June 14, 2023
It's one for the records! MANNA delivered items weighing 11,500 pounds on Tuesday. Tyson frozen chicken, canned goods, red and white onions, honeydew melons, oranges, apples, squash, and cabbages are some of the items we will distribute on Saturday morning between 8:00-11:00. We welcomed several new volunteers from Fletcher United Methodist Church who helped us efficiently place our record-breaking order efficiently on the shelves, in freezers and refrigerators. Grants for food and your monetary donations help us purchase food at a greatly reduced price from MANNA.
Such a peaceful evening in the garden on Thursday as the Stay family, new volunteers, harvested the last 73 pounds of collards. Several of us placed two beans 6" apart along the rows, as others weeded and prepared our beds for planting. When you're on the church campus, it's worth a drive by just to see the tomatoes and cucumbers climbing the stakes in the garden. The Hoop House vegetables are flourishing and it appears we will have a bountiful harvest in a couple of weeks.
As our neighbors arrived on Saturday morning, a tasty treat in the gathering room awaited them. Chef Linda prepared beans and greens for neighbors to sample and she shared her recipe with them. The greens were harvested from our garden. We welcomed 104 families representing 360 individuals and registered ten new families. City Bakery donated loaves of bread. Other donated items were Flavor-First-tomatoes & peppers, Panera and Ingles-bread, Bimbos-snacks and bread, Wal-Mart and Big Lots-misc items and food, Humane Society- dog/cat food and MilkCo-milk. Fletcher Methodist, Nativity Lutheran, Calvary Episcopal, Tabernacle of Praise, and other anonymous donors contributed food and misc. items for distribution on Saturday.
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.
News from The Lord’s Acre, Fletcher
We are moving our regular Thursday sessions to 6:30 to 8:00 p.m. to avoid the summer heat and afternoon traffic. I hope you can join us Thursday, June 15 for weeding and mulching.
Leaf mulch is so helpful in the hot summer months. It moderates soil temperatures and moisture, reduces disease in tomatoes, keeps weeds down, and improves soil structure when it decomposes. It's good stuff.
We will NOT meet the following Thursday, June 22. We WILL meet Friday morning, June 23 to thin beans and, perhaps, harvest beets.
Do you find weed-eating satisfying?
No, I don’t mean foraging. I mean, do you love the smell of gas and oil and the scream of a two-cycle engine? Or can you at least tolerate it? If so, we are looking for someone to take on the task of weed-eating the grass paths and the perimeter of the garden on a regular basis, weekly or bi-weekly in the summer, less frequently in spring and fall. It takes less than 45 minutes. And there is a reliable Echo trimmer and gas/oil mix in the LAF shed. Interested? Contact us!
