With the return of the robins, and with the crocuses peeking up out of the soil, I am anxiously counting down the days to getting back out in the garden. With each mound of snow that has disappeared, my list of garden seeds I want to plant has grown!  Even as I make my personal plans for my plot, the planning for the entire garden is even more exciting.  We had such a successful 2009 and plans are really coming along for 2010.  Registration forms will be available on the website next week.  If you would like one emailed to you when they are available, please email Dutton Community Garden and we will get one to you.   Look forward to seeing you in the garden!

My daughter said to me the other day, “But Mom, I just want a banana.  You can’t save the world one banana at a time!”  Boy, did that pose a dilemma for this mother.  My daughter was begging for fruit!   But I live in Michigan, bananas don’t grow here.  Not within thousands of miles!  Wonderful things do however; raspberries, blueberries, strawberries, cherries, apples, pears, peaches and more.  All summer long is a buffet of fantastic fruits and vegetables.  How do I justify a banana that has flown thousands of miles, using gallons of fuel to arrive at my table, when there is so much here?

Utilize Local Foods

That is one thing that I feel is so important about the community garden.  teaching our children, and ourselves, to grow what we can or to find local resources for what we don’t.  It is essential to utilize what we have in our area, not bring food from across country, or continents so we can have whatever we want, whenever we want it.  If you don’ t garden there are farmers markets, roadside stands and grocery stores that sell local produce.  We need to support these efforts.  (There are many online resources for finding a farmers market in your area.  One such resource is  http://www.farmersmarkets.msu.edu/)

I don’t have anything against bananas; I like them, and do miss them occassionally.  I don’t think I can “save the world one banana at a time.”  But if we all work together to grow what we can, make an effort to eat local and support our area’s farmers, it will make a difference.  And that is a good place to start.

Awesome!  I know it might be an 80’s word, but it is the first thought that comes to my mind when I think about the garden and what has taken place this year.  A year ago, I was aware of the garden but had no involvement with it at all.  And I certainly know I had my reservations and concerns when I volunteered to coordinate it, that I did not need one more thing on my already busy plate.  ( I am sure that many of you can relate to such thoughts!)  But looking back now I am so glad that I did not let that doubt stop me!  The enthusiasm of the garden members, learning from one another, and doing something good for ourselves, family and community, is a joy to share and experience.

However, my initial thought of Awesome though is quickly followed by Shock, Surprise and Bewilderment….

Shock! – Who knew what a year we’d have!  In the first year of the garden (2008) there were five members.  Our goal this year was for 12 plots to be used, which really just sounded like a good number and looked respectable when graphed on paper.  We have 25 plots being tended to by garden members and plot #26 is growing fresh produce to be distributed through the Dutton Food Pantry.

Surprise!  – You plant seeds and have some expectations of what will come up.  However there is such a child-like surprise when you reach in to the ground around a plant that was not there mere weeks ago and pull out a potato or some other delectable food item.  How many people have never experienced this!  Food is laid out in neat rows at the supermarket; they have no idea that it is really comes from a strange looking plant and what they are eating is the hidden treasure underneath, or on top of, or hanging of of it.  Every time we pull up a radish or onion, twist a shiny, green zucchini off of its prickly stem, or peer underneath the gigantic leaves of a pumpkin plant to see what is growing, it is like a surprise gift in a life of otherwise normal predictability.

Bewilderment! – How did it get to be mid-July!  The weather seems to still be telling us it is early June, with the cool, cloudy days, but it is not!  The days have flown past, and like my green tomatoes hanging on the vine not yet turning even slightly red, this blog is off to a delayed start!  Though I try to look at the summer as still having half of it yet to enjoy, the date on the calendar reminds me how quickly the season is going.  Either way, I have decided the garden is a good lesson in patience, and the timing and planning of life is not ours to set.  We can plant a seed and read on the package that it will harvest in 45 days, but when that day comes it may still be dressed in flowers or immature fruit.  You can’t change it, rush it, or make it do anything other than what God has planned for it, so you might as well wait to harvest it when the time is right.  So even though I had planned on tilling the soil and writing about it, planting the seeds and writing about it, waiting for growth and writing about it, we still have quite a bit of season left to enjoy and I will write about the unexpected gifts as they come.

Ken sent in this interesting video story about the Obamas starting a garden at the White House. Neat to see the First Lady at work, as well as the kids from a local school.

Church gardens build community, help the hungry
The Grand Rapids Press June 28, 2008

“The deer fence that surrounds the new community garden at Redeemer Covenant Church in Gaines Township has been full of laughter.

On a recent, sunny weekday evening, the hilarity centered mostly around who was willing to get dirty and who wasn’t.

Pastor Jack Brown and his 12-year-old son, David, pulled rocks from the ground and placed them in a large circle meant to become a compost pile.

Brown referred to himself and his son as “black thumbs.”"