In the spring the City of New Carlisle provided us space and OSU Ag Extension sent out people to teach how to plant seeds (some common garden veggies need to be planted in the early spring). And later they sent out someone to help us learn to transplant successfully.
In the summer we had 12 families gardening 28 personal beds of 42 raised beds at the Madison Street Garden. We had families and individuals, men, women, boys and girls, pre-teens and a nonagenarian and 25% of our participants were Hispanic! Of the remaining beds, 2 were set up as perennial herb beds and the rest were common beds containing potatoes, pumpkins, salad greens, tomatoes, and onions. There was also 2 large in-ground beds one of which was community corn and the other was Three Sisters plantings (corn, squash and beans). Some of the common beds were used to provide produce to sell at the Farmers' Market, and produce for for the Bethel Churches United Food Pantry that serves our community. 2016 Was the first year that OSU Ag Extension commented on the diversity in our gardens compared to other community gardens in Clark County. The two grants we got that first year paid for a lot of lumber and nails, good top soil and mulch (provided with a very generous discount by Professional Property Maintenance), and a shed. The New Carlisle Church of the Brethren loaned us there kitchen on Thursday evening for a few weeks and OSU Ag Extension sent out an instructor to teach food preservation. We made some awesome salsa! OSU Ag Extension also came out to the library in the fall and taught us how to save seeds and thereby reduce our investment in the coming years! The weather was great and everything grew like gang busters (including the weeds!). I personally got enough from my beds to can and freeze.... a lot! I still have salsa and V-8/9 on the shelves in my kitchen!
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