October 18, 2023
Many of you may be putting your home gardens "to bed" for the winter but not at the Lord's Acre of Fletcher. Our seedlings are almost ready to be planted in the raised beds in our hoop house. Meanwhile, our raised beds in the hoop house worked so well deterring weeds that we will replace the rows between the trellis and hoop house with raised beds. Over a dozen hardy souls built 28 boxes 2' x 12" x 10 for raised beds in an hour on Saturday. Doug Kearney, our Garden Master, shared that the raised beds will season over the winter and be installed this spring. Many thanks to our volunteers who helped on Saturday afternoon...Scout Troop 91, Fletcher UMC, Nativity Lutheran, and a pantry client.
The end of September brings us to data for the third quarter from Fred. We served 1,760 households, representing 6,191 individuals. Our goal is to provide 11 meals each week or 3 1/2 days of food. We were able to provide 80,653 meals averaging 12.8 meals per person. We received many generous donations from the community that provided extra food this quarter. The St. Andrews gleaners donated fresh produce, as did the Fletcher Rotary Club. Tractor Farms delivered extra produce from farms located in our region. The LAF garden more than doubled the poundage of produce harvested weekly throughout the summer and early fall. This past week 131 individuals shopped with us representing 458 individuals and eleven new families registered.
We are having a Thank You Cookout for all of our LAF Garden and Pantry Volunteers in the garden on October 26 from 4-6:30. Gather in the garden for burgers, dogs, chips, slaw, and dessert. Bring a drink and a chair. We'll gather around the campfire to celebrate a record year in the garden and pantry. Music will be provided by the Calvary musicians.
Donations this week included Bimbos, Panera, and City Bakery with bread and bakery items. Bright Farms donated 20 cases of salad. Other donors include Flavor-First-tomatoes and peppers, Wal-Mart and Big Lots, misc. items and food, Project Dignity-feminine products, Humane Society- dog/cat food and Milk Co-milk. Nativity Lutheran, Fletcher UMC, Calvary Episcopal, the Tabernacle of Praise Churches, and other anonymous donors contributed their time, food, and misc. items during the week.
On behalf of the Executive Committee, thank you to our volunteers and our area churches, civic groups, local merchants, and families for all you do to feed our community helping to reduce food insecurity. We thank you and appreciate your food and monetary donations.
--Kathy Noyes
NEWS FROM THE LORD’S ACRE, FLETCHER
Yes, Garden work at 4 PM Thursday
We'll let our collards have a rest this week. BUT, we need to mulch the trellised rows and pack up the drip irrigation. (It will last longer if we protect it from the sun and cold of winter.) See you at 4:00 pm!
Thanks to box builders
Many thanks to those who came Saturday afternoon to build boxes for raised beds in the garden. (We are replacing our current beds between the trellised rows and the hoop house with raised beds, not adding space.) We had a great representation from scouts meeting at Calvary, as well as volunteers from Nativity Lutheran, Fletcher UMC, and a pantry client.
We built 28 2 x 12" x 10 ft beds in one hour! The weather was perfect, and, except for a few sore backs, there were no injuries.
The boxes are stacked next to the hoop house where they will remain for the winter, before being installed in the early spring. While copper-preserved wood has not been shown to impact plants, we will let them cure for several months in an abundance of caution.
Let’s get dirty
Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being. And the Lord God planted a garden in Eden, in the east, and there he put the man whom he had formed. Genesis 2:7-8
Some people may think that God created humans from dirt (adam is literally "soil creature"), and that our bodies are still "dirty", and that it is our flesh that separates us from God.
Gardeners know different. God created us from soil, a material infused with millions of living things also of God's creation. Soil is the source of life on earth. It is God's good gift to have been made from soil. Yes, God breathed into us and made us human. But being shaped from soil reminds us of our deep connection to the rest of God's creation. Next time your hands are in the soil, let it be a prayer of thanksgiving for your kinship with all creatures which come from it, including you!
--Doug Kearney
