We are thrilled to announce that we surpassed our target of 5,000 pounds of food collected and distributed this year – we received and delivered more than 7,000 pounds of fresh food in 2011!
A huge thank you to all of our growers, market volunteers, garden workers, drivers and community kitchen participants – all of your hard work meant that a huge amount of fresh and healthy food was served to Kingston community members in need this season.
We are greatly looking forward to another great year next year and hope to see you all in 2012!
It is August and the garden is abundant, growing as if I’d planted it with Jack’s beans. It has been as close to a perfect summer as a gardener could want: warmth and rain in generous measure. The beans (which I never did get around to poling) are crawling all over the garden and the tomatoes are laden with fruit. The potato plants are already dying down and although it is too soon to harvest, we’re stealing spuds from the “nests” for every meal. The butternut squash are Brobdinagian, the cabbages and leeks are coming along nicely and whisper of cool October nights.
Tomatoes – before:
Tomatoes – after:
Celery!
Look at our glorious garden – thank you to all our amazing volunteers and our summer student, Rosie, for making this place look like a million bucks!
Holly White is growing many rows, including these gorgeous bean plants, squash, pumpkin and cabbage. She is a first-time participant in the Grow a Row campaign and we are grateful for her contributions!
I have to chuckle at the idea of being a Grow-a-Row featured gardener. I’m a late bloomer, a reluctant gardener. I hate getting dirty; I don’t find gardening relaxing. Both my parents were first generation off the farm, and they had no interest in gardens (though they had far more awareness than city-bred me of local produce, when it ripened, when it would appear at roadside stands, and how delicious it would taste in comparison to what was in the grocery store).
I’m growing a row of beets for Grow-a-Row because I know you can grate raw beets into a bowl with some olive oil and lemon juice, add some torn salad greens, walnuts and feta cheese, and have a superb and healthy salad. It’s hard to go wrong growing beets; they are not delicate (and I can count on my partner, who is the real gardener, to water if I forget).
I realized that the average person had to do something about the food we eat when I found out that one of the largest seed corporations in the world, for the sake of creating economic dependency, was deliberately engineering and selling sterile seeds for food crops (i.e., seeds that would produce a plant but not harvestable seeds for future crops). And then I began to realize that what I was eating, mostly processed foods from the grocery store, items I thought were healthy, were too refined, too sugary, and too salty to be nutritious. So I’m happy now to grow my own beets and share them with others who don’t have a backyard, or whose food budget is straitened.
This August, a portion of your meal purchase at participating restaurants will benefit Loving Spoonful, a community food organization working to enhance access to healthy food for all.
Participating restaurants: Le Chien Noir, Chez Piggy, Pan Chancho, Olivea.
Treat yourself. Feed your community.
Every year, I grow standards like tomatoes and basil, but I also like to try new vegetables every year, to see what works with my soil and the local conditions. This year, I started a number of heritage vegetables from seed, including carrots, beets, tomatoes, and beans. It’s faacinating to read about produce that has been grown for generations, and seeds passed on. I like being part of that chain. I have four kinds of beans: some are best for eating fresh, and others are soup beans. I have five kinds of lettuce and other salad greens. I also started four types of heritage tomatoes. When growing from seed, you never know how many seedlings will make it, so you plant more than you need. I had good luck with my tomato and pepper seedlings, so I gave some to friends with gardens, and planted the rest. I’m happy to be able to share my produce with Grow a Row.
Pictured below: tomatoes, beans, lettuce, garlic, and a few weeds!
Please help us reach our goal of 5,000 pounds of food distributed this summer! You can donate surplus produce at our market stall on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 2-4 or Saturdays from 11:30-4:30. You can also drop food off at the Partners in Mission Food Bank at 140 Hickson Ave (please indicate that it is for Grow a Row).
Please join us in the Acorn Garden every week as we plant, weed, water and harvest produce to donate to local emergency meal providers. This summer we are growing tons of tomatoes and herbs to prepare and preserve into delicious tomato sauce that we’ll distribute later in the season. We’re there every Tuesday evening from 4 to 8 p.m. and you will find our garden within the Oak St. Community Garden here. Hope to see you there!
Join the Grow a Row Committee, local gardeners and community members, for a celebration including a potluck, music and more information about the Grow a Row campaign.
Monday, May 9th, at 7 pm, Kingston Unitarian Fellowship, 214 Concession Street
For more information, please contact Kate Archibald-Cross, Grow a Row Coordinator: 613-546-4291 ext. 1871, or kate@lovingspoonful.org
