for those in need. We sure appreciate you! 

A team of volunteers at the Monroe site

Clearing the old perennial bed at Alpine

George planting tomatoes that Steve Rose donated

David Urbach preparing tomato mounds

Steve Rose tilling the Monroe site

Chris and Phil-one of our main grass clippings donaters in Alpine

Rann-fence building

Steve N. - digging holes

Eva - transplanting raspberries

Jesse - transplanting sunflowers

Rae - thanks for the hay donation!

Cindy rolling up baling twine

Jennifer and Chris after unloading hay

Robin transplanting grape vines

Ishmael "Mi" gathering mulch

Seven tons of Hay donated!

Gene Boshart - unloading his donation

Evelyn and Danielle gathering grass-mulch

Jack fixing our mower

Danielle and Cathy Rose harvesting kale

Now doesn't Dorothy look like she's having entirely too much fun!

 One of our volunteers, who also receives assistance from the Monroe Food bank to support his family's needs wrote us the following note:

"Thanks! It's a great thing the two of you have started here.


I look forward to the camaraderie and friendship that is developing amongst all of us at the same time that we are enjoying useful endeavors."

Our gardens would not be possible without the sponsorship of the Alpine Community Center. Through them, we have applied for all our grants. They have included us under the umbrella of their insurance policy and they found funding to run the pump at the Alpine Gardens. You can see the other projects they support, and get involved at: www.alpinecommunity.net/

When to Harvest in the Sharing Gardens

This post is addressed to volunteers and anyone who is harvesting directly out of the Sharing Gardens for their own use.

Volunteers Cathy, Danielle and Llyn with bouquets of kale

With the warm, sunny weather, the Sharing Gardens are poised to burst into high productivity! The cool-weather crops: broccoli, peas and lettuce are just about done. We've already begun harvesting yellow summer-squash, zucchini and slicing cucumbers from the Monroe garden and have picked a few ripe pickling cukes and tomatoes from the Alpine garden. The modest trickle we're experiencing now promises to become quite a big harvest in the days and weeks to come.

Alpine Garden - August 13, 2009

Soon, the gardens will need to be picked at least twice a week to keep up with them. (Just to give you an idea of the volumes we're looking at, we have close to 200 tomato plants, about 20 summer squash/zucchini and over 30 cucumber plants!) 

We would appreciate it if all volunteers and anyone else harvesting from the gardens, would do their pickings on the weekends.   

This way, the gardens will be picked twice a week and we'll be sure we have enough produce to take to the Food Bank on Thursdays.  

Food Bank harvest - July 2010    

Good news: We've begun having conversations with the United Methodist Church about the possibility of having some canning parties in their commercial kitchen.  We'll keep you posted.

Our contact info is in the upper right-hand corner of this website.

Much Gratitude!