Getting through the cold months
It’s been quite a time since our last post….many vegetables, sales, last hurrahs, and garden beds put to sleep for the winter. But already, preparations are underway for growing season 2008. In less than a month, hopefully, seeds will be planted in the greenhouse. Once the frost leaves for good, there will be plenty of turning over and adding new soil, planting, watering, and advertising to do. For anyone interested in volunteering, please e-mail Jenny Asper. We look forward to all the help we can muster. With love from not-so-cold England, Francis
Wisdom…Teeth…no…Tooth
A question which has hung our apartment up over the last month: what does knowledge do for us and can we attain wisdom by merely asking? Instead of declaring our theoretical answers to this complex query I will simply say we are still under construction to this answer, and all of us will be for a long time. But on another wisdom front, I came home this weekend as part vacation, part excavation trip to remove my #1 and #16 molars, the wisdom teeth. Now Doc Stone was supposed to remove both of them, however only the #16 was removed due to some sort of complication. In turn, I will go back next summer for more nitrous oxide, and more living by the milkshake. And as we ponder the amount of wisdom necessary for living the daily grind in our home, are we, the 16-24 year olders, supposed to receive this wisdom when receiving these nagging calcium carbonate crunchers? Well, I am in the camp that sees lack of wisdom from our demographic, but perhaps after helping assist Frank and Adrian with other dedicated volunteers in the garden summer a proof demographic’s wisdom appears itself in learning the ways of our ecology, of a dedication to the land, and a reverence for our food we have so long ignored the past few generations. So there was a sense of wisdom last week in the simplicity of establishing a farmer’s market on campus last Friday and Saturday afternoon. We held to the standards of the college’s wishes for more community; we attracted people out to the garden, and we completed an objective of our business plan (we are widdling away at our business plan’s objectives as well). We held true to our ideals for the garden, and it paid off in seeing our community become more cohesive. Community growth is a sign of wisdom from our institution. A community supportive of ecologically wise approaches to food is founded in wisdom. So thank you everyone for helping us commemorate this first farmer’s market. It was a sure sign of true progress.
Blessed Unrest
As I intake the eloquent words of Paul Hawken in his newest novel, Blessed Unrest, I feel continually overwhelmed by the struggles enmeshed in our world, and surprisingly stimulated by the thought of people working towards restoration. He indicates there is a movement occurring ignored and tainted by the media, looked unfavorably upon by the majority of politicians, and dismissed by the public as illogical idealism. However, one million social and environmental justice organizations exist supporting a host of causes, causes which can range from community outreaches to large scale reactionary NGO’s against the destruction of the Amazon rainforests. Sometimes, the community battles are the ones we tend to overlook even right here within our campus. Looking upon the demolished buildings behind the Musser Farmhouse last night, the realistic understanding that we, Christians, are still following a culture, which forgoes tradition and is entrenched in materialism. Progression is not defined by advances in demolishing and constructing a mansion in a constrictive time frame. Progression is created by being informed by our “biological and cultural sense….and to watch the accelerating breakdown of our environmental systems, is harrowing and dispiriting.” And this decomposition of our culture is not merely occuring in places outside the walls of Messiah College. We are attending Messiah College in the midst of an economic development plan that intends to ignore the ecology of our commons, and will PR our college as a body of people informed and actively living the environmental stewardship lifestyle. We are far behind institutions in this respect, mostly secular, so what can we say about ourselves? The hope: those who supported the establishment of the garden, people working in the administration, faculty, staff, and students. There is also a vital underlying movement occurring within our community, ready to “march, speak, create, resist, and build (responsibly).” Conversation needs reinvented in a way at Messiah College where holistically our community knows the broad steps we are taking for future alum. Why this need for conversation and communication? One move the board (purely a trustees decision) believes is a solution to our money woes is constructing a president’s residence to entertain prospective funders. This house will, in turn, change the landscape of the area its constructed upon, uprooting tradition and ecology for development. The builders are tearing down all the old barns on the Musser Farm, and intend to tear down the farmhouse that boasts three types of architecture. The administration cites energy inefficiencies as the reason to tear it down. And will the new president’s residence a 7,250 sq. ft. home be energy efficient? We’ve heard no promises. Finding creative solution for money is so far not on the table. I bet if we used all those monies for the president’s residence to improve energy inefficiencies on campus, the college would both get better PR for their efforts and eventually see return on energy-efficient projects. Those were ideas not considered, or the idea that restoring the old Musser Farmhouse in a unique manner to house the President was never an option either. Options never heard, because voices making the decisions were behind closed vaults, excuse me, doors. Those with interests that go beyond pure economics–for the future of Messiah–need to start banding together, or decisions will continually be made without a “community” say, but merely by those with money and power. Patronizing the student body needs to end. We have the ability to understand the reasons behind decisions, and the ability to react against those decisions with wisdom. 7/24/07
Pic-Chores
Hello readers, It’s Christmas in July in garden. I hate that concept–Christmas in July. Oh, well, it’s better than using a fireworks metaphor right? Speaking of flags and fireworks, our banner will be waving its green pride soon in front of the garden to finally allow people to understand the concepts behind this project. Hopefully, more educational info will be on its way by the time fall semester creeps upon us. The Japanese beetles still commune on our flowers, feeding their thoraxes (I hope that is the correct term for insect stomachs) and munching away at the gardeners’ mentalities. I’ve thought about a midnight spraying expedition, but my thumb–the gardener’s conscience–seems to get the best of me daily. We’ll continue with drowning them in soapy water. The chores seem to amass daily, so if anyone wants to contribute to weeding and/or watering, we’d love to hand over those tasks to concentrate on rotating the crops over the next few weeks. We aren’t picky about future recruits. We offer conversations about changing the world and three dashing young men to banter with daily from 7-9 pm. Currently Reading: Deep Economy by Bill McKibben Two Green Thumbs Up (Ugh that is disgustingly corny and cliche; I’ll attempt to embrace it.) Oh, Colin, the eggplant are what we call the “picked upon.” They have been attacked by potato beetles, mites, and japanese beetles. But they continue to push through the persecution, and our keeping the faith even through this growing period in their lives (meh-meh-meh). Hope the ‘burgh is treating you well. Looking towards a better world,
Dan
Metallic Soldiers
The green sheened shells of the Japanese beetles are striking during the mid-day heat, and I almost felt bad when George Weigel of the Patriot-News used his sneaker to grind a Japanese beetle into the soil where they arrived from last week. So we have been combatting these creatures with a canola oil based insecticide, and we hope the best for our flowers which provide the necessary color in the mostly monocolor of our green garden. Speaking of George Weigel of the Patriot-News: Look for an article in the Home and Garden Section of the Patriot-News in two-three weeks. Our garden will be featured in this section. And in other PR news, we have word our garden will show up in both the Bridge and the President’s Report. In the latter publication, Frank will accompany the garden in a student profile. Party hats for Frank. Maybe even Burger King crowns. Concerning the CSA: Frank and Adrian delivered the first batch of produce to our CSA members. Word in our apartment says we delivered them a few zukes and a delicious bag of snow peas. Lottie Nelson: We have delivered the two batches of zucchini to the dining hall totalling 19.5 pounds. Now we have enough money for milk every week. We were just living on Panera bread scraps before. I’m kidding. Mark Wirtz and his crew have been gracious in this inaugural year for the garden. I think they prepared a zucchini parmesan the other night. I thought about trying it. Really, I did. And pictures, well pictures. Adrian is growing up really fast. His dreads get longer everyday. Oh, pictures of the garden, we will get on that. Right, Frank? June 28th, 2007
Peas on Earth
Hear hear, my fellow garden-watchers: we just harvested our first produce ever: snow peas. They are quite delicious, mind you. We aim to sell this first batch to Lottie, with subsequent harvests going to our CSA members in 1-2 weeks. I’m in the process of purchasing a camera, which means digitals images of all of this hearsay are in order.
The (first)fruits of our labors
After months of hard work, our aggressively growing tomato plants are sprouting some actual tomatoes. The zucchini and eggplants (once infested with beetles and other such critters) have quadrupled in size during the last week, due in large part to copious amounts of rain in the last 4 days. The carrots are showing some signs of sprouting, but are generally MIA. Adrian and I successfully installed fully operational drip irrigation in one half of the garden–the lettuce rows and melon patch–which will, when covering the entire garden, save about an hour of daily watering work. Pictres to come soon…..I promise
A Temporary Reprieve
My title seems an appropriate name for an unmemorable beach novel, and speaking of the beach, that is where I’m currently located. My family nabbed me away from the garden for a week to spend indulgently along the panhandle of Florida. As for the garden, I hear we received showers the other day, and the process of installing our drip-irrigation system is underway. (And Kathie Shafer sighs out of relief after paying last month’s waterbill for Kline) Frank, Adrian, and I trust this will prove an efficient means for everyone, so we can start focusing on pest management and the financial side of this business. Who would have dreamed gardens would become businesses? The Zinnias are shyly saying hello as they receive the award for our first flower blooms from seed. I sneak away from the library for my fifteen minute breaks to constantly check on them. We hope to post some pictures soon. And we received great news from Mark Wirtz, the Dining Director of Messiah College. Lottie will pay premium prices for our precious plants (too much alliteration?). Don’t worry CSA members, we might have some left overs for you. We also agreed tentatively to start a composting programs. Mr. Wirtz truly acted graciously for this program. Lots more news to come. I have billions of sand granules for my feet to sift through. Peace brothers and sisters, Dan
Rain, rain barrels, and tomatoes
The good Lord decided to grace us with not one, but two consecutive days of thundershowers. As such, the snow peas and tomatoes continue to thrive, along with select rubarb and watermelon plants. Small patches of carrots and lettuce finally sprouted in the last few days. In other news, three of us took a trip up river to buy two empty 55-gallon whiskey barrels for use as rainwater collectors. With drip irrigation arriving in the mail recently, we have all the necessary components to stop using the College’s water and to eliminate the tedius task of watering each plant daily with a garden hose.
CSA officially set up
Yesterday, Dan and I met with several members of this year’s CSA. Ten faculty members will buy $150 shares for the growing season and receive a weekly share of the harvest. The tomatoes, watermelon, and snow peas continue to thrive. After 15 days, the lettuce is still MIA.