Shoresh Jewish Environmental Programs: 05/01/2010

Hi everyone!

I’m Beth, one of the summer interns, and I’m so excited to be spending this growing season at the Kavanah Garden! I think it’s important to be aware of where our food comes from and how it was grown. I love how the Kavanah Garden brings the community together to grow food sustainably and engage in Tikkun Olam.

In the past few weeks we’ve been hard at work weeding, planting, preparing and running programs. So far we've planted:
-strawberries in one of the raised beds
-beans in recycling bins with families from the Hillel Children’s Workshop
-barley and wheat in the first 2 Shemitah beds with students from Darchei Noam Supplementary School

-2 varieties of kale in one of the farm beds

-our Garden of Sages, featuring 7 kinds of sage planted alongside sagely words of wisdom

We have lots of programs and workshops coming up, and the first CSA pickup day/open garden time is this Thursday June 3rd from 3-7pm. Check out our Calendar of Events for details.

Looking forward to growing with all of you this season!

Beth with our first harvest of the season! Rhubarb!

Five of the seven plots in our Shmitah bed....numbered and ready to be planted!

Saying a bracha (blessing) on wild lilac growing in the ravine.

Serving raw chocolate banana coconut almond smoothie in Chocolate Making 101,

part of the Jewish Urban Homesteading Workshop Series, in partnership with Makom!

Seedlings! 10 different kinds of tomato, 6 different kinds of peppers,

2 different kinds of basil, ground cherries, tomatillos, wildflowers, and more!

All ready to be planted by school, congregational, and volunteer groups

in the next couple of weeks!

Looking forward to an epic few weeks at the Kavanah Garden!!!

Kavanh Garden is officially open and our first Volunteer day was a huge success!

About 25 new and returning community members came out to the garden on Sunday May 2nd and laboured through the morning's ominous rainclouds into the afternoon's sunny skies. We tackled a number of big projects and are ready for the educational and growing season. A HUGE thanks to everyone who came out and made this possible! Here's the recap of what went down:

1. We installed a roof on our pergola, which acts as class-room and picnic area, so that we have shade and/or rain protection other than our greenhouse-oven!

2. We turned over all the beds so they are officially ready to receive our seedlings;

3. We dug two brand new farm beds which increase our planting area in a big way;

4. We built 3 raised beds for the native pollinator garden;

5. With some extreme muscle power we levelled an area for our new and improved shed which will house gardening tools and program supplies;

6. We transplanted our prickly berry bushes to a larger, more detached area where they can thrive (yet be avoided when necessary);

7. We painted signage for our Shemitah bed, which has been divided into 7 sections with one lying fallow each year;

8. We lugged many buckets of water up from the river to keep our current plants happy and to prepare for all the transplanting in the weeks to come!

The excitement about the upcoming season was palpable, and we are so looking forward to getting our tomatoes, tomatillos, kale, kholrabi, cauliflower, ground-cherries, beans, and more into the soil!

Check out our Calendar page for upcoming volunteer opportunities, workshops, etc., or sign up for our newsletter by clicking the link on the right side of the page.

Looking forward to growing with all of you this season!

Tamara Wise
Kavanah Garden Assistant Director