It’s been a very long time since I was able to be diggin’ in the dirt. When I moved back to Wisconsin in late 2022 it took me awhile to get re-acclimated to being back here. When I lived here before I had lived in a rather large city. It took some time to get used to living in a small village again.
What I found out was that our small village has a wonderful Senior Center. And lots and lots of Outreach services. Besides the Senior Lunch Program, and volunteer opportunities, there is also a Community Sponsored Garden. Earlier this year I signed up for a raised bed garden plot, and I was accepted.
One of the criteria, besides paying my paltry $6 per year, is volunteering to help in the communal spaces. That includes a volunteer shift on Earth Day. Well, this year it was lightly snowing when we arrived. I volunteered to take 2 wheelbarrow loads of organic compost to each and every raised bed gardens, including mine, with help from my good friend Annie.
One of the things I love about this community garden is that it’s totally organic. Several companies in the area donate seeds, organic compost and organic fertilizer. Absolutely no pesticides or herbicides are allowed. We have large compost areas for plants that have died as well as leaves from rhubarb and the like.
The parts of the gardens that are communal include set aside gardens for pollinators, herbs, rhubarb, dwarf fruit trees and a large raspberry bed. We have regular volunteer shifts to keep all of them watered as necessary and weeded. One benefit is that we can harvest small parts of the produce and fruit. I made a sour cherry cobbler late last month from a quart of the cherries. Yummy!
It’s really nice to be finally able to be diggin’ in the dirt again. Due to the earlier weather that alternated between very cold and the next week unseasonably warm, I wasn’t able to plant until late May. I figured it best to be safe, not sorry, than by planting earlier. It turned out to be the wise choice.
I had decided last winter to plant a “three sisters” type of garden this season. Choosing hybrid popcorn, string free climbing pole beans and acorn squash for a little over half of my garden seemed best. Over 50 years ago I had planted a similar garden but I had never tried it in a four foot by eight foot raised bed garden. That will give me maximum benefit and save me space according to my preconceived plan.
Every time I work on my little garden I hum a tune called Inch By Inch.
In the other part of my garden I have radishes, green onions, a few onion sets, carrots, Swiss chard, comfrey and lemon balm. We’ve have harvested radishes twice so far and are replanting them after we’ve picked them. So far so good with everything I have in there. I’ll be updating as I go. This is an experiment this year. If I’m able to keep my garden spot next year I’ll probably concentrate more on the herbs plus peppers. I have first right of refusal next year on my spot if I want to keep it.
Right next to my raised bed garden is my best friend Annie’s raised bed garden. She decided to plant mostly flowers, many from seeds that were donated by the community gardens and other companies. Annie has some green onions, carrots and radishes in her garden bedsides the flowers. More about Annie in a future blog article.
I do apologize for not blogging in several months, but I’ve been really busy with other things here. One wonderful thing that happened recently here is that our County Board of Supervisors passed a resolution into law making the county I live in a LGBTQIA+ Sanctuary County!
Until next time…somewhere, sometime in the future! Blessed Be to all of my readers!
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