May 2011 Garden Work Day

With lunch provided by Heidi and Martin (and fresh strawberry pie with strawberries from the garden!), many gardeners came out for some wheel-barrow fun and a cool morning to clean up the garden and enjoy the company of others. If only every workday could be cool and overcast! Thanks to everyone including Dwayne, Freddie, Sue, Gail, Irma and her sister, Gina and Clarence, Dot, Julia, Emily, Ed, Linda and Heidi and Martin. Also thanks to the Bike riders that stopped by, and several individuals just looking and asking questions.

It looks like this will be our first year of apples, and the grapes are tiny babies now, but it looks like we'll get loads of them in the late summer/fall. Perfect for wine making for a community garden get together! Also on the list of potential "finally" items, we may even finish the tool shed this summer!!

Thanks again for everyone supporting in person and in spirit. I can't believe how far this garden has come in such a short time, and kudos for EVERYONE that has made that happen over the past 3 years!

Children's Fun Day at the Garden - Mother's Day gifts

The Children's Fun Day at the OFW Community Garden was so much fun. Kids from all over came to decorate small tin pots and plant a flower for their Mothers or Grandmothers. They also got to see the strawberries growing and see the grapes in their infant stages. Leftover flowers were planted in the children's plots. Kids and adults enjoyed hotdogs, fruit, pasta salad and lemonade. Of course the dirt and the wood chip piles were perfect for playing "King of the Hill." It was too wet to till the community portion to plant sweet corn and the rest of the seeds we had planned, but that didn't deter the good mood of all of those involved. Thank you to all that participated, and we look forward to the next Children's Fun Day in the fall!

Gardeners Welcome Spring (?)

Turning over the beds

Ben checking out the tool shed structure

Overlooking the OFW Garden

Daruby garden before raised beds

Joe standing in front of the new raised beds in the SNOW!

It was time once again for the initial OFW Garden workday on the last Saturday of March. It was a blustery morning, but we managed to get the beds turned over, weeds pulled, (Thanks to Dot who did an excellent job of weeding all the Strawberry beds last week!) and the compost bins turned over. It was nice to be back in the garden among friends even if the weather was chilly! Thanks to Dwayne, Freddie, Martin, Julia, Dot, Brian, Trudy, John and Gail for the hard work and camaraderie.

We cut the morning short, and several of us headed over to Daruby Early Learning Center to assist Gateway Greening and Gail with the installation of 6 raised beds for the preschool. We enjoyed a chili lunch while waiting for the compost and lumber to be delivered. Then we completed our work just as SNOW started accumulating. There is a before and after shot above of Daruby's raised beds. Congrats to Gail and staff on having a proper garden to plant with the children!

We're looking forward to warmer weather on April's workday, and hope to get more planting completed as well as completing the tool shed. Thanks to everyone for their hard work!

October Work Day - Garden Clean Up

Our first official growing season has come to an end. Many of us spent the morning removing tomato and pepper plants from our own beds and sponsor plots, while others helped with the building of our cedar tool shed. It was a beautiful morning to be out in the garden and chatting about what we would all do the same or differently next year.

Thanks to everyone who helped, and a special thank you to Julia for providing our delicious lunch of vegetarian chili and peanut butter and chocolate brownies. In fact, thank you to each of you that provided lunch on our scheduled work days!!

As time permits we plan to finish the tool shed, shred the compost material and put straw down on the strawberries. For all you troopers this year, the good news is that it won't be nearly as much work next season but will still be as fun and rewarding!!!

Fun at the Kid's Fall Social!

Thank you to everyone who helped out and/or attended our inaugural Kid's Fall Social!! The weather was unseasonably warm making it a perfect day for our events.

The kids started off decorating mini pumpkins, doing other crafts and picking some of the garden's ever-bearing strawberries. We then had a couple of rounds of the corn-on-the-cob eating contest. Unfortunately I was laughing too hard to remember to snap any pictures of that one! The children were also shown some of our popcorn harvest and got to sample some fresh organic popcorn. Most were unaware that popcorn grew differently than sweet corn.

A short time later lunch consisting of hot dogs, pasta salad, chips and lemonade was served up to the still mostly hungry children. Next up on the agenda was the watermelon seed spitting contest. The kids had so much fun with it that it stopped being a contest at some point, and just a fun way to remove the seeds from the watermelon they were eating. Four watermelons later there were some sticky yet happy kids, and plenty of rinds thrown in the compost bin.

