As you all know (if you know me at all), I am a little bit
of a fan of gardening :). This year I decided I wouldn’t plant a garden at our apartment
because Tom and I aren’t sure where we’re going to be by the end of the summer
and I didn’t want my fall time harvest to go to waste shortly after we move out
of our apartment! So, I’ve been twiddling my thumbs this spring, hoping to be a
part of some sort of gardening experience and I finally got my chance!
I found and organization that needed someone just like me to
tend to a garden all summer while I was browsing around the website: www.
volunteermatch.org. I came across a posting for help at the garden that is a
part of St. Leo’s Church, the food bank associated with it, and an organization
called Save the Harvest.
Basically the food bank is right next door to this open lot
that is going to be built on next fall –the church is going to be expanding its
grounds. Anyway, until that happens, they decided they were going to use the
space for a garden! It’s a perfect little oasis in downtown Tacoma (on S. 13th
and Yakima).
The idea is to grow fresh produce that can then be used at
the food bank right next door, either prepared in fresh dishes or handed out as
fresh produce. So, my job for the summer will be to tend to this garden. So,
not only do I get to get my hands dirty and care for some crops, but the food
get to be donated to a fantastic cause! I have been given one of the keys to
the garden and I intend to treat it like my own :).
In coordination with the garden, the group is hoping to have
several educational “from garden to table” classes for members of the
community. Our class yesterday was about how to plant, care for and cook with
herbs.
It was our first one and so it was pretty small because the
word hasn’t really spread yet, but we had about 9 people show up. We taught
them all about herbs and everyone got to take home an herb garden of their own!
After the class I got to plant all sorts of herb starts as well as squash,
carrots and beans—it was amazing!
Next month we’re doing a class on greens (lettuce, spinach,
swiss chard, etc) and coming up in July we’ll be talking about roots (carrots, turnips,
beets, etc) and finally to finish off the summer we’ll be talking about squash
and tomatoes. I get the opportunity to plant seeds in the coming weeks to go
with the class topics.
I’m so excited to see what the garden will bring to the
people of Tacoma!
Tom thinks it’s going to become an obsession and he might be
right. There is a man who works at the food bank that said he would water the
garden, but I went to water it this morning anyway since we’ve been having such
glorious, and pretty hot, weather for May. Tom kind of rolled his eyes at me
this morning as I walked out to go water the garden saying “I bet you ten bucks
it’s already been watered by the time you get there.” Well, he owes me ten big
ones! :). I watered it, but it seemed like a raccoon or cat may have gotten
into the seeds I planted last on Saturday, so I may have to devise a
pest-control fence until they sprout!
On the topic of green thumbs, we sort of exercised our green
thumbs for Mother’s Day too. I don’t have any photos from the first part of the
day, but John, Diana, Katie, Tom and I headed out to Grammy Jean’s house with a
trunk full of annuals for her flower baskets out front. We had a lovely morning
conversing with grammy and planting the flowers (well, actually Diana’s sisters
did that while we were taking the pups for a walk in Discovery Park --it was
gorgeous!).
Then, we hopped on the 520 bridge to head over to Aunt Ann’s
house for a combined Mother’s Day and Ann’s birthday celebration since her
birthday is May 8th. As you may have seen from my facebook page, we got stuck
on the bridge, waiting for a boat to pass, but nobody seemed to mind the delay.
Everyone (almost) got out of their cars, and enjoyed the sunshine and the views
of the lake. It was kind of a surreal moment to be a part of.
Once we arrived at Ann’s, we spent the majority of the
afternoon on her lovely back deck while the boys grilled us up some delicious
kebabs.
After that, we hit the greens for a round of putt-putt golf
to finish out the day. John was the victor, followed shortly by Tom and the
birthday girl.
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| Tom, our score-keeper, hard at work. |
What a fun day enjoying the fantastic weather in Washington
right now!
By the way- I started out on the UW med school waitlist at
#33 and I’m now #4! So, Seattle or Omaha, we’re not quite sure, but either way
we are both excited for the changes ahead!
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