Good morning friends!

The gardens at Care and Share play a vital role in providing nutrition for those in need. During this growing season, we have harvested more than 900 pounds of healthy food from our three gardens and greenhouse, including pumpkins, carrots, potatoes, tomatoes, turnips, and beets. Our gardens are a treasured component of everything we do because they provide locally grown food to our own community.

As winter approaches, Donna Ross, our Kitchens and Gardens Coordinator, prepares to “put the gardens to bed.” After harvesting everything she can in the fall and pulling all of the finished plants out of the ground to prevent diseases, she mends the soil by fertilizing it with manure. She composts the plants that she can and covers the gardens with leaves so that they are ready again for spring time, depending on the weather. After tidying up the garden areas and turning off the water hoses, Donna lets the gardens rest for the season.

As for the greenhouse, it continues to run even through the coldest months. Plants that are able to live during crisp weather, such as peas, spinach, Swiss chard, and rosemary, are grown in our greenhouse during wintertime.

When asked what her favorite part of her job is, Donna answered that she likes “seeing the food come up from out of the ground.” The work of planting and harvesting foods is indeed a rewarding experience.

Thanks for reading!
 

P.S. This blog post was written by a Care and Share volunteer. We are so excited to welcome HaeMi to our team as our first-ever Beet Reporter.