Bricks and Gather-in-the-Garden at 10:00 a.m. Saturday

Hello Garden Gang,

Two quick notes:

1. We're meeting in the garden tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. The Neffs attended the spring gardening class on Thursday and will share information on dealing with insects for this potentially "buggy" spring season. We'll also talk about watering guidelines, soil amendments, and natural ways to keep our plants healthy. I'll share a short devotion and we'll pray for the gardens.

2. The children's ministry is going to build a butterfly garden and we're in need of bricks. If you, your neighbors or your friends have extra bricks, please bring them to the garden this week. If you need help transporting them, let me know and I'll bring my truck. If you have Facebook, you might post this need as your status and see if anyone you know has bricks they can donate. Builders in Park Glen often leave extra bricks in garages, so the treasure trove we need might be all around us!

See you tomorrow in the garden!

Cheers,
Britta

Happy Seedlings, Happy Spring

Today the sun is shining, the weather is cool and brisk, and the rains have turned everything spring-like and green. The cucumbers, marigolds, and okra I started inside are happy, happy, happy. Currently they're taking a sun bath on my front porch, but here's a quick pic, and a snippet of poetry that captures the tone of today. Enjoy.

Oh, give us pleasure in the flowers today;
And give us not to think so far away
As the uncertain harvest; keep us here
All simply in the springing of the year.

--Robert Frost

We're Up and Running...How Much to Give?

Many thanks all of you who came out for our work days during Spring Break. We had over 30 helpers in the garden, and together we dug, planned, planted and prayed Alliance Community Garden into existence! So far we have 20 beds for individuals/families with only two remaining beds still open. We have a pumpkin patch, a blackberry bush area, a communal area for eggplant and squash, and a gorgeous new spiral herb garden.

We were also able to plant our new trees: two figs, two persimmons, two plums and one peach tree. We're working on our irrigation so we can easily water our gardens (right now we're dragging hoses, but it's all good...) and we're still raising funds for a shed to house our tools. The missional giving Sunday in April goes to the community garden, so the opportunity for AUMC to further support the garden's mission is just around the corner.

Speaking of giving, many of you have asked what percentage of your crops you should donate to the food bank. My answer is: as the Lord prompts you. We want all of our gardens to produce a healthy bounty not only for our gardeners, but for those around us who are in need. Keep in mind that the donations we've received from TAFB and TCPH were given so we can be a part of the solution in educating folks on better nutrition and giving them access to healthy vegetables they wouldn't otherwise be able to afford. We'll have a station soon where you can drop your crops for donating--it will be so exciting to see how much we can give!

Additional warm-season plants are on the way including squash, okra, beans, melons, cucumbers, lettuce and snap peas. So, for those of you who haven't completed your beds, you might want to save a little room for these crops. I will let you know when they come in.

We're expecting a heavy dose of rain this evening, so I'm thankful for the refresher for our plants. I'm still a novice to the world of gardening, but I'm learning new lessons every day...

Today's good word is from Oswald Chambers in his devotional, My Utmost For His Highest. Chambers writes, "A life of faith is not a life of one glorious mountaintop experience after another, like soaring on eagles' wings, but a life of day-in and day-out consistency; a life of walking without fainting." Together, may we walk this life of faith, in and out of the garden, with consistency and grace.

Cheers,
Britta

Work Day, Saturday March 3

Hello Gardeners,

I have glorious news: four beautiful dump trucks brought us compost/soil and mulch yesterday and this morning Lowe's brought our cinder blocks and work tools. Hooray!

All this means we can have a work day this Saturday, March 3, beginning at 10:00 a.m.

The work will go like this: the front-end loader will help us level dirt for the beds, we will build the beds with the cinder blocks, and then we fill the beds with our fresh soil using the front-end loader, wheelbarrows and shovels. It will be a big job, but with plenty of volunteers, the work should go smoothly. We will have a volunteer on hand to document service hours, so send any Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or Honor Society students our way and we'll put them to work.

The soil amendments will arrive within a week, the seedling plants should arrive in a couple of weeks, and I have seeds and planting guides for anyone who wants to sow directly.

Here's what to bring:
1. Newspapers and cardboard to line the beds.
2. Work gloves.
3. Cap/hat, sunscreen, water bottle, snacks etc. for your personal convenience.
4. A happy heart.
5. HELPERS!

We'll have three wheelbarrows and some shovels, but if you want to bring your own supplies, feel free. Most of all, please be in prayer that this garden will be done in service and glory to God. Remember, one plants and one waters, but God provides the increase.

Cheers to all, and see you tomorrow in the garden!

Blessings,
Britta

Hooray for Troop 205!

Hello Garden Gang!

Many thanks to Jack Webb and Boy Scout Troop 205 for hauling cinder blocks for us this weekend during their overnight campout in the garden. The troop neatened our new work area for us so we can prep for our Big Garden Build, hopefully for this Saturday, March 3rd. I've spoken with Katey Rudd, and it looks like our supplies should arrive this week. As soon as I get a green light (get it, green?) I'll holler. Actually, I'll email, but you get the idea.



As a reminder, I've got seeds and a seed planting guide from Marshall Grain for those of you who'd like to help grow seedlings. I've been in touch with Denise Cyr who will head up a seed-growing campaign with AUMC Preschool. Thanks, Denise.

Please keep praying for the garden. I read this passage last night as part of my Lent devotional, and I thought I'd share it with you:

Romans 6:5-8 "For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly also be united with him in a resurrection like his. For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body ruled by sin might be done away with,that we should no longer be slaves to sin—because anyone who has died has been set free from sin. Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him."

