In just a few short weeks, the Humanity House Community Garden will be open for the 2019 growing season. We are excited for the opportunity to spend three more seasons outdoors, in the dirt, growing lots of delicious produce for our friends and neighbors. Over the past three years, we have grown over 19,000 pounds of produce that was given to others at our Fresh For You produce distributions.
This will be our second season as owners of the community garden. We have some exciting things planned and maybe some surprises. Trench composting is on the list of new things for this year. Basically, every household scrap (excluding meat/bones/fat) can be saved in a container in the freezer then brought to the garden. We will put it, and some soil and garden debris into a hole, along with a few red wigglers and cover the hole. When we come back, compost!
Every year we discover new things. Some work for us, some dont. Either way, we are always excited to give it our best shot.
One thing we discovered is that cooking up a dish using the produce that we will be distributing that week was a great way to get people to try vegetables that they had never tasted before. Suddenly kale, eggplant, squash, okra, and patty pan became as popular as tomatoes and cucumbers. There is nothing better than little kids grabbing a handful of kale from the table and munching on it while they visit with the other children while they wait their turn, unless it is a little girl asking her mom if she can have her own kale plant.
We have children who come down to the garden and help plant potatoes. They come to help pull weeds or pick green beans. They love to help harvest and find the red of the tomato hiding inside a shady place on the plant. They come to play on the mountain of dirt and make roads for the toy dump truck to move dirt from the wrong place over to where it should be.
This past summer we had a Stone Soup event. There were bands playing music, children playing and sliding on a mountain of mud, bubble blowing, a watermelon seed spitting contest, baby pool kickball, mud pie making and lots of other fun activities. All of this was designed to get parents and their kids out in the sunshine and the dirt having fun.
The kids played with little adult supervision, devising their own versions of fun, and the adults played horseshoes, cornhole, and toe-tapped to the fantastic music. The health benefits of playing in the dirt are proven. People who spend time in the dirt have stronger immune systems, fewer allergies, better digestion, less heart disease, better stress management, and dirt is a natural anti-depressant.
A garden offers all of that, plus you can grow amazing food for your body. A diet rich in vegetables and fruits helps reduce the risks of heart disease, high blood pressure, and some cancers. Only 30 minutes of gardening a day lowers blood pressure and cholesterol levels, helps prevent heart diseases and diabetes and prevents or slows osteoporosis.
Thats a lot of fun and great health benefits for a $25 garden plot. We have folks who can help you if you have never gardened before, tools, seeds, soil, sun, and water. All you need is you and your smile. We hope to see you there. If you would like to rent a plot for this season just stop by the Humanity House office at 110 East St. and pick up an application.
Kindness matters!