It was a wonderful turnout and a great way for all ages to spend a Saturday morning. I can't wait for next year's events for the children. They will be the future stewards of our earth so getting them involved and excited is beneficial for everyone!

Beer Dinner Community Gardens Fundraiser Success!

On behalf of the Ferguson Community Gardens (OFW and Robert Superior) I'd like to thank Joe Lonero, Brewmaster Josh Wilson, and the entire staff at Hill's Brewing Company for an amazing fundraiser! Josh paired each of the four courses with a perfect brew. While 8 oz servings accompanied each course, garden supporters were encouraged to try larger samples for free at the bar. As we were leaving, Joe gave each ticket holder a token for a free glass of wine at CORK, compliments of Mike Lonero. I couldn't imagine a more perfect representation of *COMMUNITY* than that night.

The first course was prepared by our resident gardener and executive chef, Freddie Holland. The Tuscan Meatballs on Angel Hair Pasta with Pesto included several ingredients from the gardens. The meatballs were made from Match (vegan meat alternative) and paired perfectly with the Munich Dunkel. The complexity of flavors from both appetizer and beer were the perfect start to an amazing taste sensation.

The next course was a beautiful springtime salad made with candied pecans, fresh strawberries, pineapple and bleu cheese crumbles paired with Hill's Hefeweisen Wheat. The fruit in the salad complemented the banana/clove flavor of the beer. Wonderful!

The main course was a blackened Mahi Mahi on a bed of rice with vegetables on the side. The fish was paired with the St. Louis Pale Ale to bring out both the spiciness of the hops in the beer and the cajun blackened spice.

Finally, the dessert was a gorgeous fresh cheesecake with strawberries paired with the Pecan Brown Ale. Who knew a cheesecake could be MORE delicious with the nuttiness and richness that the Pecan Ale provided?!?!

Thank you for all the garden supporters who were able to attend, and thank you again to Joe for making it all happen!!!!!!

August Work Day Update

Today was a great day to come together with other gardeners and start one of our larger projects: building the tool shed. The finished shed will be a 10x10 red cedar structure. We can't wait to store the wheelbarrows and often used garden tools there soon! We set the four corners in cement this morning and still managed to get so much more finished at the garden by noon.

To make room for some of the fall crops, we pulled the finished corn stalks. Several of us were surprised at how easy they are to pull - *MUCH* easier than some of the weeds we have! We also put down four yards of mulch in the orchard and between the rose bushes and hedge row along Suburban. Heidi Lung brought an apple pie and her prize-winning peach blackberry pie. I'm not sure if there is such a thing as a "pie break" but that's what we took mid-morning! That hit the spot and regenerated us for more mulching and weeding until lunch. Lunch was an enchilada casserole and strawberry walnut salad served on compostable plates.

A very special thank you to everyone that came to the work day and put the "community" in our garden: Dwayne, Freddie, Martin, Julia, Dot, Sharon, Ed, Linda, Chase, Ben, Claire, Jeff, Analia and Teresa. Volunteers of all ages and levels of expertise are what keep us going strong! Thank you all!

July Work Day Progress

Our July workday started early this morning to beat the heat, and the heat never seemed to get out of hand today. We were all a little disheartened to see how much the weeds have grown with all the rain. The orchard was nearly overgrown, and it has garden paper under mulch! Freddie, Martin, Heidi, Sue, Gail, Barbara, Dot, Jeff, and young twins Analia and Teresa helped us tame those summer weeds. It's unbelievable how much a group of hard working folks can accomplish. The orchard, strawberry beds, the hedges and a good part of the gourd patch are back under control. We filled a compost bin FULL of pulled weeds. Wow!

Speaking of control, the produce is LOVING the rain as much as the weeds, and is all growing out of control! We probably picked over 30 lbs of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions and corn. The first picture shows the harvest for the day. Most of that food was dropped off at our local food pantry.

The crowd dwindled by 11:30, but Gail's lunch was well appreciated by those of us left. She made a delicious orzo and spinach salad as well as a fruity, nutty couscous dish. The cookies were a great finishing touch to a hard day's work!

Thanks to everyone who participated and look forward to seeing everyone at the garden!

Garden Fundraiser at Hill Brewing Company!!

Our First Corporate Donation!

Our garden has been so blessed with donations from local businesses, neighbors, and garden lovers in general. Today we received a donation of two picnic tables from AT&T's office in Bridgeton, Missouri.

