Happy Memorial Day!

Greetings! We wanted to let everyone know that we did ok with the storms that blew through our area at the end of the week and the garden is doing well.

We were very blessed that no harm came to the garden but are sending prayers to all those affected, some in our area who are still without power and so many others around the country working together for healing and struggling to get things back to normal.

Hope you have a wonderful holiday spent with family and friends. It's such a gift to be together. :)

~Marykaye

A wonderful day was had by all

The day started off cool and breezy but by evening we enjoyed warm, sunny weather for our monthly community potluck. We got a lot done and then relaxed for the rest of the evening!  
Here are some pictures from our day:

grain already a few inches tall in just the past week from all the rain

getting ready to do some planting

and some fence mending and tilling (power's off but the

sound effects on the tilling were very convincing) ;)

preparing the ground for corn near the new garden house in the
rainbow garden


and for more plantings in the mother garden

a neat discovery

eggs in a nest on the ground near the edge of our plot

can you see the mama bird in this picture?
she's to the right of the marker and line of stones

And here are some pictures from our potluck; hope you can join us for the next one!
(Click on the arrow at the end to restart the slideshow):

Here's a recipe for that fantastic salad you saw in the slideshow.
It is a great way to use the new baby spinach greens that are so abundant in the spring:

Jane's scrumptious spinach salad

Toss baby spinach leaves in balsamic dressing and then top with chopped walnuts, roasted beets and feta cheese (also delicious served in a soft whole-wheat pita).

And because I think it's great to spread the word about the benefit eating local food brings to communities, here's an inspiring story about a man transforming many lives starting with his 2 acre farm inside city limits in Milwaukee, Wisconsin (click for link to story in Yes! Magazine).

Cheers to garden member DK on his journey to England. We miss you!

Hope you have a great week!

~Marykaye

Going with the flow

We spent the day happily planting many seeds and seedlings in the beautiful truckloads of compost donated by our new friends Jim and Cory over at www.digmyearth.com. The rain held off until we were ready to head out and blessed our new plantings with some fresh water.  We enjoyed that cool, misty morning together and celebrated our good fortune and the gift of going with the flow. It's amazing how things come together when you just trust and do what you love. Kind of like life!

The cooler weather has pushed back our planting schedule a bit, so we're postponing our next garden class until June, but we are already excited and preparing for our first children's class about gardening. Hope you can join us!

Here are some pictures from this weekend:

Brassica plants and herbs ready to get in the garden

tomatoes and marigolds for our high yield plot

Julianna and Kristen making the medicinal garden more beautiful

prepping the high yield plots

Chris and Jane hanging out with some tomatoes

Danny playing in that beautiful pile of compost

Karen relocating some beets into the rainbow garden

Can you guess what this is this?  Its happy in it's new home...

rainbow garden with a new fence for peas and a little color

Angie planting some grain by the roadside

Have a wonderful week!
~Marykaye

Mother's Day is a great time to get plantings out into the garden

We had a beautiful, sunny, perfect first Saturday together out in the community garden!  Old and new friends gathered to lay out plans for the medicinal and rainbow gardens and to put in some plantings (peanuts in the rainbow and romanesco broccoli in the Mother garden).  It was perfect timing for those who hold off on planting until after Mother's Day, when the risk of frost will be less.

Here are some pictures from our day:

sunny skies over the garden

the sign on the corner of Elmerton and State Farm road

Krista, Karen, Kristin and Jane breaking ground

|
the medicinal garden


(even better with friends!) :)

one half of the Mother Garden

the rainbow garden  

peanuts (they'll have yellow leaves, so they are in 
their own stripe of the rainbow garden)

We'll be back out there this Wednesday from 6pm to dusk, so come on out if you'd like to play in the dirt with us!  Hugs and love to our garden sister Llenay who is on a 3 week trip to Africa planting seeds of peace, abundance and community among the women there.  


Happy Mother's Day!
~Marykaye

The garden is tilled and ready for us to get out there!

We are thrilled to report that the community garden is officially tilled and ready for us to start preparing the space for this year's garden.  We'll begin to bring out tools and lay down lines for the paths and sections in the next week and hope to start bringing in truckloads of compost next weekend.

Regular garden hours will begin next Wednesday (5/4) from 6 pm to dusk and Saturday (5/8) from 8 am to 11 am and everyone is welcome.  If you can't make it out there, no worries: we can't wait to start having some more pictures to post so we can show you what we are up to!

Another exciting item: we are featured in the May issue of Natural Awakenings magazine, a great new local publication highlighting natural, alternative events and practitioners in Central Pa.  You can find copies at most studios, health food stores or anywhere friends gather or you can contact them if you have someplace you'd like this wonderful free resource to be available.  You can also check out some of this month's content on their Facebook page and a digital edition for May should be online soon.

For those who enjoyed our last Fairy Festival in the garden and can't wait for the next one, consider checking out the Fairie Festival at Spoutwood Farm in Glen Rock, Pa this Friday, Saturday and Sunday (4/29-5/1).  Their mission: "to help people come alive to nature as well as our own creative natures and to invite people to nurture a sense of wonder; to respect and befriend all living beings as well as the environment that supports us all".  Beautifully put!

Hope you have a wonderful weekend!
~Marykaye

Stay tuned!

We heard back from DCNR and they are just waiting to till the garden until after the ground dries up a little from all of this rain!  (We've cancelled this weekend's planned garden opening and classes until we can get out there).  Just wanted to let you know that we are still here!

  Have a great day!
  ~Marykaye

Mechanicsburg Earth Day Festival canceled due to inclement weather

We're sorry to miss the festival this Saturday but it sounds like the funds can be used for other important projects and it may be a pretty thunderstormy day. More refreshment for Mama Earth!

~Take care,
Marykaye