Hi All,
Last Sunday Tod and I went to an electric car demo to check out the new electric truck, Slate. We have been on a preorder list for it and were able to get a better look at it. Nobody was allowed to sit in it but just being able to see it ourselves helped us move forward in staying on the preorder list. It is a bit on the smaller side but I would be the one driving it mostly and it is SUPER affordable! We also got to check out this gentleman’s truck that he built for work and play, just like Tod is doing with our van! He had a couple of great tips for Tod to check out. There was also a robot there, humanoid and an animal version, both were creepy. The weird thing was a few days later I saw a video featuring robot olympics…I did not know that was a thing. It was a nice morning overall getting to check out the truck and move forward with staying on the list!
In the garden;
We have a new hire! Amy joined our staff team this week! She has been volunteering in the garden on Tuesdays for almost a year now. She came out last Wednesday to interview and Brenda hired her on! We are excited to have her helping out and she is already proving her mettle. Please join us in welcoming her on as a staff member!
Sandia was out and ready to get things done in the garden! They started out helping with getting the harvest done for that morning, learning about the different veggies and when they are ready for picking. We have a spider mite issue this year and they helped us to combat it by pruning out the infested leaves in some of the beds. A few others helped Amy with weeding out the N beds, another volunteer joined Brenda in irrometer work and a few of the gals paired gloves for us when the shift starting proving to be hotter than we all thought it would get! It is always a good time when Sandia joins us in the garden to get the chores done, they always go above and beyond! Thank you Sandia!
Leif’s Crew were out for the first time this school year! Kelly toured them around to give them a better lay of the land. They got to check out the worm bin and the contents inside. Kelly took them out to the owl box and shared the owl pellets with them. They had a lot of good questions and just as many answers to Kelly’s questions!
ELM was back out to help in the garden. They rolled up their sleeves to weed pathways & beds, water the trees that are waiting for their permanent spots and direct sowed over 300 Black Eyed Peas in two of the new expansion beds! Go team Go!
Peas & Me had 3 new mommas show up with their littles! First they joined me in getting gloves in to the washing machine and then they split up into 2 groups and got a tomato bed harvested as well as the cherry tomato bed harvested. Afterwards they took their break and got to know one another better. After break a couple of them took the crates of cherry tomatoes up to Lance while the others started working on packing the produce for the deliveries. Once the crates were delivered to Lance the other mommas & littles joined in finishing up the packing for the food pantries. We got to work on building muscles with bringing the crates up and a couple of the kiddos got to work on balance with a wheelbarrow. Everyone also got to work on how to divide up the produce we had into boxes for 2 separate deliveries. It was a successful morning for Peas & Me!
Seeds are continuing to get started. This week it was mostly greens; Mei Qing Choi, Tatsoi, Japanese Parsley, Yokatta-Na & Early Mizuna.
Weeding is always happening in the garden. DM was out and he got to refilling a hole in bed L03 after weeding out the Bermuda grass. K18 received much love, the blackberry bush was trimmed back, weeds were pulled to make room for the asparagus patch & the sun chokes that are barely hanging on due to the ground squirrel invasion! The sorrel patch also got cleaned up and then the bed was strawed in to try and help combat the weeds. Lance continued spraying the bindweeds on the Front Apron with the vinegar.
The ground squirrels are still getting up to their shenanigans. In our R beds the seedlings that starting popping up are all gone. We are trying to put our heads together to figure out how to thwart the ground squirrels but we have not come up with an affordable idea just yet. If you have any please do let us know!
Irrometer work continued with a ditch being dug out by the new R beds.
The FGW Bird Walk went well. Tod had 8 peeps show up and at least 2 of them were new to birding! They saw 15 different species including a couple of Nuttal’s Woodpeckers and at the end of the walk they got to see a Bullocks Oriole!
It was a short but busy week! You all harvested 450# of produce to send in to the food pantries! Nice job everyone!
Enjoy the weekend!
Take care
Lori