Kavanah Garden Photo Update :: August

A lot has changed at the garden since our last update! We're harvesting! And the garden has been beautified by hand-crafted signage. We enjoyed a wonderful community festival day with all of you! And, did we mention the harvesting???

Volunteers helped us to paint signs showing all of our different vegetable crops.

The entrance way to our garden has been significantly improved with this Torah-full piece of art. It was painted by a bat-mitzvah girl who is working at the garden as her bat-mitzvah project.

Our garden beds are now labeled with Hebrew letters. We'll never get lost again!

Children of our CSA members often come along to pick up their boxes. They love hunting for snails on Thursday afternoons, while their parents choose their produce.

A volunteer helping us mow the pathways using a push lawn mower - with a bit of extra muscle we are limiting the amount of fossil fuel we need to maintain our garden.

These sunflowers are available through the Tikkun Adamah CSA.

This is a picture of Tamara building our solar oven, in honour of Birkat HaChama (blessing of the sun which occurs once every 28 years, which we did in February).

Harvesting: in keeping with the Mishnaic law of ma'aser (donating a tenth of one's harvest) we have been donating produce through United Chesed and to a local food bank and shelter.

Bok Choy

Crooked Neck Squash

Our apprentices went raspberry picking at a local organic farm and then learned how to make raspberry jam, which was sold at the community festival.

Kavanah's 1st Community Festival Extravaganza! Rain and Shine!

It was bright and early. Risa, apprentices, spouses, and children had arrived. The sky was looming - clouds and darkness. We began to prepare the day's activities... optimistic that rain would NOT fall. We WILL have a festival!

Not so far away thunder rumbled, lightening flashed. Maybe it won't rain. Please, say it won't rain. It rains, and it pours.

Seeking refuge in the greenhouse, in awe of one of the most violent storms in recent history (the CN tower was hit by lightening 5 times!), our cell phones began to ring; volunteers wondering if the day is canceled due to rain. First, 10 minutes, 20 minutes, then 45 minutes pass.

Excruciating indecision. Should we cancel the festival? Will anyone come after such rain? Will the 3 year old's rendition of "Mr. Sun" have some magical effect on the weather? Then, the rain began to lighten. Outside, we gazed up at the sky. Matti walked up the drive way to get a full view of the sky. The North East corner of the sky looked beautiful, sunny and blue. We took a vote, and decided to wait 30 more minutes, to see if the sun would clear.

And the rain stopped. The sky lightened. The clouds rolled away. We got back to setting up for the day, and volunteers and guests began to arrive. A hot, sunny, fun-filled day!

Children help look for ladybugs and other beneficial insects.



A boy holds a sunflower from the organic farmer's market.


Children make pickled dilly beans to take home using fresh, locally, organically grown beans.


Community members learn about the herbs growing at the
Kavanah Garden and harvest some for making fresh tea.


Children and volunteers hunt for worms in the vermicomposter.

Volunteers set up the solar oven to cook pizzas with freshly picked herbs.

All photos were taken by Emily Rose Antflick.