Welcome

Thanks for joining us as we venture into the unknown. This is the first year of our community garden project and we have a lot of learning to do.

Just last week the land being used for our garden, located behind the recreation center in Birchy Head, was "turned" (Thanks to Pike's excavator) giving us a good sized space to work with. A truckload of topsoil was delivered to the site as well.

And so we begin the first steps to prepare our garden for planting. And yes, we have the blisters to prove our hard work - particularly those of us who forgot our garden gloves - I told you we have a lot to learn!

We met on Tuesday night, June 16th at 6:30 to start raking the rocks away from our ground -and we no longer have to question why Newfoundland is nicknamed "the Rock" for any of us who may have been wondering! Eek!














And then we began shoveling the dark topsoil along the middle. This will be the section for individual family planting lots and will give everyone a chance to sow the seeds they feel most suited for their individual needs. The outside sections will be used for communal potato and pumpkin gardens for all the families to share.














I want to give a special shout out to Michelle Harris, our local "Booky The Bear" (Family Resource Center) co-ordinator. And to our faithful leader, Paula Alexander, for putting herself up as our patient teacher of all things veggie garden related. Paula keeps her own gardens - that girl sure knows her stuff - and even had a good chuckle at my expense for the way I was using my garden rake. Who knew? Thanks Paula!

Currently, there are 7 or 8 families who will be joining our community garden adventure.

Thanks to the families who were able to come out and help with Step #1:

Paula & Hailey
Michelle
Melissa
Lisa & Kristi
Tony, Stephanie, Emily, & Aaron
Lynn & Phillip
Ed & Iona
and yours truly, Myrna, and my little one, Sarah

Next time, we'll be fertilizing with all things organic - bucket loads of kelp that Paula and her daughter, Hailey, gathered from the beach, and possibly some caplin (apparantly, they're "rolling" now).

I'll leave you with a quote that seems appropriate as we take this step towards helping the families in our communities:

The happiness of any society begins with the well being of the families that live in it. -– Kofi Annan