Harvest Festival report

The Harvest Festival was a great success. The food and music were amazing and everyone had a good time. There was a small amount of beans, tomatoes, and raspberries left, so everyone got to tour the garden and take home a bag of fresh vegetables. It was a great opportunity for people from all three churches to share some time together.

The dishes celebrated the vegetables we grow in the garden: fresh salsa, tomato tart, green tomato pie, tomato jam, corn pudding, zucchini bread, cucumber and zucchini pickles, and lots more.

Local old-time musicians volunteered their time to provide a festive atmosphere for the proceedings. Their lively music was a big hit.


More pictures of the festival are including in the slide show below. As harvest season winds down, we'll be featuring more information on gardening and cooking, including many recipes featured in the potluck meal. So check back often. You can also receive updates via e-mail or through our RSS feed.

We will have some squash, cantaloupe, watermelon, and pumpkin on the way which will be shared with our neighbors. We'll have more information on plans for next year (including the opportunity for individual or family plots) very soon.

Thanks to everybody who helped out to make the day such a success.

First Annual Harvest Festival - Sunday, 30 August, 1pm

Everyone is invited to our first harvest festival to be held this Sunday at 1pm at Church of the Saviour (11239 Fancher Rd., Westerville) [map]. The afternoon will feature a potluck with recipes inspired by vegetables from the garden (and many made with vegetables harvested right here). There will also be live music and lots of games for the children.

It is a great opportunity to celebrate the garden and to spend time with our new friends. We will also be giving garden tours and handing out information about what we accomplished in our first year and what we hope to do in the future.

This event is free and open to the public. We look forward to seeing you there.

Aug 24 - Harvest Report

By now, the beans are done, the corn is done, and the zukes and summer squash are petering out. This was really the night of the tomato. We picked a whole wheelbarrow full of them: big beefsteaks, romas, and cherry tomatoes. We also had our first carrots and broccoli.

We picked the rest of the cucumbers and dug up the vines, which had been hit by a blight. Here are the stats:

• 30 bags of large tomatoes (6-8 tomatoes in each bag)
• 12 bags of cherry tomatoes (20+ tomatoes in each bag)
• 25 cucumbers
• 15 carrots
• 4 zucchini
• 20 peppers (assorted types)

Next week, we'll have more tomatoes and a few zukes and squash, but things will be winding down. We do have watermelon, cantaloupe, squash, and pumpkins to look forward to.

This harvest was again distributed to the Wednesday youth group and shared with the residents of Westerville Estates.

August 16 - Harvest report

It's a little late, but I wanted to catch up with the last couple of weeks. We had another great harvest on the 16th. Here's the tally:

• Beans - 17 1-lb bags
• Corn - 48 ears
  
• Cucumbers - 32
• Lettuce - 2 bags
  
• Onions - around 20
• Peppers - 16
• Summer Squash - 8
• Tomatoes - 14 bags of large and Roma tomatoes (approx 8-10 per bag)
• Cherry Tomatoes - 16 quart-sized bags
  
• Zucchini - 4

This harvest was shared with the Wednesday youth group who helped to distribute it to residents of Westerville Estates.

Group work night: Mon., Aug. 24 - 6:30pm

Taking a break from our usually Tuesday work nights. Please join us to pick some veggies and do other maintenance on the garden.

Another harvest

The group work night was highly successful. According to Judy S.-K., who dropped off the harvest at the Friends Who Share food pantry, we picked:

• 60 large tomatoes
• 5 qt bags filled with cherry tomatoes (mostly the yellow variety)
• 10 large zucchinis and summer squash
  
• 2 cucumbers
• 34 pounds of beans
• 1 head cauliflower

We picked so much that we are planning for another group work night next week (Tuesday, Aug. 18 at 6:30pm). This harvest will be shared with the youth group at Church of the Saviour who will help to distribute it to residents of Westerville Estates.

Two new problems have cropped up: powdery mildew and squash vine borers. The powdery mildew can weaken plants but rarely kills them. We'll be applying a diluted milk solution to the affected leaves. This has been shown to be as effective as synthetic fungicides. Hopefully, we'll see results soon.

The vine borers are more problematic. It appears that they have affected pretty much all of our pumpkin vines. There are ways to physically remove them, but I did not have much luck in digging them out. Next year, we'll plan ahead to prevent them from laying eggs in the first place.

Tues., Aug. 11, 6:30pm - Group Work Day

Everyone is invited to come help pick vegetables, weed, and do other routine maintenance on the garden. This harvest will be given to the Friends Who Share food pantry.

Garden pizza party

On Monday the children from the youth program came over to the garden for the morning. We had fun picking lots of different vegetables and tasting different herbs. Everyone got to take home a big bag of beans, tomatoes, and squash. We cut up the onions, peppers, eggplant, and tomatoes to make pizzas from scratch. The kids got to shape the dough for individual pizzas and then put on their own toppings. Yes, pepperoni was more popular than peppers, but everyone had a great time.