Fall Harvest Happenings

With the arrival of fall, it looks like the 2011 gardening season is winding down. We have harvested the last of the peppers and a few tomatoes a couple of weeks ago. The Garden Team, led by Yolenda Price, pulled many of the non-producing plants late last week. The green beans continue to produce and we have quite a few melons that are still developing. We are hopeful that the melons will ripen soon!

Bruce Penzien, of Imlay City based farm Penzien's Produce, has partnered with Waterford Insurance Agency by donating his surplus vegetables to the Open Door Outreach Center. Mr. Berkfield met Bruce at the Oakland County Farmers Market this spring. Bruce drops his donations off at our agency, located at 2625 Pontiac Lake Road in Waterford, and Mr. Berkfield delivers these donations and our harvests to Open Door.

Bruce has donated 1,146 pounds of produce and Waterford Insurance has harvested 1,250 pounds from the community garden - bringing our total to 2,396 pounds of vegetables donated so far this year!

2011 Growing Season Has Begun

The Community Garden project is alive and well. We are celebrating our 3rd year! After a cold, rainy spring and a delayed start in planting, the vegetable plants are enjoying the summer heat and thriving. In fact, they seem to be very happy and content with the improved soil conditions. Organic fertilizer combined with weed barrier fabric and a sprinkler system has made a substantial improvement for our plants this year.

So far this season, our volunteers have picked 209 pounds of strawberries, raspberries, green peppers, banana peppers, snap peas, cherry tomatoes and summer squash. The strawberry season ended right around the 4th of July and the peppers are coming into peak season. It looks like we will have a bumper crop of tomatoes which are beginning to ripen. There are squash and melons on the vines and many of the green bean plants are still in the flowering stage.

Later this week we will be harvesting zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, snap peas and pole beans. Last year we had loads and loads of green beans. We filled a 19 gallon bucket full of beans several times. Once again, all of our garden harvests will be donated to the Open Door Resource Center to help individuals and families in need. The vegetables are washed and packaged by our agency staff members before they are donated.

If you are interested in donating fresh vegetables or canned goods, you may drop them off at our office and we will be happy to deliver them to Open Door. If you would like to learn more about the Open Door Resource Center, you may visit them on the web at http://opendooroutreachcenter.com/

Anniversary Food Drive

Late last year we partnered with the Waterford Area Chamber of Commerce to sponsor a food drive to celebrate the 30th Anniversary of our Charity Partner, Open Door Resource Center. Our goal is to have 30,000 lbs of food donated to the Center by the end of this year. As of today we are close to reaching 5000 lbs toward our goal.







To learn more about the Food Drive project please visit their blog site at
wttp://www.opendooroutreachctr.blogspot.com/


Our part in this is to promote it and to donate 1200 lbs of fresh food from the Garden. On August 3 we will be hosting a Perking Up at the Garden with the Waterford Area Chamber. We will be giving away a picnic basket filled with great items. To obtain your chance to win this basket, bring 5 lbs of canned food to our office. We are located at 2625 Pontiac Lake Road, Waterford, MI. Call us for directions: 248-682-0044. We will draw a winner some time in August, in time to enjoy a great picnic.

The Garden has been planted

Over the past six weeks plants and seeds have been planted and the garden is starting to grow. The tomatoes are producing, the lettuce, kale and Swiss chard are all growing nicely. The zucchini and squash plants are starting to produce flowers. Everything looks great and we are looking forward to beginning to harvest.

Ready for the 2010 Growing Season

We are ready for the 2010 Growing Season! Last fall we had several yards of compost surface tilled into the soil. This month Mike Creetch of Interlakes Landscaping came back to deep till it - the soil conditions are much better than last year and we already have some plants in the ground.

Jason and Lisa have planted some kale, chard and lettuce. The strawberry patch they planted last year thrived during the winter and looks great. Marigold seeds harvested from the plants from last year were planted in various spots around the garden. Volunteers should please avoid those spots when planting their gardens - they are marked with landscape paint.

We have great plans for this year - a picnic table and small bench will be installed. Construction will begin Saturday, May 1. The materials have been donated by Concraft Construction. The use of the post hole digger will be donated by the Home Depot location at Telegraph and Orchard Lake Roads. In addition, the ACO Hardware Store on Dixie Highway at Crescent Lake Road has donated $200 of supplies. We will use this donation as the need for supplies arises. If you live near these stores, please be sure to visit them often and thank them for their generosity and community spirit!

Our goal this year is to donate 1200 lbs of food to our charity partner, Open Door Outreach Center. All the spring rain last year delayed our planting efforts. The weather this spring is much better and we are looking forward to a great year.

Our Charity Partner

Our Charity Partner is an important part of the Community Garden Project. Our Partner is the Open Door Outreach Center. Established in 1980, their primary mission is to provide emergency services (food, clothing, and referral information) to families in need.

To meet its mission of service to families in designated townships of Oakland County, Open Door is dependent on generous, on-going support and funding from individuals, local businesses, corporations, religious, and civic organizations.

To learn more at the center, visit their website at http://www.opendooroutreachcenter.com/

Harvest Time

Harvesting started out slowly in July with kale, Swiss chard and collard greens. With the heat of the summer sun the other vegetables kicked into high gear. A typical delivery to the Resource Center included cucumbers, tomatoes, sweet peppers, and lots of zucchini. When we began the project we thought 500 pounds of organic food would be our goal. At the time of this blog entry, we have donated nearly 800 pounds of vegetables to the Open Door Resource Center.