No posts for a while. I was in Maine with my aging mother and when I got back we had no internet in the house for a week. So here goes...
The summer camp is over, squash zucchini, and tomatoes are on the wain and Josh has been prepping the upper rows of the garden for fall kale, broccoli and brussels sprouts. Watermelons, melons and pumpkins are getting huge but for the most part this week has been way quiet. Not for long.
Our after school program starts on Monday and we will have over 50 kids ever school day till 6:30. We are taking delivery of a 30x96 foot high tunnel on August 28th thanks to the USDA for a grant, and over 10 of our school based after school programs will be forming gardening clubs with visits to Mountainside weekly. Here is what our vision is for the fall. Our Mountainside after school kids will become the resident experts on gardening and will mentor the kids who visit once a week. Of course all of this is voluntary and no one need participate if they choose not to. However...after our summer experience with our campers I am absolutely certain we will be growing expert gardeners this school year not just vegetables.
The high tunnel will be assembled by mid September, we have already run our water and electric lines and just when the school year starts to settle in, the greenhouse will be ready for seeds. Josh estimates that we should be able to extend the growing season into December so there will be plenty for our school year kids to do this Fall The possibilities are truly endless. This winter centers will be planting seedlings at there school sites and when they begin to germinate we will transfer them to our greenhouse in late February or early March. Produce harvested will end up in cooking clubs at our participating after school programs and healthy nutrition will be the buzz word with kids happy to eat the food they have grown. Is there a down side here?
Our goals for the summer were modest. I did not know just how good at farming Josh was going to be. We did not want to tackle more than we could handle and we were worried that little would grow in our depleted soil. With a wry grin Josh has promised that next year will be soooo much better. Strawberries, onions and blueberry and grape vines will begin to cover the soy bean fields. We are just getting started. Did I mention chickens? You know who will be the biggest beneficiaries of all this growing? The parents. Who wouldn't want their children to participate in this program? We will have kids going home and teaching their parents how to make a killer cucumber salad, or kale chips. Best yet, my grocery budget has been reduced to meats and milk (and chocolate). I am even enjoying zucchini bread baked by my wife Nancy who has caught the bug. Life on the farm just gets better every day.
