Inter-Faith Food Shuttle Farm and Garden
THANKS for an AMAZING YEAR!
We would like to take this opportunity to thank all of the volunteers, individuals and groups who helped make the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Farm & Garden program a raging success this year. Truly, we have accomplished SO MUCH in less than a year! We wanted to take a moment to review our accomplishments together…
- March – Methodist Ministers Conference puts up the green house at Food Shuttle Farm.
- April – Land is tilled at Food Shuttle Farm and volunteers pull Bermuda grass out by the wheel-barrow load.
- May – Construction starts on Mayview Community Garden and first crops are planted at the Farm. First Potluck dinners at the Farm and Mayview which continue well into fall.
- June, July, August - Over 400 volunteers help out at the Farm and Mayview to weed, mulch, tie tomatoes and peppers and harvest bountiful crops.
- September – Neighbor to Neighbor and Alliance Medical community gardens are installed.
- October – Thanks to a late Fall we are still harvesting tomatoes and peppers as Fall greens, broccoli and spinach mature.
- November, December – Fall greens including swiss chard and some very tasty baby lettuce bring the total Farm Harvest to 8,126 lb!
Great job everyone, we could not have done this without all of you!
We will have some garden days (see below) but the next Crew Call at Food Shuttle Farm will be Sat. Jan. 9th from 9 AM to 12 PM. There will be no crew-calls during the holidays to give Farm & Garden staff and volunteers some well deserved time off with their families. So have a great holiday, take some time to enjoy some great home-cooked slow-food and dream – about all the fresh green vegetables and fruit we are going to start planning for the Spring garden when we get back together next year. Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!
And continue to come to the Farms and Gardens blog for great recipes and the latest news on our community gardens and farm plans for next season.
HOLIDAY VOLUNTEER TIME:
Despite the absence of Crew Calls, our Nutrition Coordinator, Amanda, will be working with community members in our neighborhood gardens and would love your help if you’re looking for a way to get dirty over the holidays. Below is her schedule for Mayview; please email Amanda at NutritionCoord@foodshuttle.org if you think you might join and for directions.
- Wed 12/16 3:45-5pm
- Mon 12/21 3:45-5
- Mon 12/28 3:45-5
- Mon 1/4 3:45-5
NEED ROOFING TIN!
We are still looking for a source of roofing tin. We need 20 pieces, at least 10 ft. in length each, to repair the roof on the vermi-compost building and to build a potting shed off the greenhouse. Please call or email Sun if you know of any that we can scavenge.
ONGOING NEWS….
FARMS & GARDEN BLOG
Keep up with what’s going on with our Farms & Gardens and PAR programs through the IFFS blog farmsandgardens.wordpress.com. Never miss the latest Food Shuttle news by subscribing to the blog on the top right of the page. Use the blog to check out weekly ripe recipes, find yourself in photos of weekly crew calls, hear from other volunteers, and stay up to date with activities at IFFS. Let us know if you’re interested in contributing to the blog!
LOCAVORE LUNCH – Every Wednesday!
Every Wednesday at noon we are holding local agricultural discussion groups at Farmhouse Pizza, 3011 Hillsborough St. in Raleigh. We will be serving a pizza made using some (hopefully soon to be all) local ingredients from NCSU's Farmers' Market. Please RSVP to Steve (steven.p.horton@gmail.com) so he knows many pizzas to have made. If you can contribute, he is asking for a $5 donation... if you can't afford the cost we’ll gladly cover you in return for good conversation! A portion of the proceeds will go to the Inter-Faith Food Shuttle.
We will not have another until the 2010 school year starts back up but please consider putting Wednesday’s at Farmhouse on your calendar.
GARDEN SUPPLIES:
We are still in need of hand-tool donations. We gladly accept new and/or lightly used equipment. Thanks to all who have responded.
GROW VEGGIES AT HOME?
Our new Plant a Row (PAR) program has kicked off… We are hoping anyone with home grown vegetables will consider planting extra or just giving any excess harvest to our community members in need. Check out the attachment, spread the word, and/or get in touch with Katherine if you are interested in finding out more.
New Volunteer?
If you have not filled out a volunteer form or have a friend who is interested in helping out please email Janet at RGSJRS@aol.com.
