Big things happening!

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post!  We have been busy in the garden with the excellent weather we have been having!  We have garden harvest every Wednesday and Sunday evenings and have only missed one due to rain.  Unbelievable!  We have had a great turnout of volunteers since we have set regular harvest times.  We would have never been able to keep up without them!

Here are a few of the highlights from the last month!

The year of the potato....

Apparently, well timed rain and mild temperatures are just what we need to grow the most beautiful potatoes I have ever seen!  The "largest" potatoes we had last year are about the size of our small potatoes this year! We have delivered over 20 - 5 gallon buckets of potatoes to the food pantry so far this year.


Here are some pictures!

Purple potatoes

New crew helping with the potatoes!

Resting up after picking up potatoes.  :)

The onions are great this year, too!  In fact, pretty much everything has exceeded our expectations.

Onions have been really popular at the food pantry!

The peppers are coming on like gangbusters!  Here are some pictures of the different kinds we have growing

Aren't these purple bell peppers beautiful?

Banana Peppers

Green Bell Peppers

 











 The jalepeños are HUGE!

This is last night's harvest!  Four large cloth grocery sacks!

We have had a lot of fun watching the watermelons and cantaloupe grow from tiny, miniature melons to full-sized.  Now we wait for them to ripen!

 

   

In the past, we have had trouble with rabbits eating the green beans and other plants.  We haven't seemed to have a problem with them this year.  We may have figured out why....

  

One night, we had a visit from the local newspaper reporter.  He was working on a story about the food pantry and our food pantry garden!  He took a lot of pictures and talked to us for quite a while.

 

I told my husband, I think we need to buy a truck! :)

As you can see, the garden is doing great this year!  I am so blessed to get to deliver all of this produce to the food pantry.  Many times, I get to meet the clients and hear how much they enjoy the fruits (or vegetables, in this case!) of our labor.  The joy this garden has brought not only to those in need, but to those digging in the dirt, is immeasurable.  

I went to a garden party.....

Well, not really, but by the time the evening was over, it sure seemed like one!  I went over to the garden last night to start picking green beans so we could have some to take to the food pantry on Monday.  They were beautiful, as far as beans go.   :)

Anyway, I was probably out there about a half an hour, sweating away in the mud, when my friend, Jean came out of the church from peeling potatoes for a meal our church serves at a church in Des Moines.  Behind her,  followed 4 or 5 more church members ready to get muddy and help!  We picked over 7 gallons of green beans, 4 gallons of peas, cucumbers, zucchinis, broccoli, peppers and rhubarb.  Jean and I took that over this morning, along with some donations from the church collection cart.  They were so excited to see us!

 What a blessing it is to share with those that could use a bit of help!  (And the garden party wasn't bad either!)

Just beautiful!

Made a quick visit to check on the garden progress last night and to see Jeff's broccoli!  I have taken so many garden pictures, I have to share a few!

The potatoes look great!

The squash plants are getting big!

Jeff started the peppers, tomatoes, cabbage and broccoli all from seed.  They are doing great!

   

       

The melon plants have taken off!

The peas are almost ready! 

            

         

Jeff was still working away when I left for home...

Wow! Year 3 of the food pantry garden is off to an incredible start!

What a difference a couple of weeks and some great weather make!  Every time I get a chance to stop by the garden, I am amazed at the changes!  It looks incredible!  I decided I'd better write a post just to share some current pictures.  The beautiful weather, warm temperatures and well-timed rain have made for perfect growing weather!  Jim and Jeff decided to space the rows far enough apart that we could run a tiller through them to keep the weeds down,  and I must say that was a brilliant idea!!

The sweet corn has grown so much!

Here's a close up!

The potatoes have really filled out!

The peas look a little windblown!  :)

The squash and melons are looking great!

Here are the green beans.

And the onions...

The tomato plants and the peppers

   

Jeff's cabbage and broccoli are looking beautiful!!

 

Thanks for taking a look at the progress of our project!  We appreciate the prayers and support for the garden and for those that will receive this produce.  We also appreciate prayers for good weather!  Stop by and see the garden for yourself!!

What progress!

Since my last post with pictures of the crew planting potatoes, I would say the entire garden is mostly planted, thanks to Jim and Jeff.  Each year we've tried a few new things and this year is no different.  In fact, instead of buying most of the plants, Jeff grew most of them from seed himself!  I'm excited to see how we do this year!

Planted in the garden this year are: 3 kinds of potatoes, onions, peas, green beans, radishes, 3 kinds of peppers, tomatoes, broccoli, cabbage, acorn squash, butternut squash, spaghetti squash, zucchini, cucumbers, watermelon and sweet corn.  Sounds like a lot!

Here are some updated views (it looks like I need to get weeding!)  Notice the difference in just a week!

I took these on May 17th...

The potatoes are up!

The onions are looking great!

I took these on May 24th. 

The potatoes are filling out!

Onions!

Jeff and Sam got everything ready for the corn to go in.  Doug E. came and got it planted!

Another great summer in the garden is well underway!!  Now the waiting begins.  Please pray for some great weather and for those that will be blessed by this ministry!  Thanks to everyone that makes this possible!  (We are always looking for new volunteers, so let us know if you'd like to help out!)

"And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind, and all your strength.  The second is equally important: 'Love your neighbor as yourself.'  No Other commandment is greater than these."

Mark 12:31

It's been a LOOOOONNNGGGG winter!

I found myself, like many others, wishing for warm temperatures and blue, sunny skies over the long winter.  The cold can be so discouraging, and it seemed almost unbearable to be outside to soak up any sunshine.  I would guess the cases of Seasonal Affective Disorder were pretty high this winter!  To try and hold the depressing thoughts at bay, I was looking at pictures from last year's garden.  It makes me happier just looking at them!  I can't wait for spring!
While in the kitchen at church a few Sundays ago, I found that the discussions we've been having over coffee the past few Sundays had moved past "discussions"!  Jeff has already started broccoli seeds and has little plants growing!  This made me smile, just knowing others are still as excited about this mission as I am!  If this winter had drug out any longer, we may all have little plants growing in our houses!

These pictures were from last fall when Jim had his tractor out and got the garden all tilled.

I took some pictures of the garden before we began this year….

What a beautiful patch of earth we are blessed with!

Since the threat of frost seems to be gone, we have started putting some things in the ground.  On Good Friday, we planted potatoes….a lot of potatoes!  Here are a few pictures from that afternoon.

Every row is carefully plotted, measured and aligned!

What a great work crew!

A few days later, we happened by and caught Jeff squeezing in a little extra work!

Once you get started, it's hard to stay away!  

I'm excited to see what this summer has in store for us.  We are planning to try some new things this year and it will be fun to see what works!  With the recent cuts in the federal food stamp program, the food pantry volunteers expect the requests for help to increase.  They have already had record numbers of visitors since the change. The clients and volunteers are so appreciative of the produce from the garden!  I hope we have a great year and I pray for God's blessings on the garden, those that give of their time to make the mission a success, and those that are in need.