That word "united" means to grow in union, or to plant in union. The word describes how two plants that have been planted together and are growing together, closely entwined or even united. (Nelson Study Bible.)

Have you ever seen two plants growing so closely together that they seem as one? What a beautiful image of our union with Christ, that we would be planted so closely to the source that we would actually grow entwined, closer and closer, to our Lord. This is my prayer for each of us, with this new mission field of the garden and in our personal journeys with Jesus.

Be blessed!
Britta

Garden Update: Plans and Prayers

Hello Gardeners!

We've had some more good news for the garden!

Here's what's happening:

• Katey Rudd finished our garden plans and Jack and Kern are headed to the HOA meeting tonight for final approval. We have a contact on the board who thinks the garden is a good idea, but we appreciate prayers that all will go smoothly tonight.
• As many of you know, we've had wonderful donations from church members and area businesses, and we've been blessed with grants for supplies from TAFB and TCPH. We're expecting a shipment of building materials and tools, hopefully to arrive later this week—possibly February 23.
• Gardeners are stepping up with ideas and donations—we've got contacts for free mulch, a possible greenhouse, and two free tillers so far. Thank you, gardeners!
• Will and Ellen Neff attended a class and have thoughtfully shared their notes with us to help us in the garden. We'll hand out copies of this at our next garden party.
• We received packets of seeds for our seed-starting efforts. If you're interested in free seeds, please contact me. I'll have them through build-out days and beyond! (Cue Buzz Lightyear.)
• Kern contacted Dig Tess and they'll be marking our lines this week, so we don't cut off electricity or phone lines while we're tilling. I'm sure our AUMC office staff will be pleased with our efforts.
• Ben and David have been in contact with Al Shave who is generously allowing us to use his front-end loader to move dirt.

Here's what’s next:
• Cash donations for the garden are coming in nicely (many thanks to all who have given!), but we're still a ways off from the slab and shed we need to house all these new supplies.
• WORK DAY! Once we get confirmation that our supplies are arriving, we'll send word about a work day (possibly for this weekend.) Kern and I will be doing prep-work this week, starting this afternoon. Jack and the Boy Scouts are camping on the land this weekend, and will be able to continue with the prep work. Once we schedule the workday, we'll need all hands on deck. So once you hear the call, please grab your teenagers, your neighbors, and your work gloves and be ready to go.

Here's what we need:
• Newspapers and cardboard for lining the bottom of new beds
• Vegetable and fruit scraps for compost
• Prayers for HOA meeting and new shed
• Donations for shed and other common areas
• Laborers for work days

Thank you all for your hands and your hearts as we work together to create this garden. Please continue to pray—God is moving and it's so much fun to be a part of the journey!

Cheers,
Britta Coleman

Making Dirt: Compost Do's and Don'ts

Hello Gardeners,

We had a great meeting on January 22nd, and Colleen gave us an excellent overview of what we're including in our Community Garden Compost pile. We want your garbage! (Sort of.) Please read through the following guidelines that she shared with us, and join us in making dirt.

From Colleen's handout:

Compost provides numerous benefits to a garden. It adds nutrients to garden soil, encourages worm activity, provides mulch cover and reduces recyclable yard and raw kitchen waste that would otherwise end up in local landfills. Successful composting uses a '50/50 Rule': 50% Carbon (brown material) and 50% Nitrogen (green material). To ensure continued success, it is important to know which material can and cannot be included in the composting process.

COMPOST NO NO'S: These items should not go into a compost pile...

1. Meat products: these can attract unwanted visitors to a compost bin as well as cause the compost to develop a foul odor.
2. Dairy products: these will also attract visitors and encourage foul odors.
3. Animal feces: including bedding and litter. This poses a potential health risk. Cat litter may contain a pathogen that can carry taxoplasmosis. The exception to this rule is chicken and cow manure from farm animals, as these animal's diets are plant based.
4. Diseased plants: these will transfer fungal diseases to healthy garden plants.
5. Weeds: these will thrive in a compost bin rather than break down, resulting in weed seed transfer to the garden boxes.
6. Paper products: including household shredding, newspaper (contains additives and synthetic resins), cardboard, coffee filters, paper plates, etc. Unfortunately, many paper products contain man-made chemicals that can alter soil ph levels.
7. Walnut shells: these contain juglone, which are toxic to some plants (especially tomatoes and apple trees).
8. Sawdust: treated wood contains many harmful chemicals such as arsenic, carcinogens, insecticides and fungicides.
9. Cooking oil: this will alter the soil ph levels.
10. Rice: attracts unwanted visitors.
11. Cooked leftover table scraps: these can contain cooking oils, dairy or meat products. Can also attract rats.
12. Coal ashes: this can be toxic to plants.
13. Dryer lint: dryer sheets contain perfumes and chemicals that can alter soil ph levels.

COMPOST DO'S: The following items are beneficial additions to a compost pile...

1. Raw fruit and veggie scraps
2. Egg shells
3. Coffee grounds
4. Grass clippings: pesticide free, please.
5. Leaves and plant trimmings
6. Pine cones and needles
7. Hay, straw, alfalfa
8. Pet and human hair
9. Nuts and shells: except for walnuts (see Compost No No's above).
10. Tea leaves
11. Farm animal manure, such as that from chickens and cows.

For questions regarding any items that have not been included in this list, please feel free to contact us.

The information on this list was gathered from many helpful gardening sources such as www.motherearthnews.com, www.organicgardening.com, www.texasgardener.com, Reader's Digest 1001 Hints & Tips For Your Garden, Reader's Digest Illustrated Guide to Gardening, as well as personal gardening experience. Happy Gardening!