We've got a great season planned!

Hello!  We've been enjoying the taste of warmer, sunnier days and hope you are too.  It's easy to feel spring right around the corner and we are getting excited about planting this year's garden!  Part of our planning includes creating a schedule of great events that we'll offer throughout the season at the garden on Elmerton Avenue in Harrisburg.

Our first event will be an introduction to the garden in April and it will highlight healthy fresh flavors you can find in the garden in the Spring.  Other events will include great classes for kids and adults along with some fun festivals in the garden.  We hope you'll visit our blog and Facebook page throughout the season so you can join us and spread the word!  You can always find a list of upcoming events along the right sidebar of this page under "Calendar" along with more details under the "Events" tab at the top of the page.  It's just another way we can all stay connected on this adventure in healthy, sustainable living and building community!

See you soon!
~Marykaye

Join the Meatless Monday Food Movement and Our Rainbow Garden Project!

The fun continues as we plan for our spring crops and the opening day of Our Children's Rainbow Garden. In our garden planning meeting this weekend, we got really excited about the opportunity to offer classes this season filled with information and fun for children, gardeners, and for garden foodies. Watch our blog for the event announcements that will begin as early as April!

Right now is the time to really take stock in why its a good idea to get involved in this garden project. First of all it is a ton of fun, good exercise, and requires just a minimal amount of time to reap all of these benefits. But the benefits of eating more fresh and local vegetables goes beyond personal benefits to directly contributing to reduced greenhouse gases and the preservation of our natural resources. 

Whether you are vegetarian or meat-eating, please check out www.meatlessmondays.com a movement that is now a mainstream!

Just by eliminating meat from your meals every Monday, you can reduce greenhouse gases, water consumption, and fossil fuel usage in very significant ways. Not to mention the health benefits of reducing your weekly consumption of animal products and saturated fat. This is a very "doable" way to move your desire to live sustainably beyond ideas into a very tangible step in your life, and isn't this what its really all about? 

I'm also adding a link to a really nice vegetarian website that offers great suggestions and recipes. Oh yes, the picture I'm sharing is of my grandson Ashton who has a LOVE for cooking and a Love for the garden!

So, if you are inspired, let us know that you are ready to become a gardening member of Our Children's Rainbow Garden. The benefits are endless and the commitments are very practical and doable for most people (whether you have children or not!)

Be Well and Enjoy Life, 

Karen 

karenhunsberger@msn.com 

http://www.101cookbooks.com/heidis_favorites/

We're back!

Hope everyone is enjoying a wonderful new year!  How funny that our first garden meeting took place on another snowy day.  It was so much fun to contemplate warmer, sunnier days in the garden!

We are planning some exciting things for this year's garden, including expanding the children's area to include a "Discovery Garden" and many new plants and themes. We are hoping to open the garden up to more volunteers and partnerships with local groups, so if you or someone you know might be interested, please share news of the garden!

Believe it or not, it is already time to order seeds and soon we'll be starting them for a spring planting. Did you know how many crops can be planted right after the first frost?  They include spring greens and herbs as well as radishes, cabbage and potatoes (peas and onions even sooner)!  Here's a great link from Mother Earth News with more info.

We'll post more as we meet, but here are some pictures from today. Garden planners and yummy treats were the flowers in our garden today! :)

Gotta' have the treats

Garden members Kristen and Jane

Chris

Julianna

Karen and Llenay

Have a wonderful day!
~Marykaye

Fall Festival 2010 pictures

What a delightful day we had!  We were blessed with a lovely sunny day shared with music, friends and great food.  What more could you ask for?  Everyone did an amazing job and it was so much fun!  1st prize in the cooking contest went to Llenay's kohlrabi salad, which everyone enjoyed along with many other delicious delights.  Pumpkin painting, a peace dance and other fun activities filled the afternoon.

You can check out some of the pictures here:




Many things are still growing in the garden these cooler days including our rainbow chard, beets, radishes, broccoli rabe, peppers and tomatoes, but you can definitely feel Autumn in the air.  We spent most of our time in the garden today taking down fences and stakes, cutting down sunflowers to lay out for the birds, and removing lovely stones and treasures from the children's garden for next year.  We're planning to go out to harvest as long as we can and we'll keep you updated on the blog with all of the great information we love to share about eating local and growing organically.  We'll also continue to stop back here to post more of our adventures in gardening and plans for next year.

Be well and hope you enjoy these gorgeous days!
~Marykaye

Join us at our Annual Fall Festival, Saturday, October 9th from noon to 4pm!

Annual Fall Festival

Our Children's 
Rainbow Garden

Dauphin County Community Garden

Elmerton and State Road Harrisburg, PA

Look for the pumpkin trail

Saturday, October 9th

from Noon to 4pm

Lots of Fun for the Whole Family!

