Saturday Workday Re-Cap: Lemonade, Sunflowers, and a Raspberry Hedge

We had an excellent day at the Center Avenue Community Garden, which included Brenna and Colin's first Lemonade stand, harvesting, planting, transplanting, and visits from a variety of friends.

We arrived at 10am, and worked hard throughout the day.  A special thanks to all those who stopped by, including Terry and his grandsons, Mike and Jenn, Jan and Harry, Donna, new volunteer Lisa, Jamal, long-time garden friend Kiel, Ben, Doug, and the Lawson Family, Lindgren Family, and Tennant Family.

Here are a few pictures from the day:

Jenn and Mike provided local lemons from their neighbor's yard, and Brenna, Karen, Jan and Colin worked on the recipe.

Setting up the stand.

The kids first customer was appropriately, Garden Mike.

Lemonade cups and lemon bars sold for 0.25 each. Best deal in town!

Colin and Sullivan enjoying some of the goodies.

Lisa, a first-time volunteer, plucked sunflowers from last year's crop....

.....and planted them in the 'Thanks' garden bed with carrots, beets, and turnips. Jan and Harry worked hard on this bed as well, clearing away the calendula, and planting the seeds.

Kiel stopped by later in the day with his jam-packed seed box, and planted in the near bed. I can't wait to see how this takes shape. He planted black corn, peas, beans, peruvian ground cherries, red cabbage, catnip, red amaranth, and onions. Wow....

Mike, Harry, and Terry worked hard removing compost from the first bin (which is now empty!!)......

and spreading it around the center patch, preparing it for the coming tomatoes.

Jonah, Barrett, Colin and Brenna examine bugs in the kid's area.

Massive onions, along with kale, chard, and calendula.

As I raked around in this bed, I unearthed some mystery potatoes that I didn't know were there.....

Ben took them home to cook up at his brother's 29th birthday party!

Onion harvest.

Lisa, Karen, and Jan transplanted raspberries to this new hedge near the church parking lot.

Final Note on the day: After all of the volunteers and guests had left, I was in the garden alone, watering some of the newly planted beds.  As I stood their in the breezy late afternoon, a local man walked along the sidewalk nearby with a cane.  He moved slowly, studying the various plants and vegetables.

He stopped briefly, and looked up as I continued to water.

"I remember when this was just an empty lot," the man called out. "Now it looks great, and it's growing so much!"

I said thanks as the man walked slowly down the street, and the thought struck me: this, I believe, this is why we all come down to this place - work graciously, and give back to the community that gives us so much.

PS - we put one final lemon to good use, as we settled into a rewarding evening at home.....cheers!