AT&T's Vice President of External Affairs in St. Louis wrote, "We applaud your efforts to improve local neighborhoods and we're pleased to make these tables available. We hope they will be enjoyed by all visitors to your community garden."

Children's fun days, garden work days, and garden tours will all benefit from our new garden tables!

Thank you to AT&T for recognizing our efforts and for your donation!

June Work Day Progress!

Braving a St. Louis heat advisory, our volunteers accomplished so much today! Julia, Sharon, Bev, John, Emily, Ed, Linda and Gail helped mulch and weed and plant more cantaloupe in the community area. We also had the benefit of admiring Heidi's artistry as she painted whimsical characters and flowers on our picnic table. We made sure to stay hydrated and rested as often as necessary. Julia brought a kiddie pool for the kids, but several adults got their feet wet to cool off!

Lunch was a good stopping point and we devoured a vegetable "bread pudding" and strawberry shortcake provided by Ed and Linda. Linda had soaked the strawberries in Limoncello and it was a refreshing end to our workday!

Prior to lunch we had a group of friendly bicyclists stop by to quickly tour the garden. Craig and Blue Tapp Scheffer and Gerry Noll were among the group. It's fun to share our progress with anyone who stops by. In fact, area resident Marvin Bruce comes each work day to "supervise" for a few minutes! There is a great picture of him in front of the corn above.

Thank you to everyone who participated and to each and all of you that support our garden through hard work, donations, and especially well wishes!! 

Progress of the Community (shared) Crops

The individual plots are doing great although a few of us had issues with lettuce bolting. Best to plant something else where that lettuce was growing because once it bolts it is too bitter to eat.

It is time for a community crop update. Here is the status by the pictures ordered 1-5:

1. This is the corn that was planted about a month ago during the children's fun day. If you haven't seen it in person go check it out! It is already about 16 inches high! The second round of corn and the popcorn planted last week are coming up too and are about 3 inches tall. 
2. The grape vines are all growing (even the one we thought we lost) and the one in the picture has started attaching itself to the trellis. It is so much fun to watch how each fruit or vegetable grows. They each have their own growing personalities! We may get a small grape crop this year, but next year should be excellent.
3. The herb garden has several plants ready to share. The lemon balm can be picked and used fresh to flavor drinks or dried to use in teas. The cilantro could stand to grow just a bit more, but feel free to take a small amount to flavor your Mexican dishes or guacamole. Sage, Rosemary, Dill and Basil can be snipped for individual use. Please only take what you need so others can enjoy it too!
4. The strawberries have been producing very well. If you see any ripe ones, enjoy them! I let one of the neighborhood boys pick one while he was helping me weed. He said "it looks just like a *real* strawberry!" What a great opportunity to share where our food actually comes from!
5. The watermelon plants are growing! As are the squash, eggplants, cucumbers and pumpkins. Late summer and early fall should be fun!

The community blackberries are starting to form berries now and are growing quickly. The apple trees in the orchard are continuing to grow, but we aren't expecting apples until next year.

All of the plots got a drink of water today, and it is impressive how well everyone is keeping the weeds pulled. Great job to each and every one of you!!

May Work Day Update - Mural and Chair Installation!

We had around 20 gardeners gather in the sunshine today for our monthly work day. Several folks were harvesting food from their individual plots. Our garden is definitely growing!

We were able to accomplish the following:

• Built a frame and installed the completed garden mural against the fence
• Installed Ann Fink's beautiful mosaic chair in the orchard - set the posts in concrete
• Painted the first coat on the picnic table (Heidi Lung will add some whimsy to the table this week!)
• Planted flowers in the children's garden
• Planted popcorn, sweet corn, pumpkins, watermelon, eggplant and cucumbers in the community area
• Mulched around grapes and blackberries
• Weeded, weeded and weeded some more
• Turned the compost bins
• Enjoyed some freshly picked strawberries from the community pyramids

A special thanks to Sue Odell for providing an excellent lunch. Gardeners looked for a piece of shade to enjoy a meal of pasta with peas and squash and a spectacular salad (with lettuce from the garden!) with strawberries, cranberries and nuts. Her homemade cookies were a hit too! There is something very rewarding about working hard and then eating well.

Thank you to everyone who joined us today or stopped by to say hi. We look forward to our next workday the last Saturday in June!