June 7, 2023

LAST CALL for collards! Yes you heard it here first. Our spring harvesting is coming to an end. This Friday at 8:30 a.m. will be the final collard picking. Join us for this celebratory day as we are about 50% poundage above 2022. The only reason to mention this.... is that the number of neighbors shopping for food is up over 50% from last year. Our beets are also part of our spring planting and they won't be ready for a couple of weeks. Meanwhile, no idle hands in the garden as the tomatoes, peppers, beets, jalapenos, cucumbers, watermelon, and squash are peeking their tiny green stems above the fertile soil. Green beans were planted last week and with the soil temperature in the upper 60's you can rest assured that with these soaking rains we'll have some beans breaking ground in the near future. It's worth your time if you are on the church campus to "drive by" the garden to witness the miracle of the growing season. You are more than welcome to park and walk about the garden or just sit on the garden bench. Our Eagle Scout picnic tables are available for you, too.

On Saturday we welcomed 124 families representing 445 individuals and registered five new families.  City Bakery donated loaves of bread. Other donated  items were 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

New Weekly Work Sessions: Starting Thursday, June 15, we will gather for a weekly work session at 6:30 p.m. Temperatures are cooler, we will miss the increasingly challenging late-afternoon traffic, and perhaps a few of you can come who have been prevented because of work. We will conclude before 8:00 p.m.

In addition, we will meet some Friday mornings at 8:30 a.m., primarily to harvest, but also for other tasks as needed. Doug will keep you informed about the need for Friday morning sessions. (We are keeping harvest times late in the week whenever we can so as not to burden storage in the pantry and provide the freshest vegetables possible.) However, there may be times when another day is needed when crops like beans and squash need picking a couple of times a week. We will use school groups whenever possible. They like it and it gives our regular workers a break.

Last week’s harvest: We have about wrapped up spring harvests of bibb lettuce, romaine lettuce, and Georgia collards, for a total of 610 pounds of fresh vegetables for pantry neighbors. We’ll harvest two varieties of beets in a few weeks, then wait for a month or so until summer crops come in. Thank you so much for your work in the LAF garden.