Monday Harvests

Dear Readers,

On Mondays in Spring, Summer, and Fall, P-patch gardeners and volunteers harvest produce from personal plots and the "Giving Gardens" for local non-profits.

On Monday, May 19th 2014, with the help of Zoe, Diana, Evelina, Marcy, Joe Joe and others, harvest began for the local food bank.

It was a cloudy morning.

Zoe, Cascade P-patch's volunteer coordinator, harvested some Chard, Kale, and Leek from Giving Garden #1, which is cared for by volunteer gardener Barrett. She shared with me a few interesting facts about what she harvested. Chard and Kale are planted in the Fall, are dormant in the Winter, and are then harvested in the Spring.

She also demonstrated how Leek can get "rust" which is a disease caused by a fungus.

Diane donated some harvested Rhubarb from her personal plot. Her garden at the P-Patch has some of the most lovely roses I've ever seen.

I wondered how people used Rhubarb as I hadn't heard of it before. Gardener Marcy said that she enjoyed it as a chopped topping on her cereal, which left me quite intrigued.

A gentleman named Joe Joe stopped by to donate some Kale and Chard from his personal plot. He has been a P-Patch gardener for many years.

Marcy harvested lettuce and collards from her personal plot to donate.

Evelina, a new volunteer gardener, helped sort and bag harvested produce.

While searching for more produce to harvest, Marcy came across some very large leeks in one of the giving gardens. This is where she discovered "Monster Leek"!

With everyone's contribution we harvested 20 pounds of produce for the local food bank.

It was a joy to be a part of this effort and be able to document the process and give credit to those who helped out.

- Mariel A.