Members of the Greene Street Vegetarian Club will judge a vegetarian cooking contest.  Bring a covered dish to enter and share.

Prizes awarded in addition to praise!

There will be pumpkin decorating and crafts for the kids, dancing and good food to share.  Come celebrate the beauty of Fall,

outdoors in touch with nature and friends. 

All are welcome to attend!

For more information call Karen at (717) 574-2654

"Organic" growing stronger everyday

Did you know that the body of research supporting the benefits of organic gardening is growing by leaps and bounds?  Check out this article for news of a recent study linking organic farming with more nutritious and sustainable produce: click here for article.

Days feel shorter and some nights are downright chilly :) but there's still plenty going on in the garden.  Veggies continue to grow abundantly and new plantings go in daily for harvest in mid-to-late fall.  A favorite item lately is hot peppers!  We find a variety of bright red capsicums hanging jewel-like from lovely green plants, including sweet round pickling peppers, tiny chilis and even some habeneros planted alongside those!

Another neat thing to see is the cotton plant growing in the fairy garden. We originally planted it to share the concept of where cotton clothing comes from with the kids, but the adults have also been amazed by the beauty of the plant and the wonder of the big seed pods underneath.  We can't wait to see what comes next (and knowing the price of organic cotton clothing does give you some ideas!). ;)

If you'd like to stop by at the garden but haven't had a chance, there's a perfect opportunity coming up in just a few weeks.  Please join us for our Fall Harvest Festival on Saturday, October 9th from noon to 4pm.  There will be wonderful food, activities like pumpkin carving (we've even got white "moon" pumpkins!) and a cooking contest, so please bring a favorite vegetarian dish to share!

Until then, here are some pictures from this week:



rainbow chard and hot peppers


a spiral chili!



cotton seed pods



close-up of a pod



cotton plant


lovely cotton plant flower



investigating the new plantings



 "wooly bear" munching on a weed :)


 This butterfly kept me company as I relocated kohlrabi plantings donated by a neighbor!

Have a great weekend!
~Marykaye

Stepping Out into Nature is a Return to Balance

Our modern life is filled with conveniences that are designed to make life easier and less labor intensive. Advances in technology, medicine, and science should have us living the life of health and leisure; but by contrast, we are instead living a fast paced, hectic, drive-through type of existence that has increased our stress and caused epidemic levels of anxiety, insomnia, chronic illness and obesity.  We are trying so many things to help us calm down, relax and sleep better including succumbing to the glass of wine or beer after work and the numbing effect that TV has on an overworked mind.  I enjoy all of these forms of relaxation from time to time, but through the garden project, I've re-discovered that the simplest and quickest way of restoring my balance is by stepping out into nature.

 

On a purely physical level, I believe that people are very much like plants in that they need all of the elements in the natural world to thrive in a very positive and healthy way. We are hearing a lot right now about the epidemic levels of vitamin D deficiency and the resulting link to so many diseases, yet we know that sunshine is the major source of this vitamin for us. I'm also hearing about recent studies that have linked the happiness that most gardeners enjoy to the fact that they get their hands into dirt and come in contact with a soil organism called Mycobacterium vaccae which increases serotonin levels and is showing promise in its ability to also increase our ability to learn and memorize (another good reason for the children's garden). 

 

Now, going beyond the physical benefits, there is an experience that many of us can recall that is helpful in understanding the power of nature to restore our mental and emotional wellbeing. Can you recall a time when you took a walk in the park or into the woods? At first you are walking, thinking, trying to slow down when the power of nature draws you in.  You smell the woodsy earthy scents of nature. You hear the natural world filled with the sound of birds, squirrels, and chipmunks. You feel the slightly moist cool wind moving through your hair, touching your face. You feel the warmth and energy of the sun on your body and time melts away…your thoughts melt away.  You walk, you relax, and you enjoy the experience as your sense of balance returns. You emerge from this time in nature with renewed energy and a calm mind.

 

I enjoy this natural high regularly in the garden as I sprint from my cubicle-lined fluorescent-lighted work place, kick off my heels and put my hands in the dirt (who knew I was taking home microorganisms in that dirt under my fingernails!). When I smell the garden and feel the wind and sun I return to that familiar feeling of being in nature. I realize that it really is that easy.

 

Gardening is a simple and affordable way to restore physical, emotional, and mental balance. When combined with the garden aerobic "workout" and the health benefits of eating fresh locally grown produce, it's a complete health regimen that could save you hundreds of dollars spent on the pursuit of health including your gym fees.

 

Be Well and Enjoy Life!

Karen

 

SAVE THE DATE: The Fall Festival in Our Children's Rainbow Garden is on Saturday, October 9^th, starting at 12 noon. Come and enjoy a vegetarian cooking contest, gourd and pumpkin painting and carving, and lots more! More information is